Big Earnings After The Close

Stocks were lower Monday

on

warnings from Colgate and Unilever, and a Citigroup
downgrade. while a rally in the semis has the Nasdaq in the green. The SOX
reclaimed the 400 level intraday, closing just below that level and is also
trading above its 50-day moving average; the index is up 15% since the beginning
of September.

Colgate
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warned for the second half, citing higher marketing
expenses. It was the first warning by Colgate in almost a decade; CL shares hit
a 4-year low. Citigroup
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was lowered to neutral at Merrill Lynch.

Of the 90 S&P companies that warned this quarter,
30 cited the recent hurricanes as a factor. Estimates for the damage are as high
as $20 billion, much of it in Florida. The construction industry could benefit
through rebuilding the damage. Nobility Homes
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builds
manufactured homes in Florida.

Yukos said it will suspend all deliveries
to China; deliveries to China are more expensive and Yukos faces a cash-crunch
situation. The news sent oil over $46.

CBS said they were ‘misled’ on the Air National
Guard documents and Dan Rather apologized. CBS is owned by Viacom
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,
which  closed at  34.37, down 0.36 and near its 50-day moving average.

The Fed meets tomorrow; a 1/4 point increase is
expected.

Adobe Systems
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beat by 0.04 and guided higher. Red Hat
[RHAT|RHAT} beat by a penny but was light on revenues. Palm One
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beat by 0.23, ex-items; gross margins were 33%. The stock traded higher after
horus. InVision
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won a contract from the Department of
Homeland Security to develop an automated system to identify air-borne
pathogens. Books-a-Million
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lowered its Q3 guidance on
hurricane losses. Power Integrations
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lowered guidance for Q3.
Silicon Storage
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lowered Q3 guidance and the stock was halted
after hours.

Dow -81.19 10203.27
S&P 500 -6.40 1122.15
Nasdaq -1.53 1908.56

Strong today were: Semis
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+2.94%, Computer Technology
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0.68%, Oil
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+0.46%.

Weak were: Consumer
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-1.48%,  Brokers
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-0.89%, Telecom
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-0.80%.

10-year Notes were +170 at 113 070

The dollar
was +0.08 at 88.97

Gold was -0.30 at 404.90

Crude Oil was +0.59 at 46.18

Volume was 1.12 billion on
the NYSE and 1.48 billion on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth was negative.

NYSE Issues
Advancing 1318 Up Vol 1271
Declining 1952 Down Vol 1805
Ratio 1.48 1.42
Nasdaq
Advancing 427 Up Vol 740
Declining 677 Down Vol 700
Ratio 1.58 1.05

Stocks in the News

Hewlett Packard
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bought back $1.3 billion in shares from Merrill
Lynch and the board approved an additional # billion buyback.

Unilever
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warned, citing bad weather.

Lennar
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beat by 0.02 and raised guidance.

Novellus
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will expand its stock buyback to $1.1 billion.

OSI Pharmacueticals
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said Phase III trials of Tarceva met
its primary endpoint of improving survival.

MCI
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may be looking for potential buyers, according to
The New York Times.

Nike
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beat by 0.10; first quarter profits rose 25%.

PMC Sierra
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lowered its Q3 outlook.

Carmax
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beat by a penny and guided Q3 lower.

Maxim Pharmaceutical’s
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cancer drug Ceplene failed a trial.

Brice Wightman