Haunted By Past Actions
Stocks opened mixed Thursday and
traded in a roller-coaster fashion in the morning session.
Traders were reluctant to jump in
after yesterday’s pseudo rally into the close. However, Thursday trading was
muted in the morning session as traders were waiting for the release of the June
minutes from the Federal Reserve Board meeting.
At 2:00 p.m. ET, the minutes were
released and showed that nine out of
10 members voted to cut rates by the 25 basis points, and it indicated that
the rate cuts were nearing an end. Markets viewed the minutes of the June
meeting negatively as it shows the Fed may not accommodate the economy with
additional rate cuts, because the board members see the economy recovering in the 2001
and 2002.
Breadth for the session was negative with NYSE advancers
lagging decliners 1399 to 1700. On the Nasdaq, advancers
also fell behind decliners 1293 to 1856.
The CBOE Volatility Index
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scooted fractionally lower 0.6%, while the Nasdaq 100 Volatility Index
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slipped 5.3%. The Nasdaq 100 Volatility index gave us two upward bias signals
going into tomorrow’s trading session. This indicates a potential bounce in the
tech-laden Nasdaq.
As for the broader markets, the Nasdaq
Composite closed down 0.9% while the Dow Jones Industrials fell 0.4%
as the session ended down.
Sectors moving higher were: the
Biotechnology Index
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test its 50-day moving average and the Gold and Silver Index
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which moved higher 1.0%, still working on pushing higher past its pivot point of a W-shaped bottom.
Oil appears to be in the news lately
as the Oil Index [$XOI|.X|$XOI.X] moved higher 0.3%.
The Insurance Index
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moved higher 0.2% as it is constructing an inverted cup pattern.
Going lower were the GSTI Internet
Index
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The Oil Services Index
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moved lower 2.2% closing the gap made on 8/16.
The Mexico Index
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breached its 200-day moving average in the session as it closed down 1.9%.
Turning our attention to individual
gainers, Ryland Group
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5.4% The homebuilding sector moved higher due to better-than-expected earnings
from Toll Brothers
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C&D Technologies
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5.4% after making a new 52-week low in yesterday’s session after the stock was
downgraded by William Blair from Long Term Buy to Hold.
Actrade Financial Technologies
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shares pushed higher 18.4% after the company said its sees Q$ earnings coming in
at 63 cents to 64 cents a share.
Homeservices.com
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higher 35.1% after MidAmerican Energy Holding offered to purchase the stock it
does not already own.
And children’s retailer, Gymboree
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gapped up on the open to close higher 18.4%, after posting Q2 net loss and said
Q3 earnings should come in between 2 and 4 cents a share.
Losing ground was Qwest Communications
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victims.
Retailer, Limited
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after posting Q2 profits which were 50% less than the same period a year ago and
warned on Q3 and full year profits, citing weak sales.
Specialty retailer Williams Sonoma
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moved lower 7.4% finding support at its 200-day moving average.
Openwave Systems
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continued its descent lower 13.8% and tested its low made in
April. The stock slid due to some comments by Morgan Stanley which said that
June quarter results were helped by three one-time events and puts second-half
estimates in jeopardy.