Halted After The Close! Plus, Emergency Meeting At NYSE In Progress
Stocks fell
Wednesday. A judge’s decision to cut Altria Group’s
(
MO |
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PowerRating)
bond from $12 billion to $6.8 billion boosted blue chips early on, but an
afternoon sell-off took stocks down. Dupont weighed on the Dow after announcing
that its fiscal 2003 results will be at the low end of estimates.
Energy stocks were lower after crude oil prices hit a four-month low.
Three Merrill Lynch investment
bankers have entered not guilty pleas to charges that they conspired to commit
wire fraud in helping client Enron Corp. record false profits and pad earnings
with a Nigerian barge loan disguised to look like a sale.
At press time, the NYSE is in
an emergency board
meeting. CNBC’s Bob Pisani said the sentiment on the floor was that the
compensation issue should come to a head today, and CNBC sources say NYSE board
members are seeking Grasso’s resignation today. Also, Michael LaBranche of LaBranche
& Co. called for NYSE Chairman Richard Grasso to step down.
The Dow Jones Industrial
Average
(
$INDU.X |
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PowerRating) fell 21.69 to 9545.65. The S&P 500
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$SPX.X |
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PowerRating)
lost 3.35 at 1025.97. The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
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PowerRating) slid 4.15 to 1883.10.
The day’s leading sectors were
Gold
(
$HUI.X |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.82%,
Disk Drives
(
$DDX.X |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.19%, Biotech
(
$BTK.X |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.82%,
and Internet
(
$GIN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.80%.
Weak today were Chemicals
(
$CEX.X |
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PowerRating), -1.80%, Oil Services
(
$OSX.X |
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News |
PowerRating), -1.73%, Energy
(
$DXE.X |
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PowerRating), -1.30%, and Homebuilders
(
$HGX.X |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.03%.
In economic news, Housing
Starts in August fell by 3.8% to an annual rate of 1.82 million as expected.
Building Permits in August jumped 5.8% to 1.89 million. Economists were
expecting 1.80 million.
The 10-year U.S. Note
is +190 at 112 14
The dollar was -0.83 at
96.84.
Gold was +4.00 at 377.
Crude Oil was -0.51 at
27.16.
Volume was
1,312,151,000 on
the NYSE, and 1,874,012,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was mixed,
with NYSE declining issues over advancing issues by 1.05, and down volume over
up volume by 1.09. Nasdaq declining issues over advancing issues at 1.04, and up
volume over down volume at 1.16.
Top Dow stocks were:
Altria
Group
(
MO |
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PowerRating),
+4.19 at 44.65, IBM
(
IBM |
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PowerRating), +0.34 at 91.63, Hewlett Packard
(
HPQ |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.04 at 20.36, Intel
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.03 at 28.88, and
Caterpillar
(
CAT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.53 at 70.23.
Stocks in the news:
After the close, Symbol
Technologies
(
SBL |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was halted pending news.
Drug maker Intermune
(
ITMN |
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News |
PowerRating)
rose 3% after the Wall Street Journal reported that the company’s
antiviral drug, Infergen showed promising results in a small Canadian trial.
Although the trial only consisted of 19 patients, the drug is showing early
promise in the battle with the SARS virus.
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco
(
RJR |
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PowerRating)
gained 13% after the company announced that it will lay off
2,600 or 40% of its workforce. The layoffs are part of a plan to save the
company $1 billion by 2005. Reynolds will take a $340 million charge which will
be somewhat offset by the cost savings.
Management consulting and
services firm Accenture
(
ACN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) fell 3% after the company
announced plans to offer 82 million Class A common shares. The company also
guided fourth-quarter and full-year 2003 results above estimates. Due to an
increase in its outsourcing business, the company sees fourth-quarter results of
25 cents a share vs. consensus estimates of 23 cents a share. Full-year results
are now expected at $1.05 a share vs. consensus of $1.03 a share.
Dupont
(
DD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) lost 3% after the warned that full-year 2003 results will be at the low end
of its previous estimates. The chemical company is forecasting results of $1.60
vs. consensus estimates of $1.80. Dupont added that its businesses didn’t see
evidence of a “broad turnaround in industrial demand”.
Home builder KB Homes
(
KBH |
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News |
PowerRating)
was lower after reporting third-quarter results that topped
expectations. For its fiscal third quarter, the company earned $2.33 a share
compared to $1.95 in the year-ago quarter. The results topped estimates by 11
cents. Revenues rose 12% to $1.44 billion.
Publisher New York Times
(
NYT |
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Chart |
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PowerRating) fell almost 4% after the company lowered its third-quarter targets.
The company now expects results between 30 to 32 cents a share compared to
current consensus estimates of 39 cents.
Before the open tomorrow, look
for earnings from Bear Stearns
(
BSC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Crown Castle
(
CCI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating).
Also look for a full economic calendar, with
Initial Claims at 8:30 ET and the Philly Fed Index at 10:00 ET.
If you have any comments or
questions, please feel free to email me.
bricew@tradingmarkets.com