Fed Raised Rates As Expected. But Here’s Why The Market Sold Off
Stocks were lower after the Fed raised
rates by a quarter point, as expected. The ‘measured pace’ language stayed in
but the Fed added that inflation pressures have risen in recent months. This
spooked the market, which sold off into the close, beginning right after the
announcement. Year-to-date, the Dow is off 2.8% and the Nasdaq is off 8.5%.
After the close, Bank of America
(
BAC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) announced a 200 million
share buyback. Oracle
(
ORCL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by a penny; revenues rose 23% and
were were slightly higher than expected; the company guided higher for FY05.
Producer prices for February rose +0.4%; ex food energy, +0.1%.
General Mills
(
GIS |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat, but missed on revenues.
UBS raised National Semiconductor
(
NSM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) to a ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’
and also raised the price target on Texas Instruments
(
TXN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) to $33.
Wyeth
(
WYE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said it will beat Wall Street estimates for Q1.
Strong sectors were: Airlines
(
$XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.02%
Oil Services
(
$OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.55% Homebuilders
(
$HGX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+0.23%
Weak sectors were: Insurance
(
$IUX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-2.23% Gold
(
$HUI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -2.26%
| Dow | -94.81 | 10,470.58 |
| Nasdaq | -18.17 | 1989.34 |
| S&P 500 | -12.03 | 1171.75 |
The dollar was +0.30 at
83.18
Crude Oil was -1.46 at
56.00
Gold was -4.10 at 426.40
1.8 billion on the Nasdaq
Market breadth was positive.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 931 | Up Vol 555 |
| Declining | 2391 | Down Vol 1501 |
| 2.56 | 2.70 | |
| Nasdaq |
||
| Advancing | 1203 | Up Vol 437 |
| Declining | 1888 | Down Vol 1343 |
| 1.56 | 3.07 |
Stocks in the News
Electronics Arts
(
ERTS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) lowered its forecast for 2005 and now
sees $1.62 to $1.64, down from $1.82 to $1.87.
Lennar
(
LEN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.16 and guided higher, now seeing $7.15 vs a
previous $6.90.
KB Homes
(
KBH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat and boosted its outlook. The company now sees
$15.75 from $14.50.
Union Pacific
(
UNP |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) raised guidance.
Brice Wightman