Half-Time Earnings Report

Stocks were lower Friday,
with the
Dow closing at the lows of the year.
Crude oil topped $55.

In its first report as a public company, Google
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reported 0.70, ex-items, vs. a 0.56 estimate. (Non-GAAP 0.45).  The company
stated it would not be offering guidance. GOOG has doubled since its
August IPO, trading up 23% today. On a forward-looking P/E basis, GOOG is
trading at 45. Compare this to AMZN (29), EBAY (62) and YHOO (72).

So far this quarter, 255 S&P companies have
reported. Average earnings this quarter are higher by 15.2%; the average company
beats by 2.2%. Basic materials are the strongest at 73% earnings growth,
followed by energy, +48%, and technology, +38%.

Microsoft
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reported $0.32 vs. a $0.30 estimate. Revenue was $9.19 billion vs $8.99 billion
estimate.

Amazon
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reported 0.17 pro-forma revenues, missing by a penny,
with revenue of $1.46 billion, in-line.

Coca-Cola
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reported 0.50, better-than-expected;
revenues were $5.66 billion.

Schlumberger
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missed by a penny but posted a Q3 profit.

The Dreamworks IPO will price next
Wednesday.

Dow -107.95 9757.81
S&P 500 -10.75 1095.74
Nasdaq -38.48 1915.14

Strong sectors were: Healthcare Providers
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+0.82%, Utilities
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+0.85%, Oil
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+0.30%.

Weak sectors were: Internet
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GIN.X |
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-4.17%
Semis

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-3.37%, Biotech
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-2.15%.

10-year notes were: +050
at 113 235

The dollar was -0.15 at
85.86

Gold was +0.90 at 424

Crude Oil was +0.68 at 55.15

ce=”Arial” size=”2″ face=”Arial”>Volume was 1.4 billion on the NYSE and
1.7 billion on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth was negative.

NYSE Issues
Advancing 1209 Up Vol 438
Declining 2050 Down Vol 875
Ratio 1.69 1.99
Nasdaq
Advancing 986 Up Vol 348
Declining 2025 Down Vol 1261
Ratio 2.05 3.62

Stocks in the News

Watch Vivendi
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and Time Warner
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as Eliot Spitzer
turns his focus on the record industry.

Broadcom
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beat by 0.02 but sees a see drag on orders.

KLA-Tencor
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beat by a penny but said that the current
quarter would slow down.

Brice Wightman