I Say The Winner Is…
Stocks opened up mixed Monday and
ended mixed for the session.
Goldman Sachs upgraded a number of
stocks in the U.S. semiconductor sector, putting the sector at an Overweight
rating. The companies which were upgraded in the sector were Intel
(
INTC |
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Qualcomm
(
QCOM |
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(
CNXT |
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PowerRating), Broadcom
(
BRCM |
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PowerRating) and
Microtune
(
TUNE |
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PowerRating) from Market Outperform to Recommend List. Goldman Sachs
also raised its ratings on Analog Devices
(
ADI |
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MXIM |
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to Recommend List from Hold and upgraded Linear Technologies
(
LLTC |
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PowerRating) from
Hold to Outperform.
On the other side, Lehman Brothers
issued a contradictory report stating that the bottom for the chip makers was
not near, thus keeping traders at bay. If one looks closely at the Asian
markets, we will notice that the Taiwan stock market and the semiconductor
sector have shown an increase in correlation. The reason: Taiwan has some major
chip makers based in the country. Keep a watchful eye on Taiwan’s monetary
growth and stock index signals to see if a bottoming process could be in the
works.
Market breadth for the broader markets
were positive. NYSE advancers led decliners 1,593 to 1,482. The Nasdaq advancers
led decliners by a ratio of 17 to 14.
The CBOE Volatility Index
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$VIX.X |
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closed up 1.8%, while the Nasdaq 100 Volatility Index
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$QQV.X |
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0.1%.
The Nasdaq Composite gained 1.2% as
the Dow Jones Industrials closed relatively flat on a percentage basis on
moderately light volume.
Sectors showing some strength in the
session were the Biotechnology Index
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$BTK.X |
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PowerRating), which tacked on 4.6% after
forming a mini multi-week broadening formation.
The Gold and Silver Index
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$XAU.X |
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moved higher 2.6% as it tests its pivot point of a multi-week "W"
shaped bottom above its 200-day moving average.
After conflicting news on the sector,
the Semiconductor Index
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$SOX.X |
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PowerRating) managed to eke out a gain of 1.7% as it
met resistance at its 50-day moving average.
Trading in the red was the Airline
Index
(
$XAL.X |
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PowerRating), which slipped 1.3%. The Retail Index
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$RLX.X |
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slipped 1.0%.
The Transportation Index
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$TRX.X |
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fell 1.3% below its 200-day moving average for its second session in a row.
Looking at individual stocks, energy
seemed to be in fashion this session. Massey Energy
(
MEE |
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while Peabody Energy
(
BTU |
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Arch Coal
(
ACI |
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Cheap Tickets
(
CTIX |
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lifted in trading, tacking on 37.8% after Cendent
(
CD |
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the company for $425 million.
Drug company First Horizon
Pharmaceutical’s
(
FHRX |
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announced it would buy the Prenate brand line of prenatal vitamins from
Sanofi-Synthelabo, a French pharmaceutical company.
Corixa
(
CRXA |
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PowerRating) gained 12.6%.
Losing ground was Gap Inc.
(
GPS |
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which slipped 4.8% ahead of the sector’s earnings reports due out this week.
Homebuilder Pulte Homes
(
PHM |
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Ryland Group
(
RYL |
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closed off 6.5% after an article in Barron’s this week reported housing
builder stocks may have topped.
Sunrise Assisted Living
(
SRZ |
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PowerRating) shed
5.9%.
Higher education provider the Apollo
Group
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APOL |
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