A Glimmer Of Hope
Stocks opened weaker on Wednesday
after Cisco Systems
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conference call after yesterday’s closing bell. CSCO closed lower 6.6%.
Key support levels are close to being
tested. Technically if the Dow were to close below 10150, the S&P 500 below
1160 and the Nasdaq Composite below 1935 would be extremely bearish for the
markets. So continue to monitor these levels of support.
The Beige books numbers caused an
influx of buying of the Treasuries and caused the stock market to slide as the
numbers were far from comforting. There is a glimmer of hope as we look
ahead to tomorrow’s trading session. The nation’s biggest retailers will report
sales figures for July. Good sales numbers could propel markets higher as we
will see if economic recovery is improving.
The VIX Index closed higher 7.5% with
no indication that the market is hitting a short-term bottom.
The market internals were negative for
the day as NYSE advancers lagged decliners by a ratio of 11 to 19. Breadth was
also negative for the Nasdaq as decliners led advancers 1,016 to 2,157.Â
The broader markets all closed lower
for the session. The Dow Jones Industrials closed lower 1.5%, the Nasdaq
Composite slid 3.0%. Volume for the day was light.
Sectors showing some strength in the
session were the Gold & Silver Index
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index is trading in a very tight range between its 50-and 200-ay average.
The Forest and Paper Index
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was down marginally 0.2% and appears to have established a high level head and
shoulders bottom and looks poised to test its neckline.
Once again the Mexico Index
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closed flat, still closing above its 50- and 200-day moving average.
Looking at the other end of the
spectrum, sectors which were in the red included the Oil Services Index
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which fell 5.4%.Â
Also losing ground was the
Semiconductor Index
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average and looks poised to resume its downtrend.. The index lost 4.9%
The Interactive Week Internet Index
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was hammered and lost 3.9%.
Individual stocks gaining in the
session were Cooper Industries
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CBE |
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unsolicited takeover $5.5 billion bid by Danaher Corp
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DHR |
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higher 11.5%.
Designer, Polo Ralph Lauren
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scooted higher 8.4% after the company posted Q1 earning of 30 cents a share in
line with analysts’ consensus.
Galyans Trading Company
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moved up 8.7%.
Catalog retailer Lands End
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gained 4.9% after reporting earnings that beat analysts’ forecasts for Q2.
Earnings came in at 10 cents a share while analysts polled by Thomson
Financial/First Call were expecting a profit of 1 cent a share.
Adminstaff
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higher 2.3% after William Blair initiated coverage on the company yesterday
with a Long Term Buy.
Enzon
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on news that the FDA has approved PEG-INTRON in combination with Rebetol to
treat chronic hepatitis C.
Stocks sliding in the session were
automotive services company PEP Boys Manny Moe & Jack
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slipped 6.8%
Professional Detailing
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shares were hammered, losing 16.2% on fears that the company may lose its
contract with Bayer AG. PDII provides marketing services for the pharmaceutical
industry.
Sebal Systems
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Semiconductor company KLA Tencor
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fell 7.8%.
Veritas Software
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shedding 9.7%
Genomics company, Invitrogen
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shares got slammed as shares plummeted 4.3%