Will Blue Chips Tow The Market?
Blue
Chips provided the strength of the day while the tech sector took a
breather. The major indexes vacillated for most of the trading day before the
Dow and S&P pushed into positive territory, while the Nasdaq fell short.
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average [$INDU.X| INDU.X] closed up 0.87%
at 9,545.17. The
S&P 500 [SPX.X| SPX.X] closed up 0.47%
at 1,105.31. The
Nasdaq [COMPQ | COMPQ] closed down 0.37%
at 1,768.95.
Today the markets
digested key reports in the face of a
newly forming war economy.
New home sales fell 1.4% for September, to mark its lowest reading of the year.
The University of Michigan’s sentiment index 0.9 to 82.7 which was
slightly below expectations of 83, though a positive for the economy.
Speculation is now being directed toward the Federal Reserve meeting on Nov. 6,
with another rate-cut anticipated.
NYSE
advancing issues were 1,834,
with up-volume at 727,755,904;
declining issues were 1,262,
with down-volume at 458,676,576.
Nasdaq advancing issues were 1,945,
with up-volume at 865,072,000;
declining issues were 1,667 with
down- volume at 1,089,619,456.
The VIX
was down 0.83 to 30.53. The TRIN
was up .10Â to 0.89. Overall volume on the day was below average,
suggesting the recent strength may be tapering off. The Dow has made its first
close above the 50-day moving average since June, just barely missing its level
before the 9/11 attacks. The S&P 500 made another strong close, clearing
its prior resistance. The Nasdaq failed to make three positive days in a row,
closing slightly down for the day.
Top
sectors of the day were the Biotechnology Index
(
$BTK.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) up 3.17%
at 576.85 and the Eurotop
100
(
$TOP.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) up 2.65%Â
at 2,767.07.
Losing
sectors of the day were the Morgan Stanley
Internet Idx
(
$MOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
down 1.57% at 11.88 and
the Japan Index
(
$JPN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
down 1.30% at 114.96.
JDS
Uniphase
(
JDSU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
fell
11.85%
Â
to 8.78.
The company reported a loss of 93 cents a share compared to a loss of $1.07 a
year ago. Weakening demand for fiber optic telecommunications is expected to
drive sales down another 10%-15% for the next quarter.
Ericsson
(
ERICY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose 2.99% to 4.48.
The Swedish maker of cell phones reported losses ofÂ
5.8 billion kronors (US$548.7 million) compared to profits this time last year
of 54.6 billion kronors. The company’s chairman also announced he would step
down.
Lockheed
Martin
(
LMT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
climbed
3.95%
at 50.83. The defense contractor beat analysts’ expectations by posting
earnings of 41 cents a share, an increase of 35% from a year ago. After the
market close today a major contract will be awarded to develop fighter jets. Rival
Boeing
(
BA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 4.99%
at 37.69, was one of the Dow’s biggest
gainers on the day.
UnitedHealth
Group
(
UNH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
gained
1.35%
to 67.40. The country’s second-largest health-care company posted earnings of 71
cents a share compared to 54 cents a year ago. This is an increase of 27% from
third-quarter profits a year ago.
Jupiter
Media Metrix
(
JMXI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
jumped 130.16% to 1.45.
The Internet research company more than doubled its share value today after it
was announced that it would be bought by rival NetRatings
(
NTRT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) down 11.76% at 42.43
VeriSign
(
VRSN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
dipped
. Shares of the company were shed after reporting earnings of 28 cents a share
exceeding analysts’ expectations of 16 cents a share. It looks like investors
had much greater expectations and there now seems to be concern over the
company’s shrinking net domain registration business.