Bored And Confused
JDS Uniphase
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component maker posted a $7.9 billion loss AND a $50.6 billion loss for the
year. For good measure, they threw in another 7,000 job cuts, but given the
other telecom equipment makers, Lucent
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and Alcatel
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cuts they announced, I dare say the JDSU cuts are small potatoes.
Next, both measures of consumer sentiment, the University of Michigan’s and
the Commerce Department’s gross domestic product (GDP) reports came in beneath
the low end of very lowered Street estimates. If you were to ask any
self-respecting bear, they would tell you that such a negative triumvirate would
surely have smacked the bulls right where it hurts, but guess what. The market
has shrugged off the sucker punch as if a 98-pound weakling threw it.
As frustrating as that must be for the bears, the bulls don’t have a lot to
brag about today, as each report they hope will signal something positive has
not lit the rally fuse, but instead fizzled like a wet firecracker. Confused and
discouraged pretty much sums up the outlook of the few bulls sticking around the
pits this last Friday in July.