Fed Watch, Plus, Drugs In Focus…Again
Stocks are quiet ahead of the
Fed.
The FOMC is currently meeting and an announcement is
expected today at 2:15 ET. A 1/4 point rise is expected and traders will be
watching to see if the Fed removes its “measured pace” statement.
Semi capital equipment stocks  (KLAC,
NLVS, AMAT, LRCX) were downgraded at Morgan Stanley. The brokerage firm sees the
start of an industry downturn.
Homebuilders are strong for a second day after DR
Horton
(
DHI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported strong earnings and guided higher.
The EIA reported a build in crude inventories of 1.8 million barrels; there was
a drawdown in distillates, as they fell -0.1 million barrels; gasoline
stocks fell 0.4 million barrels.
Cisco (CSCO)
is trading lower after reporting $0.21, in-line and guiding lower. Net income
was $1.4 billion and revenues were shy of the expected $6 billion. Cisco often
beats by a penny.
Pfizer
(
PFE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is trading lower after a New York Times article
said that patients receiving Bextra had twice as many heart attacks as those
given placebos. Merck’s
(
MRK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) debt rating was downgraded by Moody’s.
The trade deficit was $51.6 billion, better than
expected. Import prices rose +1.5%; ex oil, +2.7%. Jobless claims for the week
of 11/6 rose 2000 to 333,000; the 4-week moving average fell 5,000 to 336,000.
Continuing claims were 2.81 million
The MBA said that new mortgage applications for
the week of 11/5 fell 4.5%
Today is the 35th anniversary of the first Sesame
Street show.
| Dow | +28.61 | 10414.98 |
| S&P 500 | +1.87 | 1165.95 |
| Nasdaq | -5.05 | 2038.28 |
Strong sectors are:
Oil Services
(
OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.13%, Natural Gas
(
HMO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.96 %,
Insurance
(
IUX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.83%.
Weak sectors are: Semis
(
SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.90%,
Airlines
(
XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -2.29, Gold
(
XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.97%.
The dollar is +0.05 at
84.34
Gold is +0.90 at 434.10
Crude Oil is +0.43 at 47.80
985 million on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is positive.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 2017 | Up Vol 468 |
| Declining | 1208 | Down Vol 256 |
| Ratio | 1.66 | 1.82 |
| Nasdaq |
||
| Advancing | 1599 | Up Vol 455 |
| Declining | 1337 | Down Vol 488 |
| Ratio | 1.19 | 1.07 |
Stocks in the News
Advanced Micro Devices
(
AMD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was upgraded at Lehman.
Microsoft
(
MSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) introduces its Internet search service today. Watch
for reactions in Google
(
GOOG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)Â and Yahoo
(
YHOO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating).
Hewlett Packard
(
HPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was downgraded to neutral from buy at UBS.
Dell
(
DELL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was downgraded to neutral from buy at UBS.
Starbucks
(
SBUX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reports after the close; the estimate is 0.25.
Brice Wightman