Will This Point To A Higher Philly Fed Index?

June 16, 2003
Vincent Mao

Stocks
are sharply higher across the board this midday.Â The major indices
are all higher by better than 1.5%. Friday’s pullback due to the drop in
consumer sentiment did not carry through this morning as investors welcomed
another sign of economic recovery. All major indices are current near the highs
of the session with the above the DowÂ 9,200 level. Bonds are lower today
after earlier session highs. The dollar is pulling back from session lows and
gold is also slightly higher.Â

In economic news, the Empire
State Index for June came in at a reading of 26.8 far besting expectations
of a reading of 8.8. This much better than expected reading could also point to
a higher Philly Fed index which will be due out on Thursday.Â

The 10-year U.S. Note
isÂ -175 at 119 230.

The dollar is +0.24 at
92.88.

Gold is +0.50 at 357.70.

Crude OilÂ -0.17 at
29.16.

Volume is at 630,000,000
on the NYSE, and at 992,000,000 on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth is very
postive, with NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by a ratio of 2.44,
and up volume over down volume by a 3.81 ratio. Nasdaq advancing issues over
declining issues at 1.63, and down volume over up volume is at a 2.08 ratio.

Top Dow stocks are:

Stocks in the news:

American Express
(
AXP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
is higher by 1.3% after it announced that it agreed to purchase Threadneedle
Asset Management from Zurich Financial Services for $570 million. Threadneedle
is to continue management of some of Zurich’s British assets for up to eight
years.Â

Best Buy
(
BBY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is
higher by 6.5% on heavy volume after it announced the sale of it lagging
MusicLand Group. In a cash free deal, an affiliate of Sun Capital will buy all
of Musicland Group’s capital stock. It will also take on all of MusicLand’s
liabilities and obligations.Â

Cell Therapeutics
(
CTIC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
is higher by 11% on extremely heavy volume. Shares of the biotech firm are
higher today after the FDA gave its cancer drug, Xyotax, fast-track
designation.Â

CheckPoint Software
(
CHKP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
is higher by 6.50% on heavy volume after Lehman Brothers upgraded the stock from
“equal weight” to “over weight”. Lehman also upped its price target to $25 from
$18.

E-loan
(
EELN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is
higher by12% on more than triple its average volume after raising second quarter
and full year guidance. The company is now expecting second quarter results
between 8 to 11 cents a share on revenues of $42 million compared with earlier
estimates of 8 cents a share on revenues of $39.5 million. The company is
expecting full year result of 35 cents a share on revenues of $155 million up
from previous estimates of 27 cents a share on revenues of $144 million.Â

Priority Healthcare
(
PHCC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
is off by 7.5% on heavy volume after the company warned that full year results
will come in below expectations. The company expects between $1.16 to $1.22 a
share on revenues between $1.43 and $1.48 billion, consensus estimates were
looking from $1.29 a share.Â

Yahoo!
(
YHOO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is
higher by 5.7% on heavy volume after Soundview upgraded the company from
“Neutral” to “Outperform”. Soundview said that “Yahoo is in the sweet spot of
the Internet right now,” and that the streak of earnings upside will
continue into 2004.Â Â

Â vincentm@tradingmarkets.com

Will This Point To A Higher Philly Fed Index?

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