Incentives Boosting Sales At This Blue Chip
Stocks
meandered lower Tuesday after yesterday’s highs.
Volume was light again, with the NYSE seeing below-normal volume for the past
four weeks. The Nasdaq failed to test the 2000 level, and an afternoon sell-off
has the index closing on its lows. Biotech was strong today, with Imclone,
Cephalon, Genzyme, and Myriad all gainers.
US firms slashed fewer than
100,000 jobs in November, a sharp drop from October’s peak of 172,000.
Chicago-based firm Challenger, which keeps track of such data, reported a 17%
drop in job cuts when compared with the previous year. The current unemployment
rate is at 6.0%. The US dollar continues its descent as it hit an all-time low
of $1.2091 against the euro. Gold reached an eight-year high of $407 an ounce,
and silver made a three-year high. Data storage device manufacturer McData
(
MCDTA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) announced
higher revenues of $94.7 million but reported a net loss of $50 million.
US car sales were stronger in
November, boosted by a recovering economy and year end sales incentives.
General Motors
(
GM |
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News |
PowerRating) reported November sales up 21%. Ford
(
F |
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PowerRating)
reported a 2.4% decline in November sales with its fleet business down a
whopping 10%. The company plans to cut fourth-quarter production by 20,000 due
to reduced rental demand for its Taurus sedan.
All eyes are on Intel
(
INTC |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
this week as analysts expect the company to boost its outlook Thursday at its
mid-quarter update.
| Dow | -45.41 | 9853.64 |
| S&P 500 | -3.50 | 1066.62 |
| Nasdaq | -9.75 | 1980.07 |
The day’s leading sectors were
Healthcare
(
$HMO.X |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+1.77%, Oil Service Sector
(
$OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.10%, and Health Providers
(
$RXH.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.01%.
Weak today were Airlines
[XAL.X|XAL.X] -2.58%, Retail [RLX.X|RLX.X]
-1.89%, and Software
(
GSO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.57%.
10-year Notes were -75
at 112 040.
The dollar
was -0.69 at 89.66.
Gold was +2.18 at
403.78.
Crude Oil was +0.81 at
30.78.
Volume was 1,383,262,000 on
the NYSE, and 1,783,644,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was negative.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 1613 | Up Vol 585 |
| Declining | 1635 | Down Vol 778 |
| Ratio | 1.01 | 1.33 |
| Nasdaq | ||
| Advancing | 1530 | Up Vol 692 |
| Declining | 1696 | Down Vol 1065 |
| Ratio | 1.10 | 1.53 |
Stocks in the news:
HealthSouth
(
HLSH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
announced it would replace five directors who served the board during the
alleged $2.6 billion accounting fraud fiasco. The move follows a lawsuit brought
by Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana.
Maxim Pharmaceuticals
(
MAXM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
announced it would license its MX90745 series of compounds to Myriad Genetics
(
MYGN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
for $27 million. MAXM is trading 7% higher.
Health Retailer CVS
(
CVS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported a 5.3% increase for in same-store sales with revenue reaching $2.07
billion, up from $1.93 billion a year ago.
Pepsi
(
PEP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
announced plans to close its snack plant and cut 750 jobs, splitting its North
American drinks business back into three units, Pepsi-Cola, Juices, and
Gatorade. The company will also begin to expense options.
If you have any comments or
questions, please feel free to email me.
bricew@tradingmarkets.com