Two Potential Market Movers To Watch

December 5, 2002
Daniel Beighley

The
major indexes lost ground for the fourth day in a row, with the major
indexes closing just below their 20-day moving averages. Despite upgrades and
raised earnings guidance from key Dow stocks, price action spent most of the day
in a down trend, with one afternoon rally that fizzled in the afternoon. After
the close, a mid-quarter update from Intel sent the stock higher as the company
said it expects its fourth quarter to come in at the high end of estimates. Tomorrow
we have unemployment data coming out. Both are potential market movers.

In economic news, initial
claims came in at 355,000 vs. an expected 375,000.

The 10-year U.S. Note
was + 140 at 113 065.

The Dollar was -0.05 at
106.19.

Volume was below
average, with the NYSE coming in at 1,201,822,000, and the Nasdaq at
1,450,952,000.

Market breadth was negative,
with NYSE declining issues over advancing issues by a ratio of 1.44, and down
volume over up volume by a 2.52 ratio. Nasdaq declining issues over advancing
issues came in at 1.55, and down volume beat up volume by a 2.51 ratio.

The
VIX
was +2.14 at 34.28. The TRIN
was +0.09 at 1.74.

Stocks in the news:

Discount retail king Wal-Mart
(
WMT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.60% at 53.02, said that its November sales increased 2.6%, though
came in at the lower end of forecasts.

Office supply company Office
Depot
(
ODP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.63% at 15.87, said that it expects same store sales in
North America to be in the single digits due to disappointing October results,
though the company reaffirmed its fourth-quarter earnings targets.

Computer hardware king International
Business Machines
(
IBM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.75% at 83.06, said that it intends to make
up a $3 billion loss in its pension fund by the end of the year.

Also in the hardware sector, Gateway
computer
(
GTW |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -16.99% at 3.42, issued a profit warning for the fourth
quarter.

Household product maker
Procter and Gamble
(
PG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.95% at 85.23,Â was upgraded by Banc of
America to “buy” from “market perform”.

Investment services company
Morgan Stanley
(
MWD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -3.68% at 42.40, was downgraded by Merrill Lynch
to “neutral” from “buy” based on valuation.

Electronic retailer Best Buy
(
BBY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.40% at 26.72, raised its earnings guidance to $0.24-0.27 per share
vs. previous estimates of $0.22.

Drug maker Merck
(
MRK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+0.66% at 59.23, raised its earnings guidance for 2003 to $3.40-3.47 per share
vs. previous estimates of $3.37 per share.

Two Potential Market Movers To Watch

BUY THE FEAR, SELL THE GREED

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