Highest Number Since 1950; And This Bank Gets Chinese Credit…
Stocks
traded higher to start off the new year. The
Institute for Supply Management index went up to 66.2 in December for the sixth
straight month, while the New Orders index rose to 77.6 — the highest number
since 1950. Bonds continued to struggle as the 10-year Treasury note
(
$TNX |
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PowerRating)
was down 23/32 at 99 7/32. Citibank rose on news that it is one of two foreign
banks approved to issue credit cards in China. The other bank, UK-based HSBC
(
HBC |
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PowerRating),
is also higher on the news. In a survey done by KPMG, automotive industry
executives around the world said they expect higher profits, but don’t expect a
full recovery until 2006. Eighty percent of those surveyed predict Asian
automakers will gain market share, while 53% believe US automakers will continue
to lose market share globally. Cattle futures moved
higher for the first time in a week.
| Dow | +51.48 |
10505.30 |
| S&P 500 | +4.67 | 1116.53 |
| Nasdaq | +16.71 |
2020.08 |
The day’s leading sectors are
Networking
(
GIP.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.51%,
Disk Drive
(
DDX.X |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.30%, Internet
(
INX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.58%,
Gold and Silver
(
XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.48%, Pharmaceuticals [DRG.X|DRG.X]
+1.34%, ,
Weak today is Retail
(
RLX.X |
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PowerRating)
-1.11%, and Oil Services
(
OSX.X |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.92%.
Economic news releases included
the ISM index rising to 66.2, and new orders index that rose to 77.6.
10-year Notes are -1025
at 111 060
The dollar
is -0.29 at 86.97
Gold is -1.10 at 417.20
Crude Oil is -0.27 at
32.52
Volume is 520,000,000 on
the NYSE, and 789,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is Positive.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 1975 | Up Vol 339 |
| Declining | 1129 | Down Vol 150 |
| Ratio | 1.75 | 2.26 |
| Nasdaq | ||
| Advancing | 2054 | Up Vol 596 |
| Declining | 967 | Down Vol 161 |
| Ratio | 2.12 | 3.71 |
Top Dow stocks are:
Merck
(
MRK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.16% at 47.39,
AT&T [T|T], +0.63%
at 20.90, Citigroup
(
C |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+0.61% at 49.11, and GM [GM|GM],
+0.60% at 53.98.
Stocks in the news:
NASA opted to extend its International Space
Station project with Boeing
(
BA |
Quote |
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News |
PowerRating), valued at up to $1.62 billion if all
options are exercised. The contract runs for two years.
Ciphergen Biosystems
(
CIPH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) warned it
will miss its fourth-quarter revenue estimates due to increased competition for
products that analyze genes and proteins for drug research. Sales targets were
lowered to $15 million from $19 million. CIPH Shares are down 27%.
Netflix
(
NFLX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported a 74%
increase in its subscriber base for 2003 from 2002 levels. Ninety-five percent
of subscribers were paying customers, with the remaining being trial members. NFLX
is expected to report fourth-quarter earnings on Jan 21.
bricew@tradingmarkets.com