What May Have Fueled The Late Buying…

October 29, 2002
Daniel Beighley

A huge
drop in the consumer confidence number sent the markets down sharply
in early trading, though after consolidating for much of the session, an
afternoon rally brought the major indexes to close well off the day’s lows.
There is speculation that month-end markups fueled the late buying. Despite the
strength of recent rallies, the markets are showing some weakness in volume
patterns as discussed by Gary
Kaltbaum. The bulls would rather see the declines on lighter volume, which
has not been the case.

In economic news, consumer
confidence came crashing down to 79.4 vs. expectations of 90.0. This is a
nine-year low for the report.

The 10-year U.S. Note
was +1 010 at 114 125..

The dollar was -0.05 at
107.29.

Volume was average, at
1,372,003,000 on the NYSE, and
1,576,517,000 on
the Nasdaq.

Market breadth was negative,
with NYSE declining issues over advancing issues by a ratio of 1.30, and down
volume over up volume by a 2.29 ratio. Nasdaq declining issues over advancing
issues came in at 1.21, and down volume beat up volume by a 3.22 ratio.

The
VIX
was +1.13 at 36.80. The TRIN
was +0.70 at 1.70.

Posting the Dow’s biggest
gains, Procter and Gamble
(
PG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +3.80% at 89.01, beat analysts’
expectations for its fiscal first quarter, and reiterated its future earnings
targets.

Stocks in
the news:

Healthcare facilities company
Advance PCS
(
ADVP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +17.74 at 26.34, beat its second-quarter earnings
target by $0.05 with profits of $0.43 per share. The company has also raised its
full year guidance.

Biotech company Biosite
(
BSTE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +17.38% at 29.30, beat its third-quarter earnings targets by $0.04
with profits of $0.24 per share. The company has also guided above consensus for
the third quarter.

Also in the biotech sector, ImClone
Systems
(
IMCL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -10.36% at 7.18, fell after it was reported that that
the company’s anti cancer drug Erbitux produced disappointing results in patient
testing. The company said the news was only a rumor.

Chemical manufacturing company OM
Group
(
OMG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -71.03% at 8.95, sank after missing its earnings
expectations and had estimates lowered by CSFB and Smith and Barney. The stock
was also listed on TM’s Implosion
List.

Rental company Rent-A-Center
(
RCII |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.82% at 44.96, beat its third-quarter earnings expectations by
$0.02 with profits of $1.14 per share. The company has also raised guidance for
the fourth quarter.

Pharmaceutical company King
Pharmaceuticals
(
KG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -10.83% at 15.96 was downgraded by Wachovia to
“hold” from “strong buy.”

Oil services company Cooper
Cameron
(
CAM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.31% at 43.90, lowered its earnings guidance for the
fourth quarter to $0.38-$0.42 per share vs. a consensus of $0.44. 2003.

What May Have Fueled The Late Buying…

BUY THE FEAR, SELL THE GREED

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