What’s Lifting The Market Higher

August 19, 2002
Daniel Beighley

The
major indexes made headway to the upside today, as price action
pushed north off the bell, chopped higher mid day, and rallied even higher the
last hour into the close. Leading the action were Internet, software,
semiconductors, and telecoms, with gold and silver, biotechnology, and airlines
representing the only losing groups.

In reference to

Kevin Haggerty’s comments this morning, it looks like the Generals lifted us
higher while putting pressure on the shorts. Traders aren’t expecting a lot of
action out of these summer days, though the moves continue to impress. All three
major indexes managed to close above their 50-day moving averages for the first
time since March. There will be little in the way of economic news to sway
action aroundÂ key levels this week, and with volume noticeably down, it will be
interesting to see how long we can drift higher.

U.S. Treasury Bonds were
up ’11 at 108’29.

In economic news, leading indicators for July gave
the markets a boost as the number came in a 0.4% compared to the 0.5% the market
was looking for.

Market breadth was positive,
with NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by a ratio of 2.09, and up
volume over down volume by a 5.66 ratio. Nasdaq advancing issues over declining
issues came in at 1.51, and up volume beat down volume by a 3.95 ratio.
The

VIX was down 1.25 at 31.57. The

TRIN was down 0.98 at 0.35.

Drug maker Eli Lilly (LLY),
up 1.19% at 57.78, was the focus of negative comments in a Barron’s
article which claimed the company’s drug Zyprexa had a link to diabetes.

Home improvement retailer Lowe’s (LOW),
up 11.44% at 41.00, has beat its second-quarter earnings consensus by 5 cents
with profits of 59 cents a share. Its earnings grew 42% from a year ago as it
expanded into new cities, and upped it outlook for 2002. Competitor Home
Depot
(
HD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 3.30% at 29.03.

Financial services company Concord EFS (CEFT),
up 8.47% at 22.26, has received positive comments in a Barron’s article
which claimed a recent fall in share price has been overdone, and cited strength
in the company’s fundamentals.

Restaurant company Cheesecake Factory (CAKE),
down 0.25% at 31.45, has received negative comments in a Barron’s article
which criticizes the company for excluding costs for opening new restaurants.

Toy maker Toys “R” Us
(
TOY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 8.42%
at 13.90, announced better-than-expected second-quarter results, though Merrill
Lynch lowered its estimates on the company as it sees negatives in comparisonsÂ
to other retailers.

Discount retailer Wal-Mart
(
WMT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up
1.67% at 54.69, announced that August same store sales were coming in at the low
range of expectations due to a slow back to school selling season.

From TM’s Proprietary Implosion List, airline
JetBlu Airways Corp.
(
JBLU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 6.98% at 36.37.

What’s Lifting The Market Higher

BUY THE FEAR, SELL THE GREED

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