Where To Look For Tomorrow’s Momentum…
The
markets traded down in early action, then consolidated with a couple
of rally attempts midday, before eventually succumbing to heavy selling in the
final hour. The only gainers of the day were gold and silver and healthcare
issues, while the losers’ column was weighed down by oil, semiconductors,
telecoms, energy, and software stocks.
Closing at its lows for the
day, the Semiconductor Index
(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 5.75% at 311.88, will likely
carry the momentum over into tomorrow’s session. Along with the Broker Dealer
Index
(
$XBD.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 2.33% at 370.85, and the Retail HOLDRs
(
RTH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
down 3.87% at 75.65, they confirm a negative bias for the overall markets.
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
(
$INDU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed down 2.63% at 8506.62.
The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed down 2.95% at 884.66. The
Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed down 3.62% at 1280.16.
U.S. Treasury Bonds were
up ’10 at 106 ’08.
In economic news, initial jobless claims came in at
387,000 vs. the 365,000 expected by analysts. Construction spending came
in at – 2.2% vs. the 0.6% expected by analysts. And the ISM Index came in
at 50.5 vs. the 53.0 expected by analysts.
Market breadth was negative,
with NYSE declining issues over advancing issues by a ratio of 1.54, and down
volume over up volume by a 3.68 ratio. Nasdaq declining issues over advancing
issues came in at 1.64, and down volume beat up volume by a 4.27 ratio. The
VIX
was up 6.28 at 41.49. The TRIN
was up 0.95 at 2.12.
Average volume had the Dow the S&P 500, and the
Nasdaq closing at the bottom of their daily ranges.
The top sectors of the day were the Gold and
Silver Index
(
$XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 2.52% at 62.07, and the Morgan Stanley
Healtcare Provider Index
(
$RXH.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 0.53% at 329.90.
Losing
sectors of the day were the Oil Index
(
$OIX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 6.16% at
264.76, and the Semiconductor Index
(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 5.87% at
157.28.
Software maker Adobe Systems (ADBE),
down 29.71% at 16.84, has warned on its third-quarter revenue targets with
expectations of $270 million to $290 million vs. previous estimates of between
$300 million and $320 million.
Also in the software business, Computer
Sciences (CSC),
down 3.02% at 35.88, has guided below its fiscal second-quarter expectations to
earnings around 50 cents per share vs. a previous consensus of 59 cents per
share.
Financial company American Express
(
AX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 2.55% at 34.66, was
downgraded by Merrill Lynch to “buy” from “strong buy” based
on valuation. The firm cited that Merril is trading at a slight premium to the
S&P 500.
Merrill Lynch upgraded the entire manufacturing sector based on valuation.
Among the companies affected were: Celestica
(
CLS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 2.84% at
20.84, Flextronics
(
FLEX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), ,up 1.13% at 8.01, Solectron
(
SLR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
down 2.00% at 3.92, Sanmina
(
SANM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 0.24% at 4.08, Plexis
(
PLXS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up0.35% at 13.95, and Jabil Circuit
(
JBL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 2.13% at
17.41.
Communications equipment maker Qualcomm (QCOM),
down 6.80% at 25.61 has been downgraded by CSFB to “hold” from
“buy” based on the belief that 2003 will be a low growth year.
Insurance company Aetna (AET),
down 1.32% at 43.10, has beaten
its second-quarter earnings expectations by 7 cents with earnings of 32 cents
per share.
Oil company and Dow component Exxon Mobil
(
XOM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 8.46% at
33.65, fell after after announcing second-quarter earnings below expectations.
In the oil service sector, Schlumberger
(
SLB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 7.59% at
39.66, was downgraded by Morgan Stanley to “underweight”. Calpine
(
CPN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 15.49% at 4.20, cut its profit outlook for the year. And Williams
Cos.
(
WMB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 61.01% at 4.75, announced that it has received $1.4
billion in asset sales, and $2 billion in financing.
From TM’s proprietary Implosion List, conglomerate Siemens
AG
(
SI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 6.41% at 46.71, online travel company Expedia
(
EXPE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
down 7.01% at 45.21, and financial company Capital One
(
COF |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down
5.36% at 30.000.