Have We Hit Bottom?
Stocks started off with a bang
Wednesday and ended the day mixed.
The Dow Jones Industrials closed lower
0.1%, while the technology-laden Nasdaq Composite gained 2.0%
Internals for the session were positive, the NYSE advancers led decliners 1765 to 1329. The Nasdaq advancers beat decliners
1900 to 1301.Â
The Semiconductor Index
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SOX |
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broke above its 50- and 200-day moving averages after Merrill Lynch upgraded a
number of stocks in the group and said they felt that the sector is about to
leave the station. The index closed higher 4.9%. This bullish indication could
indicate a technical bottom is in place, which is good for the U.S markets as
well as the global markets.
Also consider the weakening of the US
dollar recently with the recent rise in the Euro, all are pointing to a possible
consensus that a bottom may be near.
The Transportation Index
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is meeting resistance at its 200-day moving average.
The Healthcare Index
(
HCX |
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to have found support at its 50-day moving average after breaking above the
average yesterday.
Among individual stocks gaining were
Cooper Industries
(
CBE |
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PowerRating), which tacked on 27.4% as Danaher
(
DHR |
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unsolicited big to acquire the company for $5.5 billion.
Hot cereal maker Quaker Oats
(
OAT |
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PowerRating)
shot higher 13.9% after the Federal Trade Commission announced it would end the
anti-competitive investigation on the deal with PepsiCo
(
PEP |
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PowerRating).
Sonic Automotive
(
SAH |
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PowerRating) closed up
12.3%.
Looking at Nasdaq percentage gainers,
Network Appliance
(
NTAP |
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PowerRating) gained 21.8% as the storage sector shot up after a
bullish report by Wit SoundView..
Power Intergrations
(
POWI |
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PowerRating) shot
up 15.4% on J.P. Morgan’s upgrade of the stock yesterday from Long Term Buy to
Buy.
Pericom Semiconductor
(
PSEM |
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PowerRating)
tacked on 20.9% on news that Wit SoundView upgraded the stock from Buy to Strong
Buy.
Stocks losing ground were Quanta
Services
(
PWR |
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PowerRating), as the stock slid 18.2% after issuing a warning on full-year
analysts’ forecasts and reporting Q2 profits which dropped 9% from the same
quarter a year ago.
Designer Jones Apparel Group
(
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PowerRating)
fell 16.8% after reporting Q2 earnings which did not meet Wall Street’s
expectations. The company reported 47 cents a share while analysts surveyed by
Thomson Financial/First Call expected 53 cents.
HMOs fell on Cigna’s
(
CI |
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PowerRating) news as
the company announced Q2 earnings of $1.73 falling short of analysts’
expectations by 4 cents. Cigna lost 13.6%
Oil and gas services company Veritas
DGC
(
VTS |
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PowerRating) fell 32.3% after the company said earnings would fall short of
analysts’ estimates citing slower sales..
Salix Pharmaceuticals
(
SLXP |
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PowerRating) lost
14.5% after First Union Securities downgraded the stock from Strong Buy to Buy.
IDEC Pharmaceuticals
(
IDPH |
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PowerRating) slid
5.6%.
KOS Pharmaceuticals
(
KOSP |
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PowerRating) closed
lower 8.4%.
Indexes lagging were the Oil Services
Index
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OSX |
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PowerRating) which fell 2.9%
The Retail Index
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RLX |
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slipped 1.3%
The Forest and Paper Index
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FPP |
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after a strong day yesterday lost 1.0% and the Healthcare Index
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HCX |
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closed down 0.8%
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