What The Bulls Are Looking For On Wednesday

December 17, 2002
Daniel Beighley

After
an attempt to rally off the open, stocks were hit with selling
pressure, as bad news from McDonalds and retailers impacted sentiment. Bulls are
now looking for follow through from yesterday’s buying spree, as the major
indexes remain just above their 50-day moving averages. Volume was once again on
the light side. The U.S. Dollar
(
DXH3 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.37 at 104.15., came under
pressure as it hit a three-year low against the Euro
(
ECH3 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +4.50
102.28.

In economic news, the CPI
rose 0.1% vs. expectations of no change, core CPI rose 0.2% vs. an
expected rise of 0.1%, housing starts were at 1.697M just about right in
line with an expected 1.7M, building permits came in at 1.725M vs.
expectations of 1.720M, industrial production rose 0.1% vs. an
expectations of no change, and capacity utilization rose 75.6% vs.
expectations of 75.3%.

The 10-year U.S. Note
was +075 at 112 140.

The Dollar was -0.52 at
104.00.

Volume was well below
average, with the NYSE coming in at 1,221,554,000 and the Nasdaq at
1,318,395,000.

Market breadth was negative,
with NYSE declining issues over advancing issues by a ratio of 1.53, and down
volume over up volume by a 2.38 ratio. Nasdaq declining issues over advancing
issues came in at 1.43, and down volume beat up volume by a 1.68 ratio.

The
VIX
was +0.18 at 30.16. The TRIN
was +1.10 at 1.54.

Leading the Dow lower:

Stocks in the news:

In the electronic retailing
business, Best Buy
(
BBY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -5.51% at 24.00, beat its
third-quarter earnings expectations by $0.01 with profits of $0.26 per share,
though lowered guidance for the fourth-quarter. And Circuit City
(
CC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-11.23% at 7.27, has beat its third-quarter earnings by $0.03 with profits of
$0.10 per share.

Discount retailer Walgreen’s
(
WAG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.69% at 29.13, has been upgraded by Lehman Brothers to
“overweight” from “equal-weight”.

Software and programming
company Take-Two Interactive
(
TTWO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.12% at 24.60,Â beat its
fourth-quarter earnings consensus by $0.06 per share with profits of $0.54 per
share. The company has also has issued first-quarter earnings guidance of $1.14
a share vs. an analyst consensus of $0.99 a share.

Dow component and conglomerate General
Electric
(
GE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.62% at 26.00, reaffirmed its its outlook for 2002,
though said it expects economic growth to be slow.

Daniel

What The Bulls Are Looking For On Wednesday

BUY THE FEAR, SELL THE GREED

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