After The Close: Juniper Earnings, Plus, CA Debt Near Junk

October 9, 2003
Brice Wightman

Stocks rose
Thursday, one year after a five-year low on the S&P.
Positive economic data, Yahoo’s strong earnings, as well as strong retail sales
sent the market up early on, but late day selling came in to temper the move.
Continuing on from last week’s surprising jobs data, weekly jobless claims fell
to an eight-month low last week.

Internet media giant Yahoo!
(
YHOO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported that its third-quarter results doubled from year-ago levels thanks to a
rebound in online advertising. Due to benefits from its acquisition of Overture
(
OVER |
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PowerRating) the company is boosting its fourth-quarter income before
depreciation and amortization to $130 million – $150 million.

It’s birthday time for the
indices. Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of the Dow’s
six-year low. One year ago today the SPX made a five-year low; the SPX is up 33%
since then, with the SOX +53%. A third of the Dow components made new highs
today — Alcoa, American Express, Caterpillar, Citigroup, Home Depot, Intel,
IBM, 3M, Procter & Gamble, and United Technologies — and there were over 500
new highs on the NYSE. Bonds were
sharply lower today after the jobless claims figures.

In economic news, Initial
Claims for the week ended 10/04 fell by 23,000 to 382K, economists were
looking for 395K. Export Prices in September fell by 0.1% and Import
Prices rose by 0.2%.

The 10-year U.S. Note
was -220 at 111 230.

The dollar was +0.27 at
92.00.

Gold was -7.40 at 369.30.

Crude Oil was +1.17 at
31.09.

Volume was
1,557,743,000 on
the NYSE, and 2,077,342,000 on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth was positive,
with NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by 1.65 and down over up volume
by 2.07. Nasdaq advancing issues over declining issues at 1.51, and up volume
over down volume at 2.05.

Top Dow stocks were:

Stocks in the news:

Specialty children’s apparel
and accessories retailer Children’s Place
(
PLCE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) jumped 24% after the company said that its September same-store sales jumped 30%.
Analyst had expected sales to rise only 6.6%. The company also announced that it
is expecting third-quarter results of 40 cents a share compared to year-ago
results of 6 cents a share. Current consensus estimates are calling for 26 cents
a share.

Teen and women’s accessories
retailer Claires Store
(
CLE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose 8.5% after the company
raised its third-quarter targets. Thanks to strong sales in August and September
the company now sees earnings of 41 or 42 cents a share compared to its prior
forecast of 31 to 32 cents a share.

Hewlett Packard [HPQ|HPQ|]
added 4% after it signed a 10-year deal with fellow Dow component Walt
Disney
(
DIS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating). HP will provide computing services for Disneyworld’s new
attraction, Mission: Space. Additionally Morgan Stanley called HP a “good
short-term trade” and could be in position for an upside earnings surprise.

Retailer Hot Topic
(
HOTT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
gained 7% after the company boosted its third-quarter projections. The
company now sees third-quarter results of 28 cents a share, or 2 cents higher
than its prior forecast. This was the second time in two months that company
raised guidance.

Yahoo!
(
YHOO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
rallied 10% after the Internet giant reported better-than-expected
third-quarter results. Late yesterday, the company reported its eighth straight
quarterly profit as it earned 10 cents a share, or double its year-ago quarter.
The results topped analysts’ expectations by a penny. Revenues jumped nearly 43%
to $356 million.

Friday, look for trade deficit
figures, and earnings from GE.

If you have any comments or
questions, please feel free to email me.

Brice
Wightman

bricew@tradingmarkets.com

After The Close: Juniper Earnings, Plus, CA Debt Near Junk

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