Y2K Arrives And Stocks Soar To New Highs
As the New Year dawned in New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, and Tokyo, it became clear that the worst-case Y2K fears of world-wide power failures and computer crashes would not occur. The U.S. Market celebrated the good news with the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 all roaring higher to record closes.
According to preliminary numbers, the Dow rose 44.26 to 11497.12, the Nasdaq gained 32.24 to 4069.11, and the S&P 500 added 4.76 to 1469.23.
The Nasdaq gained roughly 85% for the year and capped-off an amazing 1999 by posting its sixty-first record close on a shortened day of New Years Eve trading. The Dow ended the year up approximately 25%, and the S&P 500 finished up just under 20%.
Top-performing groups Friday included oil services [$OSX.X>$OSX.X], up 4.0%, retailers [$RLX.X>$RLX.X], up 2.0%, retailers [$RLX.X>$RLX.X], up 2.0%, and semis [$SOX.X>$SOX.X], up 1.7%.
Groups lagging on the final trading day of the year included airlines [$XAL.X>$XAL.X], down 1.5%, drugs [$DRG.X>$DRG.X], down 1.0%, and health care [$HCX.X>$HCX.X], down 1.2%.
Leading the Dow in New Years Eve trading were International Paper [IP>IP], Home Depot [HD>HD], and Alcoa [AA>AA]. Johnson & Johnson [JNJ>JNJ], and Caterpillar [CAT>CAT] were the top performers. Dow laggards included Hewlett Packard [HWP>HWP], Phillip Morris [MO>MO], and Merck [MRK>MRK].
Qualcomm [QCOM>QCOM] went through its 4-for-1 split Thursday evening and had another great day on Friday, with the wireless telecom giant rising 14 1/2 to 176 1/4 for the day. The stock had closed at 647 on Thursday, which adjusts to a 162 3/8 post-split price. Going into the final day of 1999 trading, Qualcomm was up 2,422% for the year.
Looking ahead to next week, the National Association of Purchasing Managers report is due out Monday at 10:00 AM ET, and the consensus estimate calls for a 56.3% figure. Traders again will be looking at the NAPM for any signs of upward price pressures.
Have a healthy and Happy New Year!