Who Took Top Honors?
The markets trended upward
today as pre-St. Patrick’s Day trading carried all three major averages to
gains. Oil service, banks and biotechnology stocks took the top honors, with
Internet, computer hardware, and software stocks down the hardest.
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
(
$INDU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed up 0.85%Â to
10,607.23.
The S&P 500
(
$SPX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed up 1.13%
to 1,166.16.
The Nasdaq [$COMPQ |$COMPQ] closed up 0.76 to 1868.29.
The week’s theme continued as
more positive data on the economy came in to counter more negative news in the
tech sector. Industrial production for the month of February rose 0.4%,
surpassing the 0.2% increase expected. Capacity utilization was recorded
at 74.8%, slightly above the 74.4% expected. The University of Michigan’s
sentiment index shot up to 95.0, up from 90.7 in February and better than
the 92.8 expected for its highest level since December of 2000. The producer
price index for February came in at an expected 0.2% rise, with the core
left unchanged and less than the 0.1% increase expected.Â
Market breadth was positive,
with NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by a ratio of 1.46, and up-volume
over down-volume by a 2.56 ratio. Nasdaq advancing issues over declining issues
came in at 1.25, and up-volume beat down-volume by a 1.02 ratio. The
VIX
was down 1.18 to 20.84. The TRIN
was down 1.15 to 0.57.
Another low-volume trading
session brought the Dow and the S&P 500 further along in their recent
consolidation ranges, while the Nasdaq remains below its 50- and 200-day MAs.
The Semiconductor Index
(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 2.65%, turned around after
four straight sessions of losses. The Broker/Dealer Index
(
$XBD.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 1.07%, made an attempt to recover its recent losses.
Top
sectors of the day were the Oil
Service Sector Index
(
$OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
up 3.33% at 100.14,
and the S&P Banks Index
(
$BIX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
up 2.72% at 694.65.
Losing
sectors of the day were the GSTI Internet Index
(
$GIN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 1.90% at 98.33,
and the GSTI Hardware Index
(
$GHA.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 1.05% to 240.81.
Software maker Oracle Corp (ORCL),
down 6.55% to 12.56, fell after a disappointing third quarter earnings of 9
cents a share, falling short of this time last year’s earnings of 10 cents a
share.Â
Computer hardware giant International Business
Machines
(
IBM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 0.05% to 106.65, was the subject of a negative
article in the Wall Street Journal which claimed the company’s pension
income will likely decline in 2002 for its first decline since its inception as
an income item in 1996.
Another software
maker, Adobe Systems (ADBE),
up 7.11% to 39.19, rallied after it reported earnings of 22 cents a share,
beating analysts’ expectations by 2 cents.
Drug manufacturer Andrx Group (ADRX),
rose after a Florida judge ruled in favor of the company over a patent
concerning its arthritis drug. Elan Corporation (ELN)
brought the company to court for patent infringement over its drug Naprelan.
Elsewhere in the drug making world, Merck
(
MRK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 4.34% to
43.98, said that it will resubmit its application to the Food and Drug
Administration for its arthritis drug Arcoxia. New efficacy data on the drug is
believed by the company to put it in a more favorable position to be accepted by
regulators and compete with rival company Johnson & Johnson
(
JNJ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 0.20% to 64.51.
Media and entertainment stocks had a good day after UBS Warburg upgraded the
industry, claiming that advertising spending may be finally on the rise.
Benefiting from the announcement were Walt Disney Company
(
DIS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up
3.40% to 24.30, and Clear Channel Communications
(
CCU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 4.24% to
51.90.
Semiconductor company Entegris
(
ENTG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 19.71% to 14.9, said
that it will surpass its second quarter expectations as Salomon Smith Barney
upgraded the company to Buy from Outperform.Â
From TM’s Proprietary
Momentum List, Investment Technology Group
(
ITG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 3.30% to
52.90, hit a new 52-week high today as Morgan Stanley raised its price and
earnings targets on the company based on its pending acquisition of Hoenig Group
[HOEN|HOEN, down 0.89% to 12.28.
From TM’s Proprietary
Implosion List, Performance Food Group Company
(
PFGC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down
4.73% to 30.63, flirted with its 200-day moving average today after being
upgraded yesterday by Lehman Brothers to Strong Buy from Buy.