Greenspan’s Testimony: The Good News And The Bad News
Stocks
are lower Wednesday mid-session as Greenspan testifies before the House Budget
Committee. Greenspan said that the economy is picking up steam after
going through a soft patch, saying “…on the whole, the expansion has regained
some traction.” Analysts felt he was more upbeat than in his last testimony.
Longer-term, however, he seemed less hopeful. “With the economy continuing to
improve, the deficit is more likely to decline than to increase in the year
ahead,” he said. “Nonetheless, the prospects for the federal budget over the
longer term remain troubling.” The Fed meets on September 21 and is expected to
raise rates by another quarter point to 1.75%.
| Dow | -10.40 | 10332.39 |
| S&P 500 | -2.01 | 1119.29 |
| Nasdaq | -3.01 | 1855.55 |
Strong today are:
Pharmaceuticals
(
DRG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.26%, Brokers
(
XBD.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+2.08%, Internet
(
GIN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+0.15%.
Weak are: Biotech
(
BTK.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.02%, Utilities
(
UTY.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-0.97%, Homebuilders
(
CEX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.95%.
10-year Notes are +050 at 112 200
The dollar
is -0.40 at 88.83
Gold is +1.20 at 399.50
Crude Oil is -0.16 at
43.15
Volume is 576 million on
the NYSE and 668 million on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is negative.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 1310 | Up Vol 268 |
| Declining | 1832 | Down Vol 374 |
| Ratio | 1.42 | 1.39 |
| Nasdaq |
||
| Advancing | 1244 | Up Vol 386 |
| Declining | 1708 | Down Vol 419 |
| Ratio | 1.37 | 1.08 |
Stocks in the News
Delta
(
DAL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) will cut up to 7000
jobs, or 10% of its workforce.
Motorola
(
MOT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was lowered to neutral
at Merrill Lynch.
Oracle
(
ORCL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
was downgraded to market perform at Piper Jaffray.
McDonald’s
(
MCD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
said sales rose in August for the 18th month in a row,
Texas Instruments
(
TXN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) will give its mid-quarter update this afternoon.
Jet Blue
(
JBLU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
said its earnings will be hurt by the recent hurricanes.
Air Tran
(
AAI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said it would report a Q3, also blaming the hurricanes.
Apollo Group
(
APOL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
said that its University of Phoenix will expand into Mexico.
Neiman Marcus’
(
NMG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) sales rose 187%.
Mama.com
(
MAMA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) announced a 600K share
stock buyback.
Brice Wightman