End of week blue chip rally
Stocks gained ground on this
expiration Friday, but were down on the week.
The Dow was lifted by two component upgrades: ExxonMobil
(
XOM |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was upgraded to Buy
at Deutsche Bank. Intel
(
INTC |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
was upgraded at CSFB, to Neutral. Also, crude oil prices fell after
OPEC said it is considering a production
increase; crude is trading near $64. Bush’s pledge to rebuild the Gulf Coast
after Katrina gave traders optimism about the economy and corporate profits.
Consumer confidence plunged after Katrina,
to the lowest level since 1992. The University of Michigan consumer sentiment
index for September was 76.9 vs. 89.1 in August. It was also the biggest drop
since December 1980–larger than the drop after 9/11. The current account
deficit narrowed by 1.5% in Q2, but still was the second highest on record.
Gold futures hit a 17-year high in
overseas trading.
The CBOT boosted its IPO range, from $33 –
$36 to $45 -$49. The launch date has not been specified, although insiders are
looking to October.
Strong Sectors were: Gold
(
XAU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+3.66% Computer Hardware
(
HWI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.56%
Airlines
(
XAL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.96%
Weak sectors were:
Retail
(
RLX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-0.41%
|
|
+80.88 | 10,640.03 |
| +14.20 | 2160.35 | |
| +10.18 | 1237.91 |
Stocks in the news:
Adobe
(
ADBE |
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PowerRating)
beat by 0.02.
Tektronics
(
TEK |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.02 but
guided lower.
Trinity Industries
(
TRN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) guided higher, now seeing 0.50 – 0.57, from
0.44 – 0.51.
BJ Services
(
BJS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was upgraded at J.P. Morgan, to Overweight.
Sealed Air
(
SEE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) guided lower and now sees $2.65 – 2.80 vs the
previous $2.80 – 2.90.
Brice Wightman