All Eyes On The Fed
Stocks are lower as traders await comments from the Fed which
met
today to discuss key economic policies. The general consensus among economists
is a shift in the Fed’s wording on interest rates but no actual increase until
Q3.
Tyco
(
TYCO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported earnings of $782.4 million on revenue of $10.04 billion with strength
in its engineered products, healthcare and electronics units. For the third
quarter, it expects to earn 39 cents on revenue of $10.01 billion and for the
full year, it upped EPS to exceed $1.52. Clear Channel Communications
(
CCU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported improvements in its advertising division. Earnings rose to $116.5
million and revenue was up 11%.
| Dow | -26.64 |
10288.10 |
| S&P 500 |
-2.10 | 1115.27 |
| Nasdaq | -0.03 | 1938.63 |
The day’s leading sectors are
Amex Gold Bugs
(
HUI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +3.83%, Gold and Silver
(
XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+3.32%, Networking
(
NWX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.08%, Semis
(
SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+1.17%,
Weak today are BiotechsÂ
(
BTK.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.80%, Healthcare
(
HMO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)Â -1.74%.
Economic news releases today: a
much stronger-than-expected factory orders increase at 4.3%
10-year Notes are -15 at
110 145
The dollar
is -0.87 at 90.15
Gold is +4.90 at 392.40
Crude Oil is +0.63 at
36.62
Volume is 689,000,000 on
the NYSE, and 799,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is negative.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing |
1619 | Up Vol 444 |
| Declining | 1509 | Down Vol 223 |
| Ratio | 1.07 | 2.01 |
| Nasdaq |
||
| Advancing |
1475 | Up Vol 378 |
| Declining |
1501 | Down Vol 290 |
| Ratio | 1.04 | 1.30 |
Top Dow stocks are:
Alcoa
(
AA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.55% at
31.33; Hewlett Packard
(
HPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.53% at 19.90;Â Du Pont
(
DD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+0.62% at 43.36; and SBC Communications
(
SBC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.53% at 25.35.
Stocks in the news:
Marvel Enterprises
(
MVL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose sharply after posting
earnings of $31.2 million on revenue of $122.4 million, well ahead of
expectations.
Qwest Communications
(
Q |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported a net-loss of $310
million with a 4% drop in revenue. For the next quarter, the company forecasts
improvements in its long-distance and data business divisions.
Priceline.com
(
PCLN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) posted earnings of $5.1
million on revenue of $224.1 million.Â
Macrovision
(
MVSN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) posted earnings of $10.8
million on revenue of $38 million and raised its 2004 outlook. It expects EPS to
reach 17 cents in Q2. The stock is 26% higher on 6X average volume.
Brice Wightman
bricew@tradingmarkets.com