Is This Retailer Starting A Price War?
Stocks are flat today. The
market shrugged off lower-than-expected consumer confidence levels of 89.6, with
the Dow hovering above 10,000. Sony
(
SNE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Bertelsmann have
announced a merger of BMG and Sony music, excluding Sony’s music publishing and
CD production units. The music industry has been suffering financially from
piracy and competition from video games. Sears
(
S |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) became the first
retailer to begin offering major holiday sales. Many other retailers have been
reluctant to offer deep discounts to consumers but Sears have launched a
surprise sale, slashing prices by as much as 60%. United Tech
(
UTX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
was upgraded by Prudential. UTX also confirmed its double-digit EPS growth
outlook.
| Dow | +17.82 |
10024.41 |
| S&P 500 | +0.91 | 1072.45 |
| Nasdaq | -0.76 | 1941.56 |
The day’s leading sectors are
Internet
(
GIN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +4.06%, Semis [SOX.X|SOX.X]
+3.80%, Tech
(
TXX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.50%, and Insurance
(
IUX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+2.40%.
Weak today are Telecoms
[XTC.X|XTC.X] -0.90%, and Networking
(
NWX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-0.85%, .
Economic news releases included
a 0.3% decrease in PPI, and a trade deficit of $41.8 billion. Preliminary
Michigan Sentiment is at 89.6.
10-year Notes are +130
at 114 005
The dollar is +0.36 at
88.53
Gold is +2.60 at 407.20
Crude Oil is -0.53 at
32.38
Volume is 575,000,000 on
the NYSE, and 801,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is positive.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 1683 | Up Vol 272 |
| Declining | 1409 | Down Vol 230 |
| Ratio | 1.18 | 1.18 |
| Nasdaq | ||
| Advancing | 1526 | Up Vol 351 |
| Declining | 1385 | Down Vol 339 |
| Ratio | 1.13 | 1.03 |
Top Dow stocks are:
United Tech [UTX|UTX],
+2.43% at 91.45, GM
(
GM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+1.40% at 49.61, Honeywell Intl [HON|HON],
+1.30% at 31.37, and Disney
(
DIS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.90% at 22.80.
Stocks in the news:
Ameritrade
(
AMTD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
gave investors a rosy outlook, upping its first-quarter earnings to 14-17 cents
a share. For the fiscal year, it expects to earn 37-59 cents per share. Customer
trading volume rose to 180,000 for the month of November, up 6% from October.
Coca-Cola
(
CCE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
announced plans to buy back $2 billion shares of its stock in 2004, one third
more than in 2003. The company also expects to commit $125 million to fully fund
its pension plan in 2004, with pension and post-retirement expenses increasing
by $30-$40 million.
Halliburton
(
HAL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) hit a 2-month high
amid a Pentagon investigation. The audit showed the government may have been
overcharged by as much as $61 million for gasoline in Iraq.
Adobe Systems
(
ADBE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is up 3% after
reporting net income of $83.8 million for the fourth quarter, beating analysts’
expectations. Sales rose from $294.7 million to $358 million.
bricew@tradingmarkets.com