Don’t Fall For This Stock Scam!

August 19, 2004
Brice Wightman

Stocks were lower as crude again made new highs,
hitting $48 per barrel as violence flared in Iraq. Disappointing earnings from
Synopsis
(
SNPS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) weighed on tech stocks. Initial jobless claims for the week of 8/14 fell
3,000 to 331,000. It was the third straight week that claims fell. The 4-week
moving average fell to 337,000.

Google began trading on the Nasdaq under
the symbol “GOOG.”Â The stock was priced at $85, the low end of the
range; the first trade was $100.01. The company offered 19.6 million shares,
raising $1.66 billion. At the offering price, analysts say, GOOG would trade at
a 73 P/E, lower than Yahoo’s 86 and slightly higher than eBay’s 73. Google’s
market cap is similar to that of Ford and Caterpillar.

Google is the third largest IPO on the Nasdaq, behind Charter Commnication’s
$2.3 billion and Genuity’s $1.9 billon. Founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page
should each gain about $43 million from the offering.

GOOG closed at $100.35. A rumor is circulating that the stock may be added to
the S&P 500. Think Equity started coverage on GOOG with a price target of
$120.

The SEC continues to investigate the timing of the Playboy article in which the
co-founders were interviewed. Last year, there were 23 IPOs, for $4.8 billion.
Year to day, there have been 157 IPOs for $29 billion.

Are the Olympics good for business?
Greece has spent $7.5 billion so far on the Olympics, 40% over budget.
Montreal is still paying for the 1976 games, held in that city. New York
is campaigning for the 2012 Olympics.

Stock buyback announcements have been averaging 5
per day.

The SEC said a new “pump and dump” stock
scam involves a phone message from a female with a “hot tip.”Â The calls —
which are sweeping the nation — sound as if a female is leaving a confidential
message for a friend and alludes to inside information she has learned from a
“stock exchange guy I’m dating.”Â The stock mentioned is always a
low-priced issue. Here’s a
real call.

Look for the semiconductor book to bill number
after the close.

Dow	-42.33	10040.82
S&P 500	-3.94	1091.23
Nasdaq	-11.48	1819.89

10-year Notes were +045 at 112 285

The dollar
was -0.30 at 87.78

Gold was +2.50 at 406.40

Crude Oil was +1.40 at
47.75

Volume was 1.25 billion
on the NYSE and 1.38 billion on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth was negative.

NYSE	Issues
Advancing	1464	Up Vol 504
Declining	1781	Down Vol 595
Ratio	1.21	1.18
Nasdaq
Advancing	1265	Up Vol 465
Declining	1761	Down Vol 794
Ratio	1.39	1.70

Stocks in the News

Caci International
(
CACI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported a 56% rise in quarterly profit yesterday.

Synopsys
(
SNPS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported lower earnings
yesterday and guided lower.

Nortel
(
NT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) will cut 3500 jobs – or 10% of
its workforce — to boost profits.

Limited Brands
(
LTD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) posted a sharply
higher profit.

Navistar
(
NAV |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported good earnings
that beat estimates.

Carl Icahn got FTC approval to buy up to
$500 million — 12% — of Mylan Labs
(
MYL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating).

Winn-Dixie
(
WIN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said efforts to
reverse declining market share are paying off.

Amazon is buying Joyo.com. The company
operates retail web sites in China.

US Airways
(
U |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said that employees must
agree to wage and benefits cuts or the airline will be liquidated.

Brice Wightman

Don’t Fall For This Stock Scam!

BUY THE FEAR, SELL THE GREED

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