Chevy Owners, Take Note
Stocks were
mixed Wednesday. Jobless claims released
today indicated a recovering economy with weekly claims falling to a 3-year low.
Weekly claims fell by 15,000 to 339,000 indicating a growing economy according
to Patrick Fearon of A.G. Edwards and Sons. The dollar hit another low, amid
terrorist fears in the US during New Year celebrations. Laggard Merck
(
MRK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was up 1.54%
today after it resubmitted a marketing application to the FDA for its Arcoxia
arthritis medication. MasterCard advisors reported that toy sales at Toys “R”
US
(
TOY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) were down 7.7% compared with last year, citing heavy competition
from discount retailers such as Target
(
TGT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Wal-Mart
(
WMT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating).
| Dow | +28.88 |
10453.92 |
| S&P 500 | +2.28 | 1111.92 |
| Nasdaq | -6.51 |
2003.37 |
The day’s leading sectors are
Oils
(
OIX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.31%, Pharmaceuticals
(
DRG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.63%,
Chemicals
(
CEX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.58%, Telecoms [XTC.X|XTC.X]
+0.55%, Networking
(
GIP.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.30%,
Weak today is Oil Service
Sector
(
OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.50%, and Gold and Silver
(
XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-0.81%.
Economic news releases included
initial claims that dropped by 15,000 to 339,000. .
| NYSE | Issues |
| Advancing | 1245 |
| Declining | 1575 |
| Nasdaq | |
| Advancing | 1285 |
| Declining | 1831 |
Top Dow stocks were:
Merck
(
MRK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.54% at 46.20,
Eastman Kodak [EK|EK],
+1.30% at 25.67, Honeywell
(
HON |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+1.27% at 33.43, and AT&T [T|T],
+1.35% at 20.30.
Stocks in the news:
Lamson & Sessions
(
LMS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) issued an earnings warning, citing major price competition in its pipe business. It now
expects to earn 2 to 4 cents a share, down from previous forecasts of 10 cents. LMS is trading 10% lower.
Orchid Biosciences
(
ORCH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose +30% on increasing demand for its animal food traceability DNA test program. It is involved in diagnostic
tests for scrapie, a mad-cow-like disease that affects sheep. The U.S.
government and the cattle industry are considering wider testing for BSE.
Ciena
(
CIEN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is up 7.54% after it was
awarded a multi-year contract to support the US Department of Defense’s Global
Grid Bandwidth Expansion program.
JD Powers reported that more Chevrolet
(
GM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
owners are more likely to buy another Chevy — 60.8% — when they go out to buy
a new car. Toyota
(
TM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) came in second, with 59.4%.
bricew@tradingmarkets.com