Where The Upside Action Was
The markets were mixed today,
with the Dow holding a downtrend the entire session for a negative close, the
S&P 500 trending sideways for a negative close, and the Nasdaq holding a
narrow range for a positive close. The semis, broker/dealers, and health care
issues led the upside action, with retail and airline stocks taking the biggest
losses.
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
(
$INDU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed down 1.44%Â to
10425.05. The S&P 500
(
$SPX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed down 0.66% to 1,146.14.
The Nasdaq [$COMPQ |$COMPQ] closed up 0.37%
to 1,866.30.
Several downgrades cut into
stocks today, though positive economic news continued to trickle in. The
Institute of Supply Management’s non-manufacturing index came in at 58.7%,
beating the expected 52.2% many economists were looking for. Last month’s number
came in at 49.6.
Market breadth was mixed, with
NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by a ratio of 1.03, and down-volume
over up-volume by a 1.30 ratio. Nasdaq advancing issues over declining issues
came in at 1.12, and up-volume beat down-volume by a 1.96 ratio. The
VIX
was down 0.27 to 21.81. The TRIN
was up 0.79 to 1.33.
Above-average volume came in as
the Dow attempted to erase yesterday’s gains, though fell short, the S&P 500
move above, though closed below its 200-day MA, and the Nasdaq fell short of
hitting its 50- and 200-day MA, though closed at the bottom of its range.
Top
sectors of the day were the Semiconductor
Index
(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 2.16% at 613.90,
and the Securities Broker/Dealer
Index
(
$XBD.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 1.75% at
516.03.
Losing
sectors of the day were the S&P Retail Index
(
$RLX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
down 3.32% at 928.10,
and the Airline Index
(
$RXH.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 3.19% to 102.60.
Chip giant Intel
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
up 2.64% to 32.69, received an upgrade from Morgan Stanley to Strong Buy from
Outperform. Elsewhere in the sector, Advanced Micro Devices
(
AMD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up
3.28% to 15.74, and Applied Materials
(
AMAT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 1.70% to 50.91.
Texas Instruments
(
TXN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), unchanged at 33.99, announced that it expects to meet first quarter
earnings and revenue targets, claiming orders for semiconductors this quarter
are stronger than last quarter.
Office retailer Staples Inc.
(SPLS)
was down 2.20% to 19.56Â as the company beat its fourth quarter earnings
expectations by 3 cents, posting 29 cents a share. Revenue was reported to be
$2.9 billion, less than the $3.2 billion expected.
Several airline stocks suffered from downgrades by UBS Warburg, including
America Airline’s parent AMR Corp.
(
AMR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 5.89% to 27.34, Delta
Airlines
(
DAL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 7.49% to 35.70, and Southwest Airlines
(
LUV |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 2.77% to 20.38.
Credit Suisse First Boston downgraded several retailers, claiming higher
valuations and deteriorating earnings growth potential as the reason. Companies
downgraded include J.C. Penney
(
JCP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 3.27 at 18.95, Bed Bath
& Beyond
(
BBBY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 6.46% to 32.00, Zales Corp
(
ZLC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
down 6.20% to 42.20, Family Dollar Stores
(
FDO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 5.71% to 30.55,
and Abercrombie & Fitch
(
ANF |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 4.52% to 27.23.
Conglomerate United Technologies Corporation
(
UTX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 4.21% to
74.00, fell after being downgraded by A.G. Edwards to Hold from Buy, claiming
that the stock’s valuation is factoring in a “perfect” economic
rebound.