What Will The Intel News Mean For The Market Tomorrow?

  • January 14, 2003
  • Daniel Beighley

The
markets ended the day slightly higher, with the Dow and S&P
extending their tight ranges between the 50-day and 200-day averages. Nasdaq
trading was sloppy, and mostly sideways, as traders anticipated Intel’s earnings
announcement after the bell, which came in $0.02 ahead of expectations. Intel’s
news brought on slight selling pressure in the after-hours session, which could
potentially carry over into tomorrow’s open.

The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
(
$INDU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed +0.64%
at 8,842.62. The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed
+0.58%
at 931.66. The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed +1.03%
at 1,461.01.

The biggest gainers on the day
were networking
(
$NWX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +4.82%, telecoms
(
$IXTC.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+2.37%, and natural gas
(
$XNG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.29%.

The biggest laggards on the day
were The Gold and Silver Index
(
$XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -3.88%, as it fell
below it’s month-long consolidation, oil service
(
$OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.08%,
and consumer
(
$CMR.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.24%.

In economic news, retail
sales rose 1.2% for December, just under the 1.5% the market expected. Retail
sales (ex-auto) were unchanged vs. an expected 0.3% rise. Also, export
prices (ex-ag) came in at 0.1%, and import prices (ex-oil) were at
0.1%.

The Ten Year Note
(
TYH3 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was +120 at 113 070.

The U.S. Dollar
(
DXH3 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was  unchanged at 101.53.

Volume was average,
with the NYSE coming in at 1,296,886,000 and the Nasdaq at 1,516,568,000.

Market breadth was positive,
with NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by a ratio of 1.53, and up
volume over down volume by a 2.11 ratio. Nasdaq advancing issues over declining
issues came in at 1.42, and up volume beat down volume by a 2.59 ratio.

The
VIX
was -0.97 at 26.55. The TRIN
was -0.34 at 0.71.

Leading the Dow were:

SBC Communications
(
SBC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.95% at 29.61, Citgroup
(
C |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.40% at 37.93, Intel Corp.
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.35% at 17.79, General
Motors
(
GM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.91% at 40.50, Alcoa
(
AA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.26% at 23.16,
and International Business Machines
(
IBM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.22% at 88.58.

Stocks in the news:

In the semiconductor sector,
Varian Semiconductor
(
VSEA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.27% at 29.52, raised its first-quarter
guidance to $0.06-0.09 earnings per share vs. previous guidance of a break-even
performance. Rambus
(
RMBS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.54% at 8.53, beat its first-quarter
earnings expectations by $0.01. And, National Semiconductor
(
NSM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+1.20% at 16.86, was added to Solomon Smith Barney’s “recommended
list”.

Also in the chip sector, Photon
Dynamics
(
PHTN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -23.00% at 20.52, sold off after the company announced
it will postpone the release of its first-quarter results. 

In the pharmaceutical sector,  Abbott
Labs
(
ABT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.93% at 39.06,  was downgraded by JP Morgan to
“neutral” from “overweight”. Also in the sector, Shire
Pharmaceuticals
(
SHPGY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.72% at 17.67, has been upgraded by UBS
Warburg to “buy” from “hold”. And, Barr
Labs
(
BRL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +3.90% at 76.97, raised its earnings guidance to $0.92-$0.94
vs. previous estimates of $0.82-0.87.

French telecom company Alcatel
(
ALA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +22.64% at 7.15, came in with an upside surprise as the company said
it expects fourth-quarter numbers  to come in ahead of expectations.

Also in the drug making business, Genzyme
(
GENZ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.93% at 32.61, rallied after an FDA panel had positive comments
on it therapy for the Fabry disease.

Restaurant company Yum Brands
(
YUM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+2.37% at 25.38, was upgraded by Lehman Brothers to “overweight” from
“equal weight”.

Retail giant Wal-Mart
(
WMT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+0.25% at 51.41, announced that it is considering making a cash offer for the
supermarket company Safeway
(
SFY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.66% at 8.90.

Education company Corinthian
Colleges
(
COCO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.78% at 36.97, was upgraded to
“overweight” from “neutral”.

Energy company Duke Energy
(
DUK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.44% at 17.95, was downgraded by Deutsche Bank to “sell”
from “hold”.

Food processing company Sara
Lee
(
SLE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.81% at 22.06, was downgraded by Salomon Smith Barney to
“underperform” from “in-line”.

From TM’s Implosion
List, business services company Charles River Laboratories
(
CRL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),-6.25% at 30.00 .

danielb@tradingmarkets.com