Do You Know The Trading Symbol For The Nasdaq?

  • February 10, 2005
  • Brice Wightman

Stocks are mixed in low-volume, directionless
action. There’s not much conviction today thus far. The Nasdaq is
underperforming but energy stocks continue to trade at historic highs. 

Jobless claims for the week ended Feb. 5 fell 13,000 to 303,000, a four-year
low. The 4-week moving average fell 16,500 to 315,500. The trade gap for
December narrowed to $56.4 billion; the record November number was revised to
$59.3 billion vs. $60.3 billion. The 2004 deficit was $617.7 billion.

Verizon
(
VZ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) has made an informal offer to buy MCI
(
MCIP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
near the $6.3 billion that Qwest has suggested.

Aetna
(
AET |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported better-than-expected earnings, doubed its
dividend and announced a 2:1 split.

Ericson
(
ERICY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat estimates but gross margins fell short.
Shares traded down in Europe.

Today, the Nasdaq begins trading on–the Nasdaq! Symbol: NDAQ. Thomas
Weisel Partners and Sandler O’Neill co-managed the secondary offering, which was
priced at $9.00. NDAQ is trading at 10.42.

Remember, the Google
(
GOOG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) lock-up period ends on

Valentine’s Day;  177 million shares
become available for sale.

Two IPOs of note today: Syniversa Holdings
(
SVR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating). The talk was
$16-22 and the stock came at $16. Prestige Brands
(
PBH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was priced at
$16 after boosting the number of shares by 4.7 million. The company makes Spic
and Span, Comet, Chloraseptic and other household brand name products.

Strong sectors are: Gold  
(
$HUI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+3.63%  Oil Servies
(
$OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.87%.

Weak sectors are: Airlines
(
$XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-1.37%  Computer Hardware
(
HWI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-1.30%   Disk Drives
(
$DDX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.31%

Dow +36.50 10,700.47
Nasdaq -4.89 2047.64
S&P 500 +1.10 1193.12

The dollar is -0.54 at
84.48

Crude Oil is -1.34 at
46.80

Gold is +2.40 to 416.70

ce=”Arial” size=”2″ face=”Arial”>Volume is 679 million on the NYSE and
1.0 billion on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth is negative.

NYSE Issues
Advancing 1549 Up Vol 310
Declining 1577 Down Vol 300
1.01 1.03
Nasdaq
Advancing 1234 Up Vol 328
Declining 1686 Down Vol 634
1.36 1.93

Stocks in the News

GlaxoSmithKline
(
GSK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was in-line, posting a 24% rise in Q4
profits. 

Vertex
Pharmaceutical (VRTX)
beat by 0.06, reporting a narrower loss, ex-items.

Napster (NAPS)
missed by 0.03 but had strong subscription growth and raised its forecast.

Whole Foods (WFMI)
beat by 0.05 and beat on revenues.

MetLife (MET)
beat by 0.04, ex-items. Lincoln National (LNC)
beat by 0.09.

Brice Wightman