Will The Semis Kick In For The Second Half?

February 19, 2003
Daniel Beighley

The
major indexes having been sliding lower throughout the morning on
volume well below average. The 20-day simple moving averages are currently
marking short-term resistance on the Dow and S&P 500, while the Nasdaq has been
halted by its 50-day exponential average. An upgrade from Morgan Stanley on the
semiconductor group has had little effect today for the typical bellwether
index. Though the day is just half over.

In economic news, housing starts came in at
1.850M vs. expectations of 1.765M, and building permits came in at 1.781M vs.
expectations of 1.800M.

The 10-year U.S. Note
is +150 at 115 115.

The Dollar is -0.45 at
100.25.

Gold is +1.10 at 348.00.

Crude OilÂ +0.59 at
37.18.

Volume is at 520,923,000
on the NYSE, and at 607,241,000 on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth is positive,
with NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by a ratio of 1.64, and up
volume over down volume by a 2.22 ratio. Nasdaq advancing issues over declining
issues are at 1.67, and up volume over down volume is at a 2.18 ratio.

Big Dow losers are:

Stocks In The News:

Consumer and business product maker Kimberly-Clark
(
KMB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+0.31% at 45.16, announced that it has increased its quarterly dividend by 13%
to $0.34 per share.

Regional bank MBNA America
(
KRB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -10.73% at
14.73, has had its estimates cut by Goldman Sachs for 2003 and 2004.

Forestry and wood product maker
Weyerhaeuser
(
WY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.22% at 50.34,
has been upgraded by Goldman Sachs to “outperform” from “in-line.”

Security systems company
Invision
(
INVN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -11.89% 50.53, has been downgraded by SG Cowen to “underperform”
from “outperform.”

Healthcare facilities company LifePoint Hospitals
(
LPNT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+9.58% at 21.97, has beat its fourth-quarter earnings expectations by $0.08 with
profits of $0.45 per share.

Retailer Abercrombie and Fitch
(
ANF |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +4.17% at
28.98, has beat its fourth-quarter earnings estimates by $0.03 with profits of
$0.93 per share.

Electric utilities company DTE Energy
(
DTE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+1.17% at 42.22, has been upgraded by UBS Warburg to “buy” from “neutral.”

Computer services company
Overture Systems
(
OVER |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -17.81% at 18.73, has had its
estimates cut by Salomon Smith Barney due to its current bid for Alta Vista.

danielb@tradingmarkets.com

Will The Semis Kick In For The Second Half?

BUY THE FEAR, SELL THE GREED

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