Where There’s Near-Term Support

December 3, 2002
Daniel Beighley

The
major indexes gapped lower off the open on the back of bearish
comments from Merrill Lynch on the overall market, and negative earnings
guidance from AOL Time Warner and Nokia. Price action slid south for the first
half of the session, though put in a modest rally attempt midday that turned
into another selling opportunity. The 20-day moving averages now serve as
near-term support for the indexes.

There were no economic releases
today.

The 10-year U.S. Note
was -030 at 112 100.

The Dollar was -0.01 at
106.44.

Volume was slightly
below average, with the NYSE coming in at 1,414,850,000, and the Nasdaq at
1,633,970,000.

Market breadth was negative,
with NYSE declining issues over advancing issues by a ratio of 1.59, and down
volume over up volume by a 3.50 ratio. Nasdaq declining issues over advancing
issues came in at 2.11, and down volume beat up volume by a 5.08 ratio.

The
VIX
was +1.71 at 31.76. The TRIN
was +1.18 at 2.20.

Leading the Dow lower were:

Stocks in the news:

Entertainment giant America
Online
(
AOL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -14.24% at 14.21, announced that it expects profits to
fall further for next year, and is also the subject of negative comments in a Wall
Street Journal article.

Mobile phone giant Nokia
(
NOK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -4.61% at 19.22, lowered its earnings guidance for 2003.

Software king Microsoft
(
MSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.69% at 56.71, traded lower as West Virginia and Massachusetts
have moved to appeal an anti trust settlement.

Also in the software sector, Citrix
Systems
(
CTXS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +11.02% at 12.69, upped its earnings outlook for the
fourth-quarter.

Coffee retailer Starbucks
(
SBUX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), –2.78% at 20.98, announced that November same store sales were up
10%, and that revenue was up 27%.

Hotel company Marriott
(
MAR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-3.41% at 34.47, was downgraded by Deutsche Bank to “hold” from
“buy.”

Pet supply company PETsMART
(
PETM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -3.88% at 18.31, beat its third-quarter earnings estimates by $0.02
with profits of $0.14 per share.

Grocery retailer Albertson’s
(
ABS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -5.55% at 22.26, was downgraded by JP Morgan to
“underweight” from “neutral.”

Where There’s Near-Term Support

BUY THE FEAR, SELL THE GREED

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