At This 11th Hour…What Will Greenspan Do?
After opening higher Monday, stocks
ended the day mixed.
The Dow Jones Industrials closed 0.9%
lower, while the Nasdaq Composite closed up 0.7%. It appeared that traders
remained cautious in anticipation of the Federal Reserve Board meeting Tuesday.
The markets are waiting to see what Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan
Greenspan and his band of Merry Men will deliver. The consensus is
split between a 25 basis point cut and a 50 basis point cut. It seems the markets have
already factored in a 25 basis point cut.
Once again the 11th hour is upon us, as
we all wait in anticipation to see what Greenspan will do. Will this rate cut
jump start the markets? We shall see.
Stocks showing some nice gains today
were Triton Energy Ltd.
(
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PowerRating) which surged higher 15.6%. The oil exploration
company announced today that it has made another oil discovery off the coast of
Equatorial Guinea.
Sunquest Information Systems
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surged higher after Misys PLC announced that it would acquire the company for
$24 per share in cash for all of Sunquests’ common stock. The stock closed up
60.9%
University of Phoenix Online
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gained 17.1% after the company reported earnings of 17 cents a share or $1.16
million for Q3.
Also among the individual gainers was
GlobeSpan Inc.
(
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PowerRating)Â which gained 21.6% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the company fromÂ
Outperform to Strong Buy.
Sectors showing strength today were
the Internet Index
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The Interactive Week Internet Index
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rose 2.6%. with the assistance of Yahoo
(
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DoubleClick
(
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Sector wise the Semiconductor Index
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posted a modest gain of 2.7%.Â
Among the stocks that were losers
today was Inhale TherapeuticsÂ
(
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its inhaled insulin drug, Exubera. Results were mixed as the medication showed
promise in controlling blood-sugar levels comparable to insulin which is
administered through injections, however results also showed that
patients developed antibodies against their insulin which could indicate a
possibility that Exubera could wane after a prolonged period of use. Inhale ended lower
21.9%.
Also losing ground Monday was Sierra
Wireless
(
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PowerRating) which shed 27.8% after CIBC World Markets downgraded the
company to Hold from Strong Buy.
Acxiom Corp.
(
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The company announced Monday that it will be laying off 7% or 400 people from
its workforce and cutting executive salaries in an effort to become profitable.
The Biotechnology Sector
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led the downward move
Monday as the index lost 3.2%. The sector’s slide was aided by Biogen
(
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which tumbled after Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch slashed their ratings on
the biotech company. Soon thereafter, the majority of the components within the
sector followed suit.
Also slipping lower was the Retail
Index
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which lost 1.5%
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