What Semis’ Heavy Volume Suggests…

October 9, 2002
Daniel Beighley

While selling was once again the predominant theme of
the day, technology showed some strength, especially the Semis, which
were higher earlier in the session. The Semis are considered to be an important
component by

Kevin Haggerty for helping the overall market higher off a bottom. The heavy
volume here suggests institutions might be stepping up.

Goldman Sach’s Abby Joseph Cohen put another dent in sentiment when she lowered
her outlook for the Dow and S&P for the next 12 months. Another round of profit
warnings and downgrades also helped keep the indexes under water. Price action
opened lower off the bell, and zigzagged sideways for most of the session, until
sellers brought it down further in the last hour of trading. The Dow hit a fresh
five-year low.

There were no economic
releases.

U.S. Treasury Bonds
closed +25 at 114 ’20.

The Dollar was -1.23 at
107.26.

Volume was above average
at 1,784,379,000
on the NYSE, and 1,741,108,000
on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth was negative,
with NYSE declining issues over advancing issues by a ratio of 6.01, and down
volume over up volume by a 5.96 ratio. Nasdaq declining issues over advancing
issues came in at 2.91, and down volume beat up volume by a1.01 ratio.

The

VIX was +3.02 at 49.48. The

TRIN was +0.34 at 0.99.

The biggest Dow gainer was chip
maker Intel Corp.
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.96% at 13.48.

Stocks in
the news:

Drug makers are under
pressure asÂ Johnson & Johnson
(
JNJ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -3.913% at 56.20, has been
downgraded by USB Piper Jaffray to “outperform” from “strong buy” based on
valuation and the perception that investor sentiment has ignored risks specific
to the company’s business. Also,
Merck
(
MRK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.80% at 4.63, has been
downgraded by Raymond James to “market perform” from “strong buy” based on the
belief that the company will issue an earnings warning by December. And
Abbott Labs
(
ABT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.10% at 40.30, reported third-quarter earnings in
line with expectations, though said it will lay off 3 percent of its workforce.

Airline stocks werealso under pressure, as CSFB
lowered its rating on the sector to “market weight” from “overweight”. ARR
Corp
(
AMR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -15.56% at 3.31, was downgraded to “neutral” from
“outperform.”

Gaming company Argosy Gaming
(
AGY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -12.46% at 17.34, has warned that its third-quarter earnings will be
$0.63-$0.65 per share vs. the Multex consensus of $0.72.

Regional bank SunTrust Banks
(
STI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -4.86% at 51.79, has missed its third-quarter earnings expectations
by $0.01, with profits of $1.20 per share.

Retailer Gymboree
(
GYMB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+1.93% at 16.90, has raised its earnings outlook to $0.15-$0.17 a a share from
previous estimates of $0.13-$0.15 a share.

Food company General Mills
(
GIS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -7.70% at 31.01, was downgraded by CSFB to “neutral” from
“outperform.”Â Â

What Semis’ Heavy Volume Suggests…

BUY THE FEAR, SELL THE GREED

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