Get Ready For Wednesday With These Numbers

Stocks
fell Tuesday as weakness in the
chip sector weighed on the market.
Semiconductor Novellus
Systems

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reported earnings that more than tripled, with earnings
of $10.5 million on sales of $226.5 million. The company expects earnings to
reach 8 cents a share on sales of $245 million, but it lowered 2004 EPS to $1 on
lower-than-expected growth and lower operating margins.

Caterpillar
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reported 4Q profits, citing lowered operating costs and the weak dollar. The
company sees a 40% jump in earnings in 2004. The stock hit a 52-week high before
backing off later in the session. Chemical giant Dupont
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reported higher fourth-quarter earnings of $636 million, an increase of 180%
from the year-ago period. Sales rose 14% to $6.5 billion. For the next quarter,
the company expects to earn 70 cents per share.

Search engine
Google
was
given the green light for the launch of its widely anticipated IPO after passing
audits that certified compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley law.

A judge in Manhattan ordered the Nasdaq to pay $3,000 each to two traders who filed in small claims
court for their Dec. 5 trades in Corinthian Colleges
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. In
other legal news, opening arguments were made in the Martha Stewart case. The
trial is expected to last about one month.

Dow
-92.59

10609.92
S&P 500

-11.32

1144.05
Nasdaq
-37.79

2116.04

The day’s leading sectors were
Amex Gold Bugs
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+2.54%, Gold and Silver
(
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+1.92%,
Airlines
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+1.31%,
Chemicals
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+0.30%.

Weak today were Semis
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-4.14%, and Telecom
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-0.60%.

Economic news releases included
consumer confidence index levels at 96.8, the highest since July 2002.

10-year Notes were +150
at 114.

The dollar
was -0.98 at 86.27

Gold was +5.99 at
409.67.

Crude Oil was -0.39 at
34.08.

Volume was
1,626,240,000 on
the NYSE, and
2,103,517,000 on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth was negative.

NYSE Issues
Advancing 1418 Up Vol
588
Declining 1894 Down Vol
859
Ratio 1.33 1.46
Nasdaq
Advancing 1259 Up Vol
490
Declining 1979 Down Vol
1466
Ratio 1.57 2.99

Stocks in the news:

After the bell, Amazon
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reported in-line at $0.29 pro forma (0.17 diluted) and revenue beat expectations
at $1.95B vs. $1.8B. This is the first consecutive quarter-to-quarter GAAP profit
gain in the company’s history. Amazon had a fourth-quarter net profit of
$73 million, compared with $3 million a year ago. The stock traded down in after-market trading.

Broadcom
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.reported a Q4 profit of $0.02
(pro-forma 0.19). A year ago, the company lost $6.40/share.
Electronic Arts

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reported 3Q of $1.26 vs $1.20 estimate. The
stock traded down $4 in the after market after warning for the fourth quarter.
Avaya
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reported $0.07, a penny ahead. Flextronics
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reported $0.17 vs. $0.14 estimate.

Kraft
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will cut 6000 jobs over
the next 3 years, including 1300 salaried jobs in North America in the first
quarter. The company said it will take a charge of $1.2B, and that 2004 earnings
will be in the $1.63 – $1.70/share range. The company’s 4Q was
in-line at 0.50.

Lockheed Martin
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showed earnings
of $344 million on net sales of $8.98 billion, well ahead of the $8.84 billion
consensus. LMT guided higher earnings of $34 billion but lower EPS of $2.45, due
to rising pension costs.

Shares of drug maker Merck
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have
risen from a low of $40 to $47 over the last two months but the company reported
a 23% drop in profits due to job cuts and declining sales of popular drugs.
Earnings fell to $1.4 billion on revenues of $5.63 billion. Vioxx sales doubled
to $731 million while sales of Zocor fell 12%.

Publisher McGraw-Hill
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reported
earnings of $159.9 million on revenues of $1.2 billion. MHP gained 3% for the
day.

ISP provider Earthlink
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PowerRating)

reported fourth-quarter income of $10.7 million on revenues of $348.2 million.
Monthly subscriber churn increased by 0.5% to 4.1%. ELNK fell 10%.

bricew@tradingmarkets.com