Earnings, And A 52-Week High In After-Market Trading

September 18, 2003
Brice Wightman

Stocks
rallied Thursday. The
Dow broke out to a 15-month high while the
Nasdaq cracked the 1,900 level for the first
time since March of 2002. Positive economic reports boosted stocks,
overshadowing news of Hurricane Isabel and the resignation of Dick Grasso.
Weekly jobless claims came under the critical 400K level for the first time in
three weeks. The index of leading economic indicators rose for the fourth
straight month in August. The August book to bill report report, which came in
at 0.91 to 1, disappointed investors as most were looking for a reading closer
to 1 to 1. Goldman Sachs said a possible 15% correction in chip stocks is
possible.

Prudential said it received
requests for additional information from the SEC, the NASD and the New York
State AG office over its fund sales.

Weak today was Gold & Silver
(
$XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-0.62%.

In economic news, Initial
Jobless Claims for the week ended 09/13 fell by 29K to 399K. This was better
than expectations of 410K. The Index of Leading Economic Indicators in August
rose by an expected 0.4%.

The 10-year U.S. Note
was -025 at 112 115.

The dollar was +0.16 at
95.90.

Gold fell 0.95 at
376.85.

Crude Oil added +0.04 at
27.24.

Volume was
1,489,679,000 on
the NYSE, and 1,981,794,000 on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth was positive,
with NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by1.93, and up over down volume
by 3.42; Nasdaq advancing issues over declining issues at 1.62, and up volume
over down volume at 2.64.

Top Dow stocks
were:

Stocks
in the news:

After the close, Nike
(
NKE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported Q1 earnings beat by .10. The stock traded up in the after-market to a
52-week high.

Brokerage giant Bear Stearns

(
BSC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gained 5% after the company reported quarterly profits
that more than doubled from year-ago levels. Due to strength from bond trading,
the company reported third-quarter profits of $2.30 a share compared to $1.23 in
the year-ago quarter. Consensus estimates were calling for $1.65 a share.
Revenues jumped 29% to $1.49 billion.

Office supplies and adhesives
company Avery Denison
(
AVY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) fell 4.5% after the company warned
that its third-quarter results would come in below previous estimates. Due to
pricing pressures and weakening business conditions, the company now sees
third-quarter earnings at 65 cents a share, compared to its previous forecast of
between 70 to 75 cents a share.

J.C. Penney
(
JCP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
added 1.14 after Smith Barney upgraded the stock from “Hold” to “Buy,” based
on reasonable valuation and improving sales. In addition, Smith Barney believes
that management is determined to improve on its Eckerd stores.

Motorola
(
MOT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose
4.6% after UBS Piper Jaffray upgraded the communications giant from
“Neutral” to “Outperform.” UBS said, “This increase is based on our opinion that
prior limited visibility has improved, stale handset portfolio risk is beginning
to mitigate, and an overall general improvement in the business environment in
the US and China is expected to bode well for Motorola’s PCS, SPS, and CGISS
business units”.

Drug maker QLT Inc.
(
QLTI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
rose 7.6% after the FDA granted the company’s Visudyne therapy
fast-track status. Visudyne is used to treat certain forms of AMD or age-related
macular degeneration.

If you have any comments or
questions, please feel free to email me.

Brice
Wightman

bricew@tradingmarkets.com

Earnings, And A 52-Week High In After-Market Trading

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