What Worked Wednesday?
Positive comments from analysts and company managements helped
rally select techs Wednesday, but the scattered positive performances were not
enough to motivate the broader averages which all finished in the red. At the
close, the Dow had lost 0.9%, the Nasdaq has eased 0.7%, and the S&P 500
dropped 1.0%.
Volume was on par with Tuesday’s moderate levels, as 1.75
billion shares traded on the Nasdaq and 1.06 billion shares changed hands on the
NYSE.
While the day’s action was to the downside, some traders
commented that the light volume pullback was just what they liked to see. Some
even commented that the market’s recent performance felt slightly like the bull
of years past.
“This markets feels good. Feels so good it reminds you of
the good old days when all you did was look and buy,” said John Roque, Vice
President, Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder.
Sectors under the most pressure were oil services
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down 5.1%, biotechnology
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down 2.6%, and integrated oils
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While most sectors were down, the semiconductor index managed a
flat close and was one of the better performers of the day. The fact the SOX
held on to Tuesday’s big 6.7% run was constructive for the tech world since
semis usually lead the rebounds in tech.
Top SOX stocks were Rambus
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up 3.1%, and KLA Tencor
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Big caps that bucked the downtrend were Sun Microsystems
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up 3.4% and Oracle
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Citrix Systems
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comments from management that the company will likely beat second quarter
earnings estimates. Citrix gained 4.25 to 27.96 on triple average volume.
Other tech movers included Internet Security Systems
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which jumped 5.12 to 53.78 following positive words and new coverage from
Merrill Lynch. ISSX traded double its average volume.
Dow winners were McDonald’s
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with each up 1.0%.
Dow dogs included Hewlett Packard
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Morgan
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down 2.3%.
Looking ahead, traders will be eyeballing the weekly unemployment numbers
which will be released on Thursday at 8:30 AM ET. Last week’s total was a steep 419,000.