Why Friday Will Be Huge

October 31, 2002
Daniel Beighley

The
markets appeared poised to shake off two negative economic reports
early in the session, though sellers did most of the driving today, as the Dow
and S&P trended down to post losses on the close. The Nasdaq bucked the
trend with a positive close. Tomorrow will be a huge day with unemployment data
and sentiment reports coming out, and may be just the event to unwind the coil
Kevin
Haggerty described the indexes as being in.

In economic news, the
third-quarter GDP grew 3.1% vs. the 3.6% analyst consensus. Also, the Chicago
PMI came in at 45.9 vs. the 49.5 anticipated by analysts.

The 10-year US Note
was +145 at 114 230.

The dollar was -0.50 at
106.82.

Volume was above average, at
1,498,583,000 on the NYSE, and
1,741,989,000 on
the Nasdaq.

Market breadth was mostly
positive, with NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by a ratio of
1.27, though down volume beat up volume by a 1.30 ratio. Nasdaq advancing issues
over declining issues came in at 1.10, and up volume beat down volume by a 1.52
ratio.

The
VIX
was -0.17 at 35.91. The TRIN
was +0.81 at 1.66.

Leading the Dow down were:

Stocks in the news:

Biotech company Myriad
Genetics
(
MYG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -3.42% at 18.06, was downgraded by CIBC World Markets to
“sector under perform” from “sector perform”.

Chip maker Cree
(
CREE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-5.58% at 17.25, downgraded by UBS Warburg to “reduce” from
“sector perform.”

Insurance company Aetna
(
AET |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.61% at 40.30, beat its third-quarter earnings expectations by
$0.03 with profits of $0.73.

Investment services company
Morgan Stanley
(
MWD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.17% at 38.92, was upgraded by Salomon Smith
Barney to “outperform” from “in-line” based on valuation.

Grocery retailer Albertson’s
(
ABS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -18.63% at 22.31, lowered its earnings guidance, and now sees EPS at
$0.47-$0.49 vs. previous estimates of $0.52.

Computer services company Electronic
Data Systems
(
EDS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +9.52% at 15.06, reported third-quarter earnings
above expectations, though was far below results from a year ago. The company
also announced it will be laying off workers.

Printing and publishing company
Martha Stewart Living
(
MSO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -14.89% at 7.20, issued an earnings
warning for the current quarter after posting third-quarter results in line with
expectations. The company is still dealing with legal issues related to insider
trading.

From TM’s Momentum
List, drug maker Teva Pharmaceuticals
(
TEVA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +5.13% at 77.43.

From TM’s Implosion
List, healthcare facilities company Tenet Healthcare
(
THC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
15.31% at 33.00. The company is reported to be under investigation by government
authorities.

Why Friday Will Be Huge

BUY THE FEAR, SELL THE GREED

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