Here’s What’s Hitting A Ten Year Low

Stocks are modestly higher on this pre-Christmas Eve
trading day. 
The Dow is extending its 3.5 year high. Positive
news on the economic front overshadowed disappointments in the tech sector. 
The dollar hit a record low against the Euro. Earlier today, the greenback fell
to $1.35 per Euro. The VIX is at 10-year low.

The revised Michigan Consumer Sentiment index for December was upped to a
reading of 97.1 from 95.7. Consensus was at 95.7. The Commerce Department
reported that durable goods for November jumped 1.6% vs. consensus of 
0.7%. Personal Income rose 0.3% vs. consensus of 0.2%. Personal Spending came in
as expected at 0.3%. Initial Jobless Claims came in at 333K vs. consensus of
335K.  New Home Sales for November came in weaker than expected at 1125K
vs. 1200K.

Micron Technology
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is off earlier lows and is trading down by
0.75%. The maker of computer memory chips provided a first quarter revenue
estimate of $1.26 billion versus analysts consensus of $1.3 billion.

PalmSource
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is trading down by nearly 4%.  The company
also gave a revenue forecast that was below estimates. The maker of software for
hand-held computers expected third quarter revenues to be $18.9 million compared
to estimates of $23 million.

Red Hat
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is trading lower by 11%.  The distributor of
the Linux operating system system gave a third quarter revenue forecast of $50.9
million versus estimates of $51.8 million.

Strong sectors are: Biotechs
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+1.51%, Gold Bugs
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+0.97%, Drugs
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+0.95%.

Weak sectors are: Computer Box Makers 
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-0.41%,
REITs

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-0.21%.

Dow +21.21 10,837.10
S&P 500 +1.67 1,211.24
Nasdaq +5.36 2,162.39

The dollar is -0.43 at
81.58

Crude Oil is -0.24 at
44.00

Gold is 1.50 to 442.90

ce=”Arial” size=”2″ face=”Arial”>Volume is 525 million on the NYSE and
8.53 million on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth is positive.

NYSE Issues
Advancing 1749 Up Vol 393
Declining 1335 Down Vol 238
Ratio 1.31 1.65
Nasdaq
Advancing 1662 Up Vol 512
Declining 1335 Down Vol 291
Ratio 1.24 1.76

Stocks in the News

Adolor
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:
Thursday’s experiment did not indicate a significant benefit for treatment of
post-operative bowel obstruction.

American Greetings
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: Reported higher quarterly earnings.

Urban Outfitters
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: Wedbush reiterates Buy.

 

Brice Wightman