Here’s A NYSE Barometer You May Have Missed Before

October 22, 2003
Brice Wightman

Bonds were sharply higher
today as stocks pull back from overbought conditions.

The price of a seat on the NYSE
fell to a five-year low. Two seats recently sold for $1.3 million, $500K less
than last October. Seat prices are widely regarded as a barometer of NYSE
health. In 1999, seats sold for as much as $2.6 million.

No economic news today.

10-year Bonds were +255
at 112 90.

The dollar
was -1.11 at 91.26.

Gold was +5.80 at 386.40.

Crude Oil was -0.38 at
29.92.

Volume was
1,620,860,000 on
the NYSE, and 1,705,902,000 on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth was negative,
with NYSE declining issues over advancing issues by 2.24 and down over up volume
by 3.41. Nasdaq declining issues over advancing issues at 2.99, and down volume
over up volume at 3.39.

Top Dow stocks were:

Stocks in the news:

Internet Security Systems

(
ISSX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gained 2.54 despite reporting a 23% drop in
quarterly earnings. For its third quarter, the network security firm earned 10
cents a share compared to 13 cents a share in the year-ago quarter. Excluding
items, the company earned 12 cents a share which was a penny above expectations.
Revenues slipped 2.9% to $61.8 million. Looking ahead, the company sees revenues
of $61 million to $66 million and earnings between 13 to 17 cents a share.
Analysts on average are looking for 13 cents a share.

Telecommunications giant
Lucent Technologies
(
LU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose .33 after the company reported its
first quarterly profit in three years. The company reported fourth-quarter
results of 2 cents a share compared to a loss of 84 cents a share in the
year-ago quarter. Revenues dropped 11% to $2.28 billion.

Internet e-tailing giant
Amazon.com
(
AMZN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) dropped 5.32 after its latest quarterly
results. Thanks to its new sporting goods department as well as free-shipping
incentives, the company reported earnings of 4 cents a share compared to a loss
of 9 cents a share in the year -go quarter. Excluding charges, the company
earned 11 cents a share or a penny above estimates. Revenues jumped 33% to $1.13
billion, but this was below most optimistic expectations of $1.2 billion.
Looking ahead, the company is forecasting fiscal 2004 revenues of $5.75 billion
to $6.25 billion. Analysts are looking for $6.1 billion.

The world’s largest biotech
company Amgen
(
AMGN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) fell 3.35 after the company
reported its third-quarter results but narrowed its full-year revenue forecast.
For its third quarter, excluding one-time items, the company earned 53 cents a
share compared to 34 cents a share in the year-ago quarter. The revenues topped
expectations by 2 cents. Looking ahead, the company now sees its full-year
revenues between $7.6 billion to $7.9 billion. Previously, Amgen expected $7.5
billion to $8 billion.