IPO Up Six Dollars!
Stocks rose
on higher volume on this expiration Friday.
Energy stocks made new highs again as oil made a 10-day high.
Viacom
(
VIA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said
its split-off of Blockbuster
(
BBI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) would yield $738 million in cash;
Blockbuster is expected to pay $5 per share to all shareholders. The US current
account deficit widened more than expected, increasing to $144.9 billion — $4
billion higher than the consensus; setting a new record.
For the week, the Dow rose
0.06%, the S&P lost 0.13% and the Nasdaq fell 0.66%.
Red Hat
(
RHAT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported a seven-fold increase in profit on a 50% gain in sales that missed
revenue expectations. Revenue was $41.6 million with income at $10.7 million.
Oil workers from Norway initiated a strike. Global oil output is expected to be
reduced by 10%. Crude prices hit a 10-day high, trading at $38 a barrel.
Blackboard, Inc. (BBBB)
was priced at $14 and closed at $20. The company provides online learning
software to colleges and universities. It was the strongest first day move for a
tech IPO this year. 75 IPOS were priced the first half of 2004 vs.10 for the
same time period last year.
The FDA approvedÂ
Imclone’s
(
IMCL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) manufacturing facility to produce Erbitux. The factory
— in New Jersey — could produce as much as 250 kg of the drug annually.
A judge gave United Airlines
(
UAL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) one more month to figure out how to emerge from bankruptcy.
On a sad note, American Paul
Johnson was murdered in Saudi Arabia by Al Qaeda. Johnson was employed by
Lockheed Martin and had lived and worked in the Kingdom for 10 years.
| Dow | +38.89 | 10416.41 |
| S&P 500 | +2.95 | 1135.00 |
| Nasdaq | +3.06 | 1986.73 |
Strong today were Amex Gold
Bugs
(
HUI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.47%, Gold and Silver
(
XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.95%,
Chemicals
(
CEX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.22%, BiotechsÂ
(
BTK.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.21%
and Airlines
(
XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.22%.
Weak today were Hardware
(
HWI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.63%, RetailÂ
(
RTH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.41% and Natural Gas
(
XNG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.27%.
Economic news release today
include: a higher current account deficit at $144.9 billion.
10-year Notes were -040
at 108 115
The dollar
was -0.452 at 89.08
Gold was +7.30 at 394.80
Crude Oil was +0.14 at
38.95
Volume was 1.5 billion
on the NYSE, and 1.67 billion on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was positive.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 1807 | Up Vol 800 |
| Declining | 1456 | Down Vol 480 |
| Ratio | 1.24 | 1.66 |
| Nasdaq |
||
| Advancing | 1424 | Up Vol 785 |
| Declining | 1668 | Down Vol 780 |
| Ratio | 1.17 | 1.00 |
Stocks in the news:
Adobe Systems
(
ADBE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported earnings that rose 70% at $109.4 million, but said for Q3 its operating
margin is expected to be around 30%. Revenue rose to $410.1 million with
strength from Acrobat and Creative Suites software.
Alcoa
(
AA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was higher after
bullish comments from Goldman Sachs citing strong data points to positive
fundamentals for the aluminum market.
Motorola
(
MOT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was downgraded by
Morgan Stanley with a lower price target of $20 a share.
American Healthways
(
AMHC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
rallied after reporting a 64% gain in income and raised 2004 outlook. Earnings
reached $7.5 million.
Brice Wightman
bricew@tradingmarkets.com