Turkey Or Spam?
Trading was traditionally light going
into this Thanksgiving holiday. The indexes headed south off the bell and traded
in a narrow range for the day, never making it into positive territory. The Dow
Utilities made another 52-week low as the selling was indiscriminate across the
sectors.
size=2>The Dow Jones Industrial Average
(
$INDU.X |
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PowerRating) closed down
0.68%style=”mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt”> to
9,834.54style=”mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt”>. The S&P
500
(
$SPX.X |
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PowerRating) fell size=2>0.52%size=2> to 1,136.72style=”mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt”>. The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ.X |
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PowerRating) dipped 0.29% style=”mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt”>to
1,874.98style=”mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt”>.
U.S. unemployment benefits dropped to
427,000, the lowest number of new claims since the Sept. 11 attacks. Some
economists have warned that the number may be misleading due to the Veteran’s
Day holiday that occurred in the week the data was collected. Also today the
U.S. consumer sentiment
rose to 83.5 from 82.7, according to the University of Michigan’s preliminary
report.Â
style=”mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt”>Overall NYSE volume was
1,009,275,000. NYSE advancing
issues were 1,265, with up
volume at 334,601,000; declining
issues were 1,812, with down
volume at 664,306,000. Overall
Nasdaq volume was 1,554,839,000.
Nasdaq advancing issues were 1,719style=”mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt”>, with up volume at 753,831,000style=”mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt”>; declining issues were 1,780 style=”mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt”>with down volume at 783,285,000style=”mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt”>. The href=”https://tradingmarkets.com.site/stocks/indicators/timing/mbias.cfm”>VIX
was down 0.81 to 25.32. The href=”https://tradingmarkets.com.site/stocks/indicators/timing/mbias.cfm”>TRIN
was down .13Â to 1.38. With the low volume today it is difficult to tell what
might be on traders minds. There is speculation that traders don’t want to take
home shares into the long weekend as the event of bin Laden’s capture or another
terrorist attack could dramatically alter price action. There will be a half-day
of trading Friday.
size=2>Top sectors of the day were the size=2>Semiconductor Sector Index style=”mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt”>
(
$SOX.X |
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PowerRating),
rising 1.89%style=”mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt”> to
503.47, style=”mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt”>and the
Pharmaceutical Index style=”mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt”>
(
$DRG.X |
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climbing 1.35%style=”mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt”> to
401.85style=”mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt”>.
size=2>Losing sectors of the day were the High
Technology Index
(
$PSE.X |
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PowerRating)
down 2.67%
to 661.54,
style=”mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt”>and the Dow Jones Utilities Index
size=2>
(
$UTIL.X |
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PowerRating) dropped size=2>1.95%size=2> to 286.47style=”mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt”>.Â
style=”mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt”>Wellpoint
Health Networks
(
WLP |
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PowerRating)
shrank 0.15% to
119.18, announcing plans to buy
size=2>CareFirstÂ
for $1.3 billion in cash and stock.
size=2>Bsize=2>iotechnology company Amgen
size=2>Â
(
AMGN |
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PowerRating) rose 6.65% to
61.7, expecting earnings to grow by 20% from sales of new anemia and arthritis
products.Â
style=”mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt”>Shares of energy trader
Enron
Corpsize=2>
(
ENE |
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PowerRating) plunged 28.33% to
5.01, size=2>on speculation that Dynergy
(
DYN |
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PowerRating) would not buy the
ailing company, due to a $960 million debt due next week from a recent credit
downgrade.Â
size=2 color=”#0000FF”>Hormel Foodsstyle=”mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt”>
(
HRL |
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PowerRating) tumbled 2.06% to 25.14, style=”mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt”>reporting an increase
in earnings of 13% this quarter due to strong turkey and Spam sales. The company
earned 49 cents a share compared to 44 cents a year ago.
style=”FONT-FAMILY: Arial”>Athletic shoe and apparel retailer
Foot Lockerstyle=”FONT-FAMILY: ‘Arial’; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ‘Times New Roman’; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA”>size=2> style=”mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt”>
(
Z |
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PowerRating) tripped 2.37% to 16.06,style=”mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt”> reporting a rise in third quarter profits due to
promotional sales launched after the Sept. 11 attacks. The company reported
earnings of 26 cents a share compared to 23 cents a year ago.
Department store chain
Dillard’s style=”mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt”>
(
DDS |
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PowerRating), which fell 2.83% to 15.11, style=”mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt”>announced earnings losses of 48 cents a share
compared to a loss of 4 cents a share a year ago. The company attributed losses
to weak consumer confidence from the September 11 attacks.
The style=”FONT-FAMILY: Arial”>World Wrestling Federation
EntertainmentÂ
(
WWF |
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PowerRating), dipped face=Arial size=2>1.55% to 12.06, size=2>announcing earnings of 7 cents a share compared to 13 cents a year ago.
The weak economy post Sept. 11 was cited as the cause for the decline in
revenue.