What Gave Friday Its Positive Spin
Trading was choppy this options
expiration, with the major indexes posting modest gains at the close. An
earnings upside surprise from software titan Microsoft put a positive spin on
the day, with negative news out of the semiconductor sector being shrugged off.
The markets have now made two weeks in a row of hefty gains, with all three
major averages above their 50-day moving averages.
The Dow Jones Industrial
Average
(
$INDU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed +0.57% at 8322.40. The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
closed +0.58% at 884.38. The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed +1.22% at
1,287.87.
The big winners on the day were
retail
(
$RLX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.50%, computer tech
(
$XCI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.08%,
telecoms
(
$XTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.54%, and utilities
(
$UTIL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.51%.
The biggest decliners were in
Internet
(
$GIN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), 1.79%, gold and silver
(
$XAU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.47%,
chemicals
(
$CEX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.31%, and airlines
(
$XAL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.30%.
In economic news, the CPI
came in as expected at 0.2%, the core CPI reading was 0.1% vs. an
expected 0.2%. Also, the trade balance was -38.5 billion vs. an expected
$35.9 billion.
The 10-year U.S. Note
was +040 at 112 220.
The Dollar was +0.15 at
108.87.
Volume was average, at
1,392,251,000
on the NYSE, and 1,654,453,000
on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was mostly
positive, with NYSE declining issues over advancing issues by a ratio of
1.06, and up volume over down volume by a 1.15 ratio. Nasdaq advancing issues
over declining issues came in at 1.08, and up volume beat down volume by a 1.59
ratio.
The
VIX was -0.34 at 39.82. The
TRIN was -0.07 at 0.81.
Leading the Dow:
Microsoft
(
MSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+4.68% at 53.15, beat its fiscal first-quarter estimated by $0.07 with profits
of $0.50 per share.
And, Home Depot
(
HD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
4.32% at 30.41, SBC Communications
(
SBC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +3.06% at 25.25,
International Business Machines
(
IBM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.83% at 74.25, Wal Mart
(
WMT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.71% at 56.28.
Stocks in the news:
Also in the software business,
PeopleSoft
(
PSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +4.76% at 17.14, was upgraded by WR Hambrecht to
“buy” from “hold” with a price target of $20.
Also in the software business,
CheckPoint Software
(
CHKP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -20.62% at 13.28, reported profits for the
third-quarter lower than a year ago, and warned that their fourth-quarter will
come in below expectations due to a lack of corporate demand. And Oracle
(
ORCL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -3.85% at 9.49, was downgraded by First Albany to “neutral” from
“buy”.
Biotech firm Biogen
(
BGEN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+10.30% at 36.81, beat its third-quarter earnings estimates by $0.02 with
profits of $0.37 per share. The company also announced that it has settled a
royalties dispute with Schering-Plough
(
SGP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.37% at 18.94.
Drug maker Merck
(
MRK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+0.55% at 51.03, reported third-quarter earnings less than a year ago due to
expiring patents on some of its products.
Online retailer eBay
(
EBAY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+3.11% at 59.96, lowered its earnings forecast for 2003 with earnings per share
expected to be between $1.12 and $1.15.
Chip stocks were hit with
negative news from the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International, who
said orders were down 19% from September and August levels. The book to bill
ratio was also down. Some of the semi stock unaffected by the news were Intel
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.61% at 14.46, Micron Technology
(
MU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +5.10% at 14.00,
Teradyne
(
TER |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +6.66% at 10.56, Applied Materials
(
AMAT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+3.54% at 13.44, and Advanced Micro Devices
(
AMD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.61% at 14.46.
Broker/dealers received credit
rating deductions from Standard & Poor’s, who downgraded Merrill Lynch
(
MER |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+0.16% at 37.55, Goldman Sachs
(
GS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.66% at 70.55, and Morgan
Stanley
(
MWD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.15% at 37.20, citing a weak operating environment.
Financial stock Citigroup
(
C |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.15% at 34.98, was downgraded by A.G. Edwards to “hold” from “buy”.
Coffee behemoth Starbucks
(
SBUX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.85% at 22.34, said that they anticipate 20-25% earnings growth
over the next three to five years.
Conglomerate Textron
(
TXT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+2.39% at 39.70, was upgraded by Morgan Stanley to “overweight” from “equal
weight” based on valuation.
Computer hardware maker Sun
Microsystems
(
SUNW |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -8.36% at 2.74, announced after the bell Thursday
that they took a big loss for their fiscal fourth-quarter, and will lay off 4,400
workers.