What Is This Bellwether Sector Saying?

March 27, 2003
Daniel Beighley

The markets ended the session
slightly lower, after the major indexes spent most of the day in an uptrend
making up ground from a sharply lower open. Weakness was evident with late-day
selling. As the war pressed on, the markets appeared to be unhindered from the
slew of mixed news releases over the day’s events. As has been stated by
coalition leaders, it may be weeks until the war is resolved. TM’s Kevin
Haggerty believes things will get worse until they get better, so caveat
emptor! One of the day’s weakest sectors was the bellwether semiconductor
index.

Strongest today were oil service
(
$OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+2.41%,

natural gas
(
$XNG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.95%,

In economic news, initial jobless claims came
in at 402K vs. expectations of 420K, GDP final was at an expected 1.4%,
and the chain deflator final was at 1.8% vs. expectations of 1.6%.

The Ten Year Note
(
TYH3 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was +060 at 113 295.

The US dollar
(
DXH3 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was +0.05 at 101.12.

Volume was

average,
with the NYSE coming in at 1,194,776,000 and the Nasdaq at 1,414,457,000.

Market breadth was mixed, with NYSE
advancing issues over declining issues by a ratio of 1.23, and down volume over
up volume by a 1.10 ratio. Nasdaq advancing issues over declining issues came in
at 1.02, and down volume beat up volume by a 1.25 ratio.

The

VIX was -0.01 at 32.15. The TRIN
was -0.13 at 1.35.

Biggest Dow decliners were:

Stocks in the news:

Insurance company Prudential
(
PRU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.62% at 30.20,
announced that it has agreed to buy 80% of South Korean Hyundai Group’s money
management business for %400 million.

Investment services company AG Edwards
(
AGE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.07%
at 27.59, missed its fourth-quarter consensus by $0.06 with profits of $0.26 per
share.

Healthcare facilities company AdvancePCS
(
ADVP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-4.11% at 28.69, sold off after the company announced its president will step
down due to personal reasons.

Chip maker Broadcom
(
BRCM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -16.16% at 13.19, was
downgraded by Morgan Stanley to “equal-weight” from “overweight”.

Electric utilities company Xcel Energy
(
XEL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.38%
at 12.97, was upgraded by JP Morgan to “neutral” from “underweight”, by Morgan
Stanley to “overweight” from “equal-weight”, and by Banc of America to “buy”
from “neutral”.Â

Also in the electric utilities business, Entergy
(
ETR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-1.52 at 47.93, was downgraded to “neutral” from “buy” by UBS Warburg.

Software company Internet Security Systems
(
ISSX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-4.14% at 10.17, has had its full year estimates cut by UBS Warburg to $0.61 per
share vs. a consensus of $0.65 per share.

Education company Corinthian Colleges
(
COCO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.39%
at 40.85, was downgraded by JP Morgan to “neutral” from “overweight”.

Biotech firm Gilead Sciences
(
GILD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +6.12% at 43.00,
was upgraded by Lehman Brothers to “overweight” from “equal-weight”.

Also in the biotech world, Allergan
(
AGN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.35% at
70.04, was downgraded by UBS Warburg to “neutral” from “buy”.

Regional bank National City
(
NCC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.21% at 28.03,
was upgraded by Lehman Brothers to “overweight” from “equal-weight”.

Also in the regional bank sector, Synovus
(
SNV |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-4.08% at 18.09, was downgraded by Lehman Brothers to “underweight” from
“equal-weight”.

danielb@tradingmarkets.com

What Is This Bellwether Sector Saying?

BUY THE FEAR, SELL THE GREED

Quick Links

Company Info

Contact

Company Resources