All Eyes On The Fed, Plus, Mega-Merger!
Stocks are flat Thursday–Fed day–and the end of the
quarter. The FOMC ends its 2-day meeting
today. Expect an announcement at 2:15 ET. Economists are looking for a quarter-point
rise–to 3.25%–and no major change in the policy statement. Specifically, the
words “accommodative” and “measured pace” are expected to remain intact. It is
also quarter end and half-year end. It will be the ninth increase in the past
year.
Initial jobless claims for the week of 6/25 fell 6000 to 310,000. Personal
income for May rose +0.2%;Â personal spending was unchanged, less than
expected.
The Chicago PMI was 53.6 for June vs 54.1 in May.
Bank of America
(
BAC |
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PowerRating) will buy credit card giant MBNA
(
KRB |
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in a $35 billion ($27.50/share) cash and stock deal.
3Com
(
COMS |
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PowerRating) missed by 0.03 and issued in-line guidance. Sales
fell 9%.
Research in Motion
(
RIMM |
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PowerRating) beat by a penny and guided in-line. The
stock is trading lower pre-open.
Among newsletter writers, 55.1% are bullish, the highest level since
March. Bears are 19.1%, the lowest figure since December.
Trader talk: last summer was tough trading. What’s in store for this
summer?
AAA said it expects more drivers to hit the road this July 4 weekend
than did during Thanksgiving. This, despite higher gasoline prices.
Thomson Financial predicts the growth rate for the
S&P 500 for Q2 will be 7.1%. Most companies report mid-July.
Here is the YTD performance of selected foreign markets:
France:Â Â Â Â Â +11.2%
Germany   +8.2%
U.K.          +6.5%
Hang Seng -0.2%
Strong sectors are:Â Natural Gas Â
(
$XNG.X.X |
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+0.98%Â Â Â Â Internet
(
$GIN.X |
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PowerRating)
+0.77%Â Â Â Â Gold
(
$HUI.X |
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PowerRating) +0.63%Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
    Â
Weak sectors are: Â Airlines Â
(
$XAL.X.X |
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PowerRating)
-2.06%Â Â Â Â Disk Drives
(
$DDX.X |
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PowerRating) -0.71%Â Â
 Banks Â
(
$BIX.X.X |
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PowerRating)
-0.72%
| Dow | -1.53 | 10,372.95 |
| Nasdaq | -1.09 | 2067.82 |
| S&P 500 | -0.16 | 1199.69 |
The dollar is -0.06 at
89.05
Crude Oil is -0.16 at
57.10
Gold is +0.80 at 438
626 million on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is mixed.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 1666 | Up Vol 309 |
| Declining | 1368 | Down Vol 318 |
| 1.21 | 1.00 | |
| Nasdaq |
||
| Advancing | 1379 | Up Vol 235 |
| Declining | 1419 | Down Vol 330 |
| 1.07 | 1.15 |
Stocks in the News
Home Depot
(
HD |
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PowerRating) was upgraded to overweight at Lehman; target $47.
Lowe’s
(
LOW |
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PowerRating) was also upgraded.
BMC Software
(
BMCS |
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PowerRating) missed by a penny and guided higher.
Mark Cuban reported a 9.1% stake in Register.com
(
RCOM |
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PowerRating).
Cirrus Logic
(
CRUS |
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PowerRating) will join the new Russell Microcap Index.
Palmsource
(
PRSC |
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PowerRating) missed by 0.02 and guided lower.
Boeing
(
BA |
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PowerRating) named 3M chief James McNerney as its new CEO.
Diebold
(
DBD |
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PowerRating) guided lower.
PalmOne
(
PLMO |
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PowerRating) reported 0.37 vs a 0.31 estimate; the company
guided higher.
Biomet
(
BMET |
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PowerRating) hit lowered expectations.
Brice Wightman