What Did Consumer Confidence Do To Interest Rates Today?

July 29, 2003
Vincent Mao

Stocks
were lower Tuesday
after an unexpected drop in consumer confidence. The Conference Board’s
consumer confidence index dropped to a four-month low on concerns of the still-lagging job market. Following the release, the Dow dropped almost 100 points,
the S&P dropped 12 points, and the Nasdaq dropped nearly 22 points. A trading
floor rumor that Saddam Hussein may have been
captured then sent the market up in a “V” rally, only to pull back in the
afternoon. After an early spike, bonds once again closed in the red, with yields reaching the highest level in almost a year.
McDonald’s
(
MCD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported a second quarter that matched estimates, as
did Dupont
(
DD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating).

In economic news today,
Consumer Confidence for July unexpectedly fell to 76.6 from June’s 83.5.
This was also below economists expectations of a reading of 85. The Bank of
Tokyo-Mitsubishi UBS retail index fell by 0.3% after three straight weeks of
gains.

The 10-year U.S. Note
is -255 at 111 170.

The dollar was +0.22 at
95.50.

Gold was -3.00 at
361.60.

Crude Oil was +0.12 at
30.23.

Volume was
1,421,289,000 on
the NYSE, and 1,682,658,0000 on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth was negative,
with NYSE declining issues over advancing issues by a 1.59, and down volume up
volume by 2.13. Nasdaq declining issues over advancing issues at 1.004, and down
volume over up volume at 1.23.

Top Dow stock(s) were:

Stocks in the news:

Affiliated Computer Services

(
ACS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose after the company posted
better-than-expected fourth-quarter results. The company earned 60 cents a share
compared to 49 cents a share in the year ago period. Revenues rose from $857
million to $1.01 billion. The company also announced that it is in late stages
to sell its government businesses and it is looking to purchase a commercial
information technology business.

Air transportation company
AirTran Holdings
(
AAI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gained after the
company reported fourth-quarter results that beat estimates by 9 cents.
Excluding a one time chart, the company earned 28 cents a share compared to just
7 cents in the year ago quarter.

International gold mining
operator Barrick Gold
(
ABX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) fell after the
company reported its latest quarterly results. For the second quarter, the
company earned 11 cents a share or flat compared to last year’s levels. Revenues
increase by $1 million to $491 million. The results did top consensus estimates
by 5 cents.

Clothing designer Jones
Apparel
(
JNY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) slid by more than 10% after the
company reported second-quarter income of 54 cents a share compared to 56 cents
a share in the year ago period. Jones missed analysts’ estimates by 2 cents.
Jones also lowered full year guidance from $2.90 – $3.10 to $2.75 – $2.80.

Foot wear and apparel maker
K-Swiss
(
KSWS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) fell after the company reported
better-than-expected second-quarter results, but missed revenue estimates. The
company reported earnings of 67 cents a share compared to 30 cents a share in
the year-ago period. Consensus estimates were calling for 65 cents a share.
However revenues came in short of estimates as the company reported $111.8
million compared to analysts’ estimates of $115.4 million. Looking ahead, the
company sees third-quarter earnings coming in between 43 – 50 cents a share or
below current estimates of 54 cents a share. However K-Swiss lifted full year
guidance to $2.20 – $2.31 vs. current estimates of $2.21. Lastly, the company
raised its quarterly dividends from 4 cents to 8 cents.

Graphics chip maker NVIDIA

(
NVDA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) slid after the company announced that sales for the
second quarter will fall below current estimates. The company now sees revenues
between $455 to $460 million compared to estimates of $462 million.

Communications provider
Verizon
(
VZ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) fell despite reporting its latest
quarterly results. For the second quarter, excluding items, Verizon earned 69
cents a share or a penny better than analysts’ estimates. The company also added
1.3 million new customer, which was well above estimates of 900,000.

If you have any comments or
questions, please feel free to email me.

Vincent Mao

vincentm@tradingmarkets.com

What Did Consumer Confidence Do To Interest Rates Today?

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