Here’s What The Fed Said

October 28, 2003
Brice Wightman

The
market rose Tuesday, buoyed by more mega-mergers. RJ
Reynolds
(
RJR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) shares gained 13% after announcing its acquisition of
competitor Brown & Williamson
(
BAT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), making it the second-largest cigarette
manufacturer after Altria
(
MO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating). Terms of the deal were not announced. RJ
Reynolds generated quarterly sales of $1.38 billion, but incurred a whopping
$3.45 billion quarterly loss. The Fed left rates unchanged, as expected,
saying economic policy would remain
accommodative for a “considerable period.”

Economic releases today
included Durable Orders figures of an increase of 0.8%, down from an expected
2%. The Consumer Confidence Index was 81.1, slightly higher than the
expected 80.

10-year Bonds were +235
at 113 085.

The dollar
was +0.32 at 91.93.

Gold was -3.7 at 383.20.

Crude Oil was -0.37 at
29.56.

Volume was
1,636,324,000 on
the NYSE, and 2,053,668,000 on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth was positive,
with NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by 2.18 and up over down volume
by 3.13. Nasdaq advancing issues over declining issues at 2.43, and up volume
over down volume at 2.56.

Top Dow stocks were:

Stocks in the news:

Drug maker
Biogen
(
BGEN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported earnings of $55
million, up from $42 million on third-quarter revenue of $342 million, beating
forecasts of $327 million. Its blockbuster drug Avonex sales rose 14% to $298
million. Overall, the company is confident that it will reach full-year earnings
forecasts of $1.72 and $1.85 (excluding one-time charges). BGEN’s shares are up
about 4%.

Semiconductor Adaptec
(
ADPT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) climbed back into the black by
posting a net income of $300,000. For the existing quarter, it is expecting
sales of $114 million to 166 million and earnings of 3 to 4 cents a share. The
company’s CFO cautioned that while the market for information-technology
spending appears to be increasing as the year comes to a close, he believes IT
budgets will remain relatively flat in the coming fiscal year.

Oxford
Health Plans
(
OHP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was downgraded from buy to hold by Smith
Barney after posting net income of $111 million, up from $23.8 million in the
year-ago quarter. Excluding one-time gains/charges, its EPS rose to $1.19 from
$1.04. The company’s president and chief executive said that enrollment is
expected to be the most challenging part of operations due to the slowly
recovering economy. Oxford Health’s revenue increased to $1.37 billion from
$1.27 billion a year earlier. The company also upped its full-year earnings
guidance from $3.85 to $3.95 a share to $4.03 to $4.08 a share, on revenue of
$5.44 billion for the full year..

Verizon
(
VZ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) posted net income of $1.8 billion on increased
revenues of $17.2 billion, a 2% increase. For the day, shares have remained
steady due to lowered profit, something the company warned of a month ago. In
its long-distance division, Verizon was able to add 1.3 million subscribers for
a total of 15.9 million. Its wireless division experienced a 0.3% increase in
the churn rate (which accounts for the rate at which new customers leave). Sales
were up about 18% and average monthly revenue is about $50.00 per customer.