Broader Markets To Open Higher
Stocks appeared set to open higher
Thursday as revised GDP numbers for Q1 rose to 6.1% vs. the early consensus
of 5.6%.
Jobless claims fell 10,000 to 388,000
for the week of June 22.
Citigroup
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should be relatively modest. Citigroup’s exposure with respect to WCOM’s bonds is
approximately $355 million, and $40 million on other areas. Citigroup believe the
impact of these transactions should be negligible to its corporate and
investment banking group.
Claire’s
Stores
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prior guidance of 17 cents a share. Analysts surveyed were expecting 17 cents a
share according to Multex. CLE sees full year earnings of $1.15, in line with
Multex consensus.
Moody’s
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senior unsecured ratings on review for a possible downgrade.
According to a report in the Wall
Street Journal, Federal Prosecutors are trying to persuade Martha Stewart’s
broker to testify against the home furnishings diva with regard to her sale of Imclone
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PowerRating).
Motorola
(
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PowerRating) has reaffirmed Q2 and Fiscal Year 2002 guidance. The company is
confident that its will meet or slightly exceed estimates of 4 cents a share for
the quarter. MOT also believes that earnings of 4 cents are attainable for the
full year. Multex consensus is for 3 cents.
Lehman Brothers upgraded Micron
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from Buy to Strong Buy. In addition, the firm upgraded Fairchild
Semiconductor
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PowerRating) and Conexant Systems
(
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PowerRating) from Market Perform to Buy.
Goldman Sachs downgraded Visteon
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VC |
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PowerRating) from Trading Buy to Market Perform.
Lehman Brothers cut its estimates on Hewlett-Packard
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PowerRating). The firm lowered Q3 estimates from 17 cents to 14 cents a share and
FY02 estimates from 79 cents to 75 cents a share on beliefs that there is
continued decline in consumer spending.
Colgate-Palmolive
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PowerRating) was upgraded at Merrill Lynch from Neutral to Near Term Buy, citing
better-than-expected sales for Q2. The company sees the stock trading in a range
of $58 – $60 a share.
McData
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PowerRating) was upgraded at First Albany from Neutral to Buy based on
valuation.
Andrx
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was granted FDA approval for the company’s drug Altocor which is used for
treating cholesterol.