Today’s Standout
Sellers
held the upper hand in today’s trading, as a round of bad earnings
news from insurers helped drive sentiment down. The Dow and S&P have been
consolidating for the past seven trading sessions, while the Nasdaq has drifted
south, as technology issues exhibit weakness. Tomorrow the world awaits
Secretary of State Colin Powell’s testimony to the UN Security Council, an event
that many have considered to be potentially pivotal for market activity.
Standing out today, the gold commodity
(
GCG3 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) hit a seven-year high.
Dow
Jones Industrial Average
(
$INDU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed -1.19%
at 7935.12. The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed
-1.41%
at 848.18. The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed -1.34%
at 1,306.00.
The day’s gainers were in gold
and silver
(
$XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +4.73%, oil service
(
$OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+2.74%, natural gas
(
$XNG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.54%, and oil
(
$OIX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.62%.
Biggest losers on the session
were in insurance
(
$IUX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -4.35%, networking
(
$NWX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-3.34%, healthcare
(
$HMO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -3.10%, and biotechnology
(
$BTK.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.96%.
In economic news, factory
orders came in at 0.4% vs. expectations of 0.3%.
The Ten Year Note
(
TYH3 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was +150 at 114 140.
The U.S. Dollar
(
DXH3 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was -0.83 at 99.29.
Volume was below
average, with the NYSE coming in at 1,380,412,000
and the Nasdaq at 1,365,933,000.
Market breadth was negative,
with NYSE declining issues over advancing issues by a ratio of 1.38, and down
volume over up volume by a 3.15 ratio. Nasdaq declining issues over advancing
issues came in at 1.62, and down volume beat up volume by a 2.94 ratio.
The
VIX
was +2.72 at 36.70. The TRIN
was +1.37 at 2.28.
Big losers on the Dow were:
Walt Disney
(
DIS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -3.15% at 16.90, Alcoa
(
AA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -3.15% at 19.32, Citigroup
(
C |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.91% at 33.64, American
Express
(
AXP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.80% at 34.70, Microsoft
(
MSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.63% at
47.28, and General Electric
(
GE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.53% at 23.05.
Stocks in the news:
Insurance company American
International
(
AIG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -6.56% at 51.70, announced it will take a $1.8
billion charge, and also had its estimates cut by Merrill Lynch.
Also in the insurance sector, MBIA
Inc.
(
MBI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -3.75% at 38.73, missed its fourth-quarter earnings
expectations by $0.03 with profits of $1.09 per share. Chubb
(
CB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-5.44% at 51.50, also posted earnings below Wall Street’s expectations. And Jefferson
Pilot
(
JP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.73% at 37.91, beat its fourth-quarter earnings estimates
by $0.03 with profits of $0.75 per share.
Biotech firm Genzyme
(
GENZ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-7.68% at 30.65, reduced its earnings guidance for the full year 2003.
In the airline business,
American Airlines’ parent AMR
(
AMR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.71% at 2.87, sold off after
the company’s 401K manager withdrew the company’s stock as an option for
employees.
In the personal product biz, Colgate-Palmolive
(
CL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.83% at 52.19, beat its fourth-quarter earnings expectations with
profits of $0.59 per share, and Avon Products
(
AVP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.36% at 51.18,
also surpassed its expectations by $0.01 with profits of $0.80 per share.
Internet infrastructure giant Cisco
Systems
(
CSCO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.07% at 13.20, will announce its earnings after the
bell today.
Electronics maker Emerson
(
EMR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.19% at 47.12, missed its first-quarter earnings expectations by
$0.02 with profits of $0.52 per share.
Truck builder Paccar Inc.
(
PCAR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +6.79% at 47.30, beat its fourth-quarter earnings expectations by
$0.41 with profits of $1.05 per share.
Pharmacy retailer CVS Corp.
(
CVS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +5.18% at 24.55, beat its fourth-quarter earnings expectations by
$0.02 with profits of $0.49.
Electric utilities company Entergy
(
ETR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.32% at 46.00, beat its fourth-quarter earnings expectations by
$0.06 with profits of $0.34 per share.
From TM’s Implosion
List,
online travel company Hotels.com
(
ROOM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -3.63% at 39.00.
danielb@tradingmarkets.com