Uncertainty Lingers
A fairly tame Producer Price Index Report and a jump in jobless claims are
not enough to rally stocks Thursday, as stocks remain under pressure because of
the ongoing election uncertainty.
The PPI showed an increase of 0.4%, which was higher that the 0.1% decrease
analysts expected, while the PPI core rate decreased by 0.1%, which was lower
than the 0.1% increase analysts expected.
Jobless claims spiked up to 344,000 following last week’s 308,000, which
suggests the cooling of the economy continues.
The Nasdaq futures are down 48 points, and the Dow futures are down 58
points.
The S&Ps look to open down 3.3 points while the yield on the 10-year
Treasury is 5.82%.
Morning Movers
Microsoft
(
MSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), which has recently been considered a
Bush-for-President tracking stock, is pulling back from some of its recent
run-up. Microsoft traded as high as 72 3/8 on Wednesday before closing at 69
7/16, and in pre-market activity the software giant is trading down to 67 3/4.
Sun Microsystems
(
SUNW |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) plunged 10 15/16 to 100 1/2 Wednesday and
trading down to 99 in pre-market activity, which puts it about 1/8 above its
200-day moving average. In the past few weeks Sun has been able to bounce twice
off of this closely-watched average.
PMC Sierra
(
PMCS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed down 19 to 108 7/8 Wednesday, and that was
below its April low of 110 3/4. PMCS is trading down to 104 3/4 in pre-market
activity, which puts it back down to levels not seen since February.
With dot.coms continuing to collapse, B2B Internet incubator ICGE
(
ICGE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
has joined the downtrodden after announcing layoffs of 35% of its staff. ICGE
closed Wednesday down 2 1/16 to 16 1/4 and is trading down to 10 1/2 in
pre-market activity.
Earnings News
The Walt Disney Company
(
DIS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) posted fiscal fourth quarter earnings of 11
cents per share, beating First Call/Thomson Financial estimates of 7 cents per
share. Disney closed Wednesday down 1/4 to 36 7/8