This Stock Is Halted After The Close
Stocks rose
Tuesday. Selling started early with the
Consumer Confidence number at 10:00 am, but then a rally began at 1:35 pm that
ran to the close. In a sign that manufacturing
activity continues to pick up, orders for durable goods rose for the second
month. Boosted by near historic low interest rates, sales of new homes sold at
the second-fastest pace ever. Bonds rose on the day.
The Dow Jones Industrial
Average
(
$INDU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gained 22.81 to 9340.45. The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
rose 3.02 to 996.73. The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) added 6.33 to 1770.64.
The day’s leading sectors were Networking
(
$NWX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+2.08%; Gold Bugs
(
$HUI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.48%, and Computer Hardware
(
$HWI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.19.
Weak today were Biotech
(
$BTK.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.66%,
Oil
(
$OIX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.66%; Internet
(
$INX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-0.45%, Energy
(
$DXE.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-0.40%, and Chemicals
(
$CEX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.35%.
In economic news, New Home
Sales in July fell to an annual rate of 6.12 M compared to economists’
expectations of a drop to 5.90 M. Durable Orders in July came in as
expected at a gain of 1%. Excluding transportation, durables orders rose 1.7%
which represents the biggest gain in six months. Lastly Consumer Confidence
for August came in at 81.3 or better than the 79.6 predicted by economists..
The 10-year U.S. Note
was +140 at 110 050.
The dollar was flat at
98.83.
Gold was +3.50 at 364.80.
Crude Oil was +0.39 at
31.95.
Volume was
1,183,778,0000 on
the NYSE, and 1,348,991,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was positive,
with NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by 1.17, and up over down
volume by 1.42; Nasdaq advancing issues over declining issues at 1.02, and up
volume over down volume at 1.73.
Top Dow stocks were:
Boeing
(
BA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.41 at 35.71,
Merck
(
MRK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.01% at 50.30, and General Motors
(
GM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.60
at 39.06.
Stocks in the news:
After the close, H&R Block
(
HRB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.05; the stock was halted at press time; Medicis
(
MRX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
beat by 0.02, ex-items; Dollar Tree
(
DLTR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported .25, beating by
a penny; SeaChange
(
SEAC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was in-line.
Automobile financing provider
Americredit
(
ACF |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gained 15% despite reporting a loss in its
latest quarter. Including a $57.7 million non-cash charge, the company reported
a fourth-quarter loss of 11 cents a share compared to restated earnings of $1 a
share in the year-ago quarter. Revenues fell 36% to $197.3 million.
Networking and
telecommunications solutions provider Ciena
(
CIEN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose 6.5%
after the company was selected by Cox Communications
(
COX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) to provide data
support services for Cox’s broadband communications network. UBS also upgraded
the stock from “Reduce” to “Neutral” on the belief that the company is in
contention for contracts from MCI and the US government.
Telecom equipment provider
Comtech
(
CMTL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose 29% after the company raised fourth-quarter
guidance. Due to stronger-than-expected demand for its wireless communications
services, the company now sees revenues of $51 million and earnings between 24
and 26 cents a share. Consensus estimates are calling for revenues of $43.3
million and earnings of 19 cents a share.
Engineered Support Systems
(
EASI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gained 17% after the company reported third-quarter
results that topped analysts’ estimates. The supplier of military equipment
earned 72 cents a share compared to 41 cents a share in the year-ago quarter.
Revenues jumped 46% to $155.7 million. Looking ahead, the company sees full-year
results of $2.40 to $2.45 a share on revenues of at least $550 million. Current
consensus estimates are calling for earnings of $2.24 a share and revenues of
$543 million.
Medical diagnostic equipment
maker Digene
(
DIGE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) fell by 7% despite reporting
better-than-expected results. For its fourth quarter, the company reported
earnings of a penny a share compared to a loss of 25 cents a share in the
year-ago quarter. Analysts had expected the company to break even. However, the
company revenue forecast for fiscal 2004 of $90 to $95 million is slightly below
consensus estimates of $95.8 million.
Drug maker Myriad Genetics
(
MYGN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is off by more than 14% after the company reported a
wider-than-expected loss. The company reported a fourth-quarter loss of 26 cents
a share compared to a loss of 29 cents a share in the year-ago quarter. Revenues
jumped 11% to $15.71 million. Analysts were looking for a loss of 22 cents a
share and revenues of $17.2 million.
If you have any comments or
questions, please feel free to email me.
vincentm@tradingmarkets.com