A Nice Comeback

Stocks are staging a nice comeback after
diving early in the session on weak employment and earnings
news.

The Dow pared a nearly triple-digit loss and is up 50 at
9110.

The shaky start began after the Labor Department reported
the largest monthly drop in payrolls in 10 years. Despite expectations of
large cuts in payrolls, the drop to 199,000 was twice analysts’
expectations.

Advanced Micro
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also disappointed the
market in the early going by warning Q3 profits will come in under
expectations and relaying that sales have slipped by 22%. ADM expects to
double its loss to 26 cents.

But there is still an air of
bullishness in the market, witnessed by the comeback from the morning drop
and gains in selected stocks despite disappointing earnings
news. For instance, Sun Microsystems
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is rallying
despite warning that it too will miss earnings hopes. Sun Micro says it will
miss expectations by one penny and lay off nearly a tenth of its
staff.

And Gateway
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is up despite warning of a widening
loss. Gateway may be moving higher in part due to yesterday’s positive
reaction to competitor Dell’s
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news that it is on track to meet
earnings, a positive omen for the personal computer
industry