Here’s What You Should Know About Disney
Stocks
are lower as investors were disappointed with the lower than expected GDP,
raising concerns about the strength of the economic recovery. Chicago’s
PMI number rose to 65.9, the highest since July of 1995. The S&P is on track for
its first weekly loss since November. Pixar
(
PIXR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) announced
that negotiations to renew lucrative film deals with Disney
(
DIS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
have been terminated. Disney would still retain rights to sequels to previous
hits such as Toy Story and Finding Nemo. Pixar was seeking a deal
that would give Disney a distribution fee of about 15% while retaining all
rights to the films, a point Disney wouldn’t budge on. Disney shares are trading
lower while Pixar shares are trading higher for the day. Telecommunications
maker Nortel Networks
(
NT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported a fourth-quarter profit of $499
million on revenues of $2.83 billion. NT traded as high as 20% before investors
digested the gains.
| Dow | -54.74 |
10455.46 |
| S&P 500 |
-4.35 | 1129.51 |
| Nasdaq | -1.06 | 2067.44 |
The day’s leading sectors are
Networking
(
NWX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.47%, Gold and Silver
(
XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+1.18%, Semis
(
SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.94%,
Amex Gold Bugs
(
HUI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.74%
Weak today are Airlines
(
XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -2.60%, Biotechs
(
BTK.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.51%.
Economic news releases included
a lower than expected GDP that rose only 4.0%, Chain Deflator was also lower,
showing a 1.0% increase. Michigan’s consumer confidence number came in at
103.8, slighter higher than expectations, and Chicago’s PMI at 65.9.
Dollar is -0.32 at 87.50
Gold is +3.00 at 402.50
Crude Oil is +0.08 at
32.20
Volume is 729,000,000 on
the NYSE, and 939,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is Mixed.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 1502 | Up Vol 365 |
| Declining | 1588 | Down Vol 339 |
| Ratio | 1.02 | 1.08 |
| Nasdaq | ||
| Advancing | 1552 | Up Vol 463 |
| Declining | 1433 | Down Vol 456 |
| Ratio | 1.03 | 1.07 |
Top Dow stocks are:
Alcoa [AA|AA],
+1.59% at 33.88, American Express [AXP|AXP],
+1.26% at 51.61, Caterpillar
(
CAT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.08% at 78.17, McDonalds [MCD|MCD],
+0.58% at 25.64.
Stocks in the news:
Adobe Systems
(
ADBE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose 6% after giving
investors higher numbers for the first-quarter. Sales of its Creative Suite and
Acrobat products were strong as it upped revenue forecasts to $385 million and
earnings to 38 cents a share.
Gateway
(
GTW |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) announced a deal to purchase
eMachines for $325 million and also reported an $111 million loss on a 17%
drop in revenue that came in at $875 million. Sales of plasma TVs were strong
with low-end PCs dragging down earnings.
PeopleSoft
(
PSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported fourth quarter earnings
of $17.4 million, in-line with analyst consensus. Sales dipped 10% lower to
$685 million
ChevronTexaco
(
CVX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported higher sales with
profit almost doubling. Soaring crude oil and natural gas prices allowed the
company to earn $1.74 billion on revenue of $30 billion.
bricew@tradingmarkets.com