Who’ll Fight For Stocks?
An earnings shortfall from Hewlett Packard
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PowerRating) and the ongoing election
drama weighed heavily on stocks Monday, as the Nasdaq lost 2.0%, the Dow eased
0.8%, and the S&P 500 dropped 1.0%. The Nasdaq had traded down more than 5%
at mid-day, but a rally in semiconductors helped trim some of those losses by
the close.
Nasdaq volume spiked up 15% from Friday’s level, as a hefty 2.02 billion
shares changed hands. NYSE also increased about 15% from Friday, with 1.12
billion shares trading.
"Uncertainty due to the election fiasco will pressure stocks this week,
and it could get pretty ugly if the election goes to the courts. These are
external events that are indeed unusual events for the stock market. For those
with staying power, the uncertainty is non-recurring," said Paul Rabbitt,
President, RabbittAnalytics.com.
"The overseas mail-in votes will be counted the 17th and will likely
result with Bush winning the electoral vote by a slim margin. If Gore does not
concede the election, his lawsuits will fail to change the outcome. When the
matter is settled we expect a rally driving stocks upward through
January-February," he added.
According to preliminary numbers, the Nasdaq fell 62.25 to 2966.74, the Dow
sank 85.70 to 10,517.25, and the S&P 500 lost 14.72 to 1351.26.
Top sectors included semiconductors
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paper products
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Under pressure were biotechnology
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down 5.3%, and health care
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Strong in the SOX were Teradyne
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up 9.2%, Novellus
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up 6.1%.
Dell Computer
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up 1 1/8 to 24 1/8 on heavier-than-average volume.
Also avoiding the selling was Qualcomm
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1/16 following some positive news out of Europe last week surrounding Qualcomm’s
patented CDMA technology.
Dow winners were IBM
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and Intel
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Dow losers were Hewlett Packard
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down 6.2%, and Honeywell
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Looking ahead, the retail sales number for October will be released at 8:30
AM ET, and analysts look for a decrease of 0.1%. Also ahead is the Federal
Reserve meeting on Wednesday.