Bulls Still In Charge — Here Are Today’s Leaders
Stocks
closed in the green this last day of May, a new high for the year, and also the
best May since 1997.The S&P 500
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$SPX.X |
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PowerRating) got within a hair of the
965 August 22, 2002 high and the Dow
(
$INDU |
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high. Positive economic news concerning regional manufacturing activity helped
to spark today’s rally. The dollar is stronger today while bonds are weaker
after President Bush signed the $350 tax cut package. The threat level was
lowered to yellow from orange.
The Dow Jones Industrial
Average
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$INDU.X |
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rose 13.95 at 963.59. The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
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The day’s leading sectors were Oil
Services
(
$OSX.X |
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(
$IUX.X |
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+2.76%, Retail
(
$IRLX.X |
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(
$BTK.X |
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+2.60%.
Weak today were Airlines
(
$XAL.X |
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PowerRating), -0.07%.
In economic news, Personal
Income in April came in flat as expected. Personal Spending in April fell
0.1% vs. an expected 0.1% rise. Vehicle purchases did soften the drop. The
revised Michigan Sentiment came in at 92.1 vs. estimates of 93.0, however
it was still higher than April’s 86. Finally the Chicago PMI in May came
in at 52.2 versus estimates of 49.0.
The 10-year U.S. Note
was -005 at 119 02.
The dollar was +47 at
93.31.
Gold was -5.10 at
365.60.
Crude Oil +0.46 at
29.56.
Volume was heavy at
1,688,193,000 on the NYSE, and at
2,240,547,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was
positive, with NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by a ratio of
3.40, and up volume over down volume by a 3.57 ratio. Nasdaq advancing issues
over declining issues at 2.25, and up volume over down volume is at a 2.66
ratio.
Top Dow stocks were:
Coca-Cola
(
KO |
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Depot
(
HD |
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(
UTX |
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68.25, Alcoa
(
AA |
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(
AXP |
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+0.63 at 41.66.
Stocks in the news:
Media giant AOL Time Warner
(
AOL |
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traded to a five-month high after it settled an anti-trust lawsuit with
Microsoft
(
MSFT |
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PowerRating). AOL will receive $750 million from Microsoft and will be
able to use Microsoft’s Internet Explorer for free for the next seven years.
Home Depot
(
HD |
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traded higher on very heavy volume after the company’s board of directors has
authorized a $500 million share buyback program.
Novellus Systems
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NVLS |
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traded up to a five-month high. In their mid-quarter update
yesterday, the company reaffirmed second-quarter target of 5 cents a share or
inline with estimates. Novellus did note though that business is still affected
by SARS.
Schering-Plough
(
SGP |
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announced its subsidiary, Schering
Corp., is the subject of a federal grand jury investigation. Previously the U.S.
Attorney’s Office had investigated its sales, marketing, and clinical trial
methods. SGP closed down .45 to 18.45.
Network equipment maker, 3Com
(
COMS |
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PowerRating) was off after revealing its fourth-quarter revenue forecast. The
company sees fourth-quarter revenues between $165 million and $175 million or
well below estimates of $209.7 million.