What Was Positive In The Market
The
bears ruled the day as the major indexes cruised south off the
opening bell, then consolidated between 1 pm and 2 pm ET, before another probe
down and a reflexive rally into the close. The only gainers on the day were gold
and silver, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare, with airlines, chemicals, oil
service, transportation, and forest and paper products leading the losers.
Today the Semiconductor Index
(
$SOX.X |
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PowerRating), down 3.35% at 301.41, dipped below its recent lows to a level
not seen since late 1998. This negative bias was helped by an earnings warning
from National Semiconductor
(
NSM |
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PowerRating), down 1.45%, and another round of
weak economic data. The near future doesn’t look so hot for the sector, with
worries mounting over it hindering a successful bottom in the indexes.
The Dow Jones Industrial
Average
(
$INDU.X |
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PowerRating) closed down 2.27% at 8313.13. The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
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PowerRating) closed down 2.30% at 864.24. The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
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PowerRating)
closed down 2.51% at 1247.84.
U.S. Treasury Bonds were
up 1’15 at 107 ’23.
In economic news, non-farm payrolls rose only 6,000
vs. the 60,000 expected by analysts. The unemployment rate came in at
the expected 5.9% rate. Also, average hourly earnings rose 0.3%.
Market breadth was negative,
with NYSE declining issues over advancing issues by a ratio of 2.78, and down
volume over up volume by a 4.46 ratio. Nasdaq declining issues over advancing
issues came in at 2.13, and down volume beat up volume by a 4.10 ratio. The
VIX was up 3.90 at 45.39. The
TRIN was down 0.59 at 1.54.
Below average volume had the Dow the S&P 500, and
the Nasdaq closing near the bottom of their daily ranges. The Broker/Dealer
Index
(
$XBD.X |
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PowerRating) also closed near the bottom of its range.
The top sectors of the day were the Gold and
Silver Index
(
$XAU.X |
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PowerRating), up 3.36% at 113.03, and the Pharmaceutical
Index
(
$DRG.X |
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PowerRating), up 0.61% at 290.14.
Losing
sectors of the day were the Airline Index
(
$XAL.X |
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PowerRating), down 6.85%
at 48.63, and the S&P Chemical Index
(
$CEX.X |
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PowerRating), down 5.23% at
152.87.
Entertainment giant Walt
Disney
(
DIS |
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PowerRating), down 9.03% at 15.31, announced that it expects its
fourth-quarter results to come in below expectations as its theme-park business
will likely fall below its year-ago performance.Â
In the airline business, parent
of United Airlines, UAL Corp.
(
UAL |
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PowerRating), down 20.49% at 4.15, confirmed
the fact that it hired bankruptcy lawyers late last year. And U.S. Airways
(
U |
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PowerRating), down 1.98% at 2.47, announced that its top executives have agreed to
take pay cuts. Also in the business, AMR Corp.
(
AMR |
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PowerRating), down 8.15% at
9.80, and Continental Airlines
(
CAL |
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PowerRating), down 9.18% at 9.00.
In the networking sector,
Cisco Systems
(
CSCO |
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PowerRating), down 1.90% at 11.87, received comments form S.G.
Cowen who said it believes sluggish demand in the industry will bring to
company’s earnings to come in flat or slightly ahead of expectations.
Insurance company Cigna Corp
(
CI |
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PowerRating), down 4.03% at 83.95, missed its
second-quarter earnings expectations by a penny with earnings of $1.95 per
share.
Chip maker National Semiconductor
(
NSM |
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PowerRating), down 1.45%
at 16.88, warned that its first-quarter sales are expected to come in below
previous estimates due to weak demand.
Auto retailer Group 1 Automotive
(
GPI |
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PowerRating), down 3.15%
at 25.20, beat its second-quarter earnings expectations by a penny with earnings
of 78 cents a share.
Biotechnology company Integra
(
IART |
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PowerRating), down 12.01%
at 14.87, beat its second-quarter earnings expectations by a penny with
profits of 14 cents per share.
Media giant AOL Time Warner
(
AOL |
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PowerRating), down 6.44% at 10.30, was
reported by the Wall Street Journal that the SEC is investigating its
dealings with PurchasePro.com.
From TM’s proprietary Implosion List, chip maker Maxim
Integrated
(
MXIM |
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PowerRating), down 7.84% at 29.96, conglomerate Siemen’s AG
(
SI |
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PowerRating), down 5.56% at 44.11, and online travel agent Expedia
(
EXPE |
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PowerRating),
down 5.33% at 42.80.