What The Indices Are Looking Forward To…
The Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 are all
trading very close to their respective 200-day moving averages. The Standard
& Poor’s 500 Index is wrapping up its worst two-year period in almost three
decades.
Index History
The S&P 500 has fallen 12% this year and
dropped 10% last year. The last time it had back-to-back declines was in
1973-74, when it had a combined loss of 47%. The Nasdaq has lost 20% this year
after dropping 39% last year, its biggest two-year slump also since 1973-74,
when it lost 66%.
Even so, the major indexes have rallied from
Sept. 21 when they touched three-year lows. The S&P 500 has climbed 20% from
its September trough, while the Nasdaq has surged 40% and the Dow has gained 23%
in anticipation corporate earnings will improve in the second quarter of next
year. The markets are lower today with lighter holiday volume. The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
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PowerRating)
is trading at 1156.14, down 4.68. The DJIA
(
$INDU |
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51.41 at 10085.58, and the Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
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PowerRating) is down by 12.73 at
1974.60.
Drugs,
Airlines
Bristol-Myers
(
BMY |
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PowerRating) has lost .48
cents, down to 51.32, and ImClone
(
IMCL |
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PowerRating)
has dropped 9.56
to 45.69. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration requested more information on
Imclone’s cancer drug Erbitux, which it is developing with Bristol-Myers. Airline stocks
are up, led by America West
(
AWA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating). The parent company of the eighth-largest U.S. airline, America West, said it won
a $380 million loan guarantee under a federal program to help carriers hurt by
the Sept. 11 attacks on the condition the airline triple the equity stake it is
offering the government. US
Airways Group has risen .66 cents to 3.13. Delta Air Lines
(
DAL |
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Chart |
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PowerRating) has
gained .93 cents to $29.45. UAL Corp., owner of United Airlines
(
UAL |
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PowerRating)
has
added .43 cents to move up to 13.58. And Southwest Airlines
(
LUV |
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PowerRating) is
up slightly by .05 to 18.80.
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