Cisco Is Buying…Is The Bear Dying?
Stocks opened mixed Friday
and traded pretty much like that for the entire
trading session. Gross Domestic Product increasing .7% weaker than expected,
along with some more earnings, caused the markets to perform sluggishly. All in
all, it was a rather dull day.
Cisco Systems
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that it would acquire Allegro Systems for up to $181 million. Analysts view
this as a positive in that CSCO would not acquire another company unless it felt
the economic environment was conducive for such a transaction.
Emphasis should also be made on the
optimistic statements chip stocks like Taiwan
Semiconductors
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TSM |
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LSI Logic
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LSI |
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So, as the old saying goes,
“Never
short a dull market.”
The Dow Jones Industrials closed
fractionally lower 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.3%, ending the day
mixed.
LSI Logic
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LSI |
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news that Bear Stearns raised the company’s rating from Attractive to Buy.
Footwear maker Skechers
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8.6% on the heels of its Q2 earnings announcement yesterday.
Covance
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CVD |
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AES Corp
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AES |
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yesterday’s announcement of the company’s Q2 earnings which beat Street
estimates.
IPO PDF Solutions
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PDFS |
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26.2%.
Advanced Fibre Communications
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AFCI |
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17.5% after Lehman Brothers raised the price target and earnings forecast for
the company. The company reported Q2 earnings yesterday, which beat Wall Street
consensus.
Verisign
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VRSN |
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after being upgraded by Sun Trust Robinson Humphrey from Outperform to Buy.
The GSTI Internet Index
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$GIN.X |
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2.4%, followed by the
Semiconductor Index
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$SOX.X |
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Also in the green was the Biotechnology Index
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$BTK.X |
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which edged higher 2.2%.
Stocks losing ground: Blockbuster
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BBI |
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10.2% on very high volume; Fair Isaac & Company
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FIC |
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9.7%
after being downgraded by USB Piper Jaffray to Buy from Strong Buy; and Columbia Sportswear
(
COLM |
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20.0%
after it was downgraded by Goldman Sachs from Market Outperform to Market
Perform. Lightbridge
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LTBG |
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18.0%
on a downgrade by Credit Suisse First Boston from Buy to Hold. Advanta
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ADVNA |
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commenting on the Chase Manhattan mortgage suit.Â
The Airline Index
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$XAL.X |
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1.4%. Also losing in the session was the Chemical Index
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$CEX.X |
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closed lower by 1.4%. The Transportation Index
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$TRX.X |
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1.0%.