Here’s What Traders Are Focused On…
Stocks
are off slightly, with traders waiting on Thursday’s OPEC meeting in Beruit.
Oil prices climbed past $42 a barrel on security concerns following a weekend
attack in Saudi Arabia. Factory employment rose to the highest level in 31 years
as the ISM came in at 62.8, the twelfth straight month of growth in the
manufacturing sector. Construction spending rose another 1.3%, much higher than
the consensus of 0.4% as rising interest rates caused a rush to build. According
to the Semiconductor Industry Association, worldwide sales of semiconductors
rose 4.1% in April to $16.94 billion. Strong demand for cell phones and growth
in the US and China helped push sales higher.
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Viacom
(
VIA.B |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
President Mel Karmazin resigned on Tuesday, citing personal and professional
reasons. Tom Freston and Leslie Moonves were named co-presidents and co-chief
operating officers on the announcement. JC Penny
(
JCP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said the FTC
has cleared its sale of 2,8000 Eckard drugstores for $4.53 billion.
Â
Gas prices fell over the
weekend — down 0.01 for an average of $2.04, halting a 20 cent move since early
May.
Â
| Dow | -20.93 | 10167.52 |
| S&P 500 | -3.77 | 1116.52 |
| Nasdaq | -9.60 | 1977.67 |
Strong today are Natural Gas
(
XNG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.36%, Energy
(
DXE.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+1.24%, Healthcare Provider
(
RXH.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.21%Â Oil Index
(
XOI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+1.16%.
Weak today are Airlines
(
XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -2.00%, Disk Drives
(
DDX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-1.93%.
Economic news releases today include: construction spending that rose much
higher at 1.3%, and ISM index was higher than the forecasted 61.5 at 62.8.
Â
10-year Notes are -185
at 109 095
The dollar is +0.02 at 89.00
Gold is +1.60 at 394.56
Crude Oil is +1.87 at 41.75
Volume is 555,000 million on the NYSE, and 685,000 million on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is negative.
Â
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 1365 | Up Vol 210 |
| Declining | 1737 | Down Vol 333 |
| Ratio | 1.27 | 1.59 |
| Nasdaq |
||
| Advancing | 1334 | Up Vol 275 |
| Declining | 1629 | Down Vol 387 |
| Ratio | 1.23 | 1.41 |
Top Dow stocks are:
Altria
(
MO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.49%
at 48.63, Merck
(
MRK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.04% at 47.79, Exxon Mobil
(
XOM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+0.92% at 43.60 Caterpillar
(
CAT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.68% at 75.81Â
Â
Stocks in the news:
United Airlines
(
UALAQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
decided to roll back its $10 fuel surcharge on North American routes, citing
lack of a follow through from its competitors.
Immucor
(
BLUD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose after
its board announced a 3 for 2 stock split and authorized a buy back of an
additional 200,000 shares.
Boston Scientific
(
BSX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
acquired Advanced Bionics, the maker of implantable
microelectronics for treating neurological disorders and other ailments
for $740 million in cash. The deal is expected to reduce BSX’s earnings by 4
cents in 2004 and 6 cents in 2005.
Manugistics
(
MANU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is lower
after forecasting lower Q1 revenue of $51 million with EPS of -0.06.
Brice Wightman
bricew@tradingmarkets.com