Why Turnaround Suggests Strength
Blue chips fought their way back from
a weak open Tuesday while the tech-heavy Nasdaq pulled out of the red to finish
the day flat, overcoming a spate of negative news issued before the open.
The Dow Jones Industrials ended up
0.2%, the S&P 500 gaining 0.1%. The Nasdaq Composite closed virtually flat,
minus 0.04%.
The market got off to a rough start
after Nokia
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it expected April-June pro-forma earnings of 0.15-0.17 euros per share
($0.13-0.14). That compared to prior estimates averaging of 0.20 euros. Nokia
also halved its sales growth outlook for the quarter to under 10%.
Among the stocks that battled back,
General Electric
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2.9%. Varian Semiconductor
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VSEA |
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to gain 5.7%. and put in a bullish engulfing. Semiconductors, initially weak on
the Nokia news, turned around. Applied Materials
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negative territory to end up 0.8%.
These are positive characteristics.
Advancing markets often end down opens with higher closes, and their stocks
manage to trade higher in the face of negative news.
In the sectors, the Philadelphia Gold
and Silver Index
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$XAU.X |
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with gold futures. The Oil Service Index
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$OSX.X |
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Goldman Sachs Internet Index
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$GIN.X |
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0.8%.
On the downside, the AMEX Biotech
Index
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$BTK.X |
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which plunged 36.5% after issuing a revenue warning. Amgen
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AMGN |
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initially down after saying federal regulators rejected a filing for a prostate
cancer drug the company is developing with Praecis Pharmaceuticals
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However, Amgen fought back to end up 0.3%. Praecis tumbled 26.7%.
The AMEX Airline Index
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$XAL.X |
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gave up 2.6%, the S&P Transportation Index
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$TRX.X |
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Philadelphia Forest and Paper Products Index
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$FPP.X |
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PowerRating) 0.8%.
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