What Traders Focused On Today
The
markets went south off the bell and trended sideways for most of the
day, staging a late-day rally that fizzled into the close. Gold and silver,
along with biotechnology stocks, held the day’s biggest gains, with healthcare
and technology taking slight losses.Â
The Dow Jones Industrial
Average
(
$INDU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed down
0.30%Â to
10,115.26. The S&P 500
(
$SPX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed up
0.01%
to 1,109.33. The Nasdaq [$COMPQ |$COMPQ] closed down
0.17%
to 1,766.86.
Encouraging earnings
announcements in the retail sector and a worse-than-expected consumer confidence
number were the focus of traders today. Consumer confidence came in at 94.1 for
February, its lowest level since November. Many economists believe the number to
be a part of the recovery process.
Overall NYSE volume was
1,291,255,000. NYSE advancing issues were
1,803, with up volume at 727,697,000;
declining issues were 1,320, with down volume
at 528,142,000. Overall Nasdaq volume was
1,651,056,000. Nasdaq advancing issues were
1,831, with up volume at 883,514,000;
declining issues were 1,641 with down volume
at 750,539,000. The
VIX was up 0.29 to 23.57. The
TRIN was up 0.40 to 0.99.
Below-average volume on the
session had the Dow closing above its 200-day moving average, the S&P 500 above
its 20-day moving average, and the Nasdaq still well below its major moving
averages. The Semiconductor Index
(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 0.75%, hit its
50-day moving average at its high today, though backed off. The Broker/Dealer
Index
(
$XBD.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 0.47%, still remains below its major moving
averages.
Top sectors of the day were the
Gold and Silver Index
(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) up 4.78% at 66.57 and the Mexico
Index
(
$MXY.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) up 1.97% at
107.62.
Losing sectors of the day were
the Morgan Stanley Healthcare Provider Index
(
$RXH.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) down 0.98%
at 298.69, and the Combined Telecom Index
(
$IXTC.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) down 0.89% to
168.38.
Home retail company Home
Depot
(
HD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 0.98% to 51.56, posted fourth quarter results with net
income rising 53%.
Home builder company Toll
Brothers
(
TOL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 7.07% to 47.09, reported an 11% increase in fiscal
first quarter profits and said that it expects to exceed current targets for
2002.
Electronics manufacturer
company Flextronics
(
FLEX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 5.82% to 15.06, said that continued
weakness in the telecom business would hinder its fourth quarter profit, but
also said the current quarter appears to be the bottom of its business cycle.
Discount department store
company Federated Department Stores
(
FD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 7.02% to 41.76, announced
earnings of $1.90 a share, beating analysts’ expectations of $1.86 cents a
share.
Coffee retailer Starbucks
(
SBUX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 0.72% to 22.31, reaffirmed its 2002 earnings guidance with
revenue to grow about 20%, and announced plans to enter the Mexican market.
Waste specialists Waste
Management
(
WMI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 2.18% to 25.78, said that earnings came in at 25
cents a share, up from 6 cents a share this time last year, in line with
analysts’ expectations.
Software maker Computer
Associates
(
CA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 9.76% to 17.54, rose after it announced that it plans
no changes to its accounting methods. The company is currently being
investigated by federal regulators over accounting issues.
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