Here’s A Sneak Preview Of The Second Quarter
Stocks
traded higher today with oil prices at a four-week low.
Schwab SoundView downgraded Nokia
(
NOK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
to neutral, citing a lack of faith in NOK’s CDMA standard. Schwab likes
Qualcomm’s
(
QCOM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) technologies and strong handset sales volume. Analysts
from Merrill Lynch like both companies equally due to strong demand for better
cell phones. Swedish telecom Ericsson
(
ERICY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) also was up after
winning a $80 million contract from Swisscom Mobile.
The judge in the Tyco case
denied the defense’s request for a mis-trial and sent the jury back to
deliberate. Lehman Brothers lowered Intel’s
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) second-quarter
estimates on its lackluster notebook sales outlook. General Electric
(
GE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
was upgraded by Prudential which expressed optimism over overseas sales.
Cal-Maine Foods
(
CALM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported earnings of $23.9 million on sales of
$165.7 million due to continued high demand for eggs.
Since the beginning of 2004,
the Dow has lost 2.30% and the Nasdaq is down 2.16%. The Amex Composite rose
4.6% and the Russell 2000 is up 2.80%. Crude oil has risen 9.80%; Silver is up
29%. The dollar held at its six-week low against the yen after reports that the
Bank of Japan has abandoned its currency intervention policy. Traders are
waiting for the ECB’s decision on whether or not to cut interest rates.
Amgen
(
AMGN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) will acquire
genetic-drug producer Tularik in an all-stock deal which values Tularik’s at
$25/share; Amgen already held a 21% stake in Tularik.
Lyondell Chemical
(
LYO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
agreed to purchase Millennium Chemical
(
MCH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) in a $1 billion stock
deal. Combined, the #3 chemical producer would be able to cut costs by at least
$50 million in 2005. Millennium shareholders will receive 0.95 shares of
Lyondell stock if its price stays above $20.50 or 1.05 shares if it falls below
$16.50.
| Dow | +116.66 |
10329.63 |
| S&P 500 |
+14.41 |
1122.47 |
| Nasdaq | +34.55 |
1992.57 |
The day’s leading sectors were
Airlines
(
XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) 2.60%, Hardware
(
GHA.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) + 2.35%,
Biotechs
(
BTK.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.32%, Networking
(
NWX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.61%, and
Transport
(
$TRANX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.59%.
Weak today was Oil Services
(
OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.47%
No Economic news releases
today.
10-year Notes were -100
at 114 290
The dollar
was -0.30 at 88.98
Gold was +0.90 at 419.10
Crude oil was -0.03 at
34.62
The euro
was +0.40 at 122.39
Volume was 618,000,000
on the NYSE, and 810,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was positive.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing |
2392 | Up Vol 1174 |
| Declining | 888 | Down Vol 163 |
| Ratio | 2.70 | 7.31 |
| Nasdaq |
||
| Advancing |
2272 | Up Vol 1436 |
| Declining |
940 | Down Vol 235 |
| Ratio | 2.44 | 6.18 |
Stocks in the news:
Goodyear Tire & Rubber
(
GT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) has
developed several new synthetic rubber products that may cut costs of using
natural rubber by 15% over the next three years.
Research In Motion
(
RIMM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
is up 4% after settling with Good Technology over royalties. Good Technology
will make a lump sum payment and quarterly payments to RIMM.
Prudential upgraded Citigroup
(
C |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
to overweight and upped its price target to $60 from $49, citing confidence in
international activities and capital markets numbers.
Sonus Networks
(
SONS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) will delay
filing of its amended 2003 annual report because it needs to restate fiscal 2002
financial results.