What This Means To Sentiment
The
major averages are under pressure at mid day, with technology issues
leading the action to the downside. Several downgrades across the sectors from
various brokerages have taken sentiment down a notch, though volume remains on
the light side. The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq are trading just below their 20-day
moving averages.
Dow Jones Industrial Average
(
$INDU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is -1.36% at 8,528.05 The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is
 -1.70% at 896.74. The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is  -2.67% at 1,384.48.
Current leaders are utilities
(
$UTY.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.85%, pharmaceuticals
(
$DRG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.70%,
healthcare
(
$HCX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.56%.
Leading to the downside are
networking
(
$NWX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -6.25%, Internet
(
$INX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -6.27%,
and semiconductors
(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -5.36%.
There are no economic releases
for the day.
The 10-year U.S. Note
is +020 at 113 085.
The Dollar is -0.66 at
105.53.
Volume is at 612,699,000
on the NYSE, and 787,575,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is negative,
with NYSE declining issues over advancing issues by a ratio of 1.21, and down
volume over up volume by a 1.21 ratio. Nasdaq declining issues over advancing
issues came are at 1.53, and down volume is over up volume by a 2.76 ratio.
Leading the Dow down are:
Intel Corp.
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -4.80% at 17.81, JP
Morgan
(
JPM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -4.42% at 23.35, Citigroup
(
C |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -3.62% at 36.20,
Hewlett Packard
(
HPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -3.14% at 18.24, McDonalds
(
MCD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-3.45% at 17.35, International Business Machines
(
IBM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.92% at
79.92.
Stocks in
the news:
Computer hardware giant
International Business Machines
(
IBM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.92% at 79.92, has been
downgraded by Banc of America to “market perform” from “buy.”
Communications equipment maker
Qualcomm
(
QCOM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -4.80% at 39.49, has been downgraded by Salomon
Smith Barney to “in-line” from “outperform,” and has had coverage initiated by
Merrill Lynch at “neutral.”
In the retail sector,
Wal-Mart
(
WMT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.24% at 51.85, announced that same-store sales are
coming in at the low end of their expectations for the holiday period.
Elsewhere in the semiconductor
sector, KLA-Tencor
(
KLAC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -4.31% at 37.78, Applied Materials
(
AMAT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -6.25% at 13.95, and Texas Instruments
(
TXN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -6.20% at
17.10.
Drug maker Schering-Plough
(
SGP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +7.26% at 22.90, has been upgraded by Prudential to “buy” from
“hold.”
Bear Stearns has downgraded the
following gaming stocks to “hold” from “strong buy” based on the belief that the
stock prices for the group will remain range bound for the next two years:
Activision
(
ATVI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -5.80% at 18.20, Midway Games
(
MWY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-13.97% at 5.79, and THQ Inc.
(
THQI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -6.76% at 15.84. Also,
Acclaim Entertainment
(
AKLM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -16.42% at 0.911, was downgraded by
Stearns to “reduce” from “hold” for the same reason.
Bank of America has upgraded
the oil service sector to “overweight” from “market weight”, and has listed the
following stocks as top picks: Patterson UTI Energy
(
PTEN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+2.12% at 31.83, Nabors Industries
(
NBR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.46% at 37.37, BJ
Services Co.
(
BJS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.45% at 33.28, Smith International Inc.
(
SII |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
0.09% at 34.22, Ensco International
(
ESV |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.65% at 28.89, and
Rowan Cos.
(
RDC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.78% at 22.29.