Why Pressure Is Building
The
major indexes are under selling pressure this morning, as bearish
comments on the overall market from Merrill Lynch and fears of an earnings
warning from Merck have established a negative tone.
Dow Jones Industrial Average
(
$INDU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is -1.12% at 8,971.59. The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is
 -1.30% at 922.29. The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is -2.28% at 1,450.88.
Current leaders are gold and
silver
(
$XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.58%, oil
(
$OIX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.82%, and
utilities
(
$UTY.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.53%.
Driving the action down are:
airlines
(
$XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -6.05%, networking
(
$NWX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -5.29%,
and semiconductors
(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -4.29%.
The 10-year U.S. Note
is +035 at 112 165.
The Dollar is -0.12 at
106.33.
Volume is at 745,696,000
on the NYSE, and 903,923,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was slightly
positive, with NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by a ratio of
1.27, and up volume over down volume by a 1.24 ratio. Nasdaq advancing issues
over declining issues came in at 1.03, and up volume beat down volume by a 1.25
ratio.
Leading the Dow lower are
Alcoa
(
AA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -4.22$ at 24.50, Disney
(
DIS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -3.71% at 18.67,
General Motors
(
GM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -3.42% at 42.58, Merck Co.
(
MRK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -3.33%
at 57.95, Intel
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.66 at 20.49, and Hewlett Packard
(
HPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-3.47 at 19.14.
Stocks in
the news:
Entertainment giant America
Online
(
AOL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -12.19% at 14.55, 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.
Chip maker Texas Instruments
(
TXN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -3.43% at 19.01, raised its earnings forecasts for the
fourth-quarter. Elsewhere in the sector, Advanced Micro Devices
(
AMD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-7.39% at 8.27.
Mobile phone giant Nokia
(
NOK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -5.61% at 19.02, lowered its earnings guidance for 2003.
Auto stocks are under selling
pressure ahead of key data coming out from the sector later today. Ford
(
F |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-9.14% at 10.43, General Motors
(
GM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -3.40% at 38.59, and Daimler
Chrysler
(
DMX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.67% at 34.62.
Air carriers are sharply down,
with Continental Airlines
(
CAL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -11.91% at 8.06, American
Airlines
(
AMR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -11.92% at 6.80, Delta Airlines
(
DAL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -9.63%
at 12.10, Northwest Airlines
(
NWAC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -9.09% at 7.50, and JetBlue
(
JBLU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -3.42% at 35.34.
Software king Microsoft
(
MSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.68% at 56.71, is trading 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), -1.67% at 21.22, announced that November same-store sales were up
10 percent, and that revenue was up 27%.
Hotel company Marriott
(
MAR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-2.44% at 34.82, was downgraded by Deutsche Bank to “hold” from “buy.”
Pet supply company PETsMART
(
PETM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -6.03% at 17.90, 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), -6.66% at 22.00, was downgraded by JP Morgan to “underweight” from
“neutral.”
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