What’s Your Plan Of Action?

February 21, 2003
Daniel Beighley

The
markets put in a good day to the upside, with price action recovering
from a big drop in early action due to a scare of terrorism stemming from an oil
refinery fire in New York. Though the fire is not believed to be an act of
terrorism, traders were reminded just how quickly things can change from a news
event. Traders must always have a plan of action, especially in today’s
environment. Price action for the indexes closed in the upper portion of its
daily range, with the S&P 500 moving above its 20-day moving average, and the
Dow halting just under this mark. The Nasdaq made its fourth consecutive close
above its 20-day moving average, though technology was not the day’s strength.

In economic news, CPI
came in at an expected 0.3%, and core CPI was at 0.1% vs. expectations of
0.2%.

The Ten Year Note
(
TYH3 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was -120 at 115 105.

The U.S. Dollar
(
DXH3 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was +0.60 at 100.25.

Volume was below
average, with the NYSE coming in at 1,346,243,000
and the Nasdaq at 1,318,151,000.

Market breadth was positive,
with NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by a ratio of 2.37, and up
volume over down volume by a 2.58 ratio. Nasdaq advancing issues over declining
issues came in at 1.69, and up volume beat down volume by a 2.00 ratio.

The

VIX was -1.53 at 34.14. The

TRIN was -0.82 at 0.89.

Leading the Dow were:

Stocks in the news:

Energy company El Paso
(
EP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +6.40% at 4.32, said
its exploration and production assets may be worth $8 billion – $10 billion in a
spin-off.

Drug maker Astrazeneca
(
AZN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.02% at 34.43,
is reported to be under investigation by Japan’s Health Ministry over
accusations of suppressed research that found side effects from its lung cancer
drug Iressa.

Software company BEA Systems
(
BEAS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -5.17% at
10.63, announced that its fiscal fourth-quarter tripled from a year ago, though
has guided lower for the current quarter.

Retailer Nordstrom
(
JWN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.40% at 17.24, said
that it earned $0.44 per share for the fourth-quarter, %0.02 ahead of estimates.

Healthcare facilities company
United Surgical Partners
(
USPI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+2.01% at 17.24, has beat its fourth-quarter earnings expectations by $0.03 with
profits of $0.01 per share.

Also in the healthcare
facilities sector, Universal Health Services
(
UHS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.01% at 17.24,
announced it is being investigated by the SEC after the departure of the
company’s CEO.

Electronic instruments and
controls company Agilent
(
A |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +6.74% at 13.45, announced it will
eliminate 4,000 jobs over the next few months in an effort to cut costs. The
company also announced second-quarter earnings of $0.23 as beat analyst
projections by $0.03.

In the chip biz, Texas Instruments
(
TXN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.62%
at 15.89, has announced that it will buy back 18 million shares, and is up over
2% in the pre-market.

Retailer Target
(
TGT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +6.38% at 28.48, has been
upgraded by Piper Jaffray to “strong buy” from “outperform”, and has also
received positive comments from Goldman Sachs who believes the stock has
attractive valuation.Â

Tobacco company Altria
(
MO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.64% at 37.63, has
won a New York Supreme Court case as a defendant against a former smoker.Â

Gold mining company Barrick Gold
(
ABX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.30%
at 15.90, has been downgraded by Prudential to “hold” from “buy.”

danielb@tradingmarkets.com

What’s Your Plan Of Action?

BUY THE FEAR, SELL THE GREED

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