Light At The End Of The Tunnel?

After opening lower Tuesday, the
markets did an about-face to close higher for the day.

The Dow Jones Industrial closed higher
1.2% and the Nasdaq Composite edged up 1.8% as the 2:00 rally moved the markets
into higher territory. Traders are waiting to see if the light is at the end of the
tunnel as big names like Intel
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and Apple Computers
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are
scheduled to report their earnings this evening.

Mohawk Industries
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rose 13.7%
after Credit Suisse First Boston raised the rating on the company to Buy from
Hold.

Circuit City-Carmax
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edged
higher 7.0% in the session.

Main Street Bancorp
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moved
convincingly higher after Sovereign Bancorp
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said it would acquire the
company for $170 million in stock. MBNK  closed up 42.6%

Also rising in the Banking sector was
GB&T Bancshares
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as it rose 17.2%.

Pharmaceutical company Taro
Pharmaceuticals
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whisked higher 8.9% for the session.

After losing ground in the last few
trading sessions, the Biotechnology Index
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closed higher 3.4%.
The Semiconductor Index
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also moved higher 4.3% in the session.

The Banking Index
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tacked on 2.4%.

Losing ground today was Symbol
Technologies
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after the company warned it would not meet analysts’
expectations of 15 cents a share. The company said Q2 earnings would come in at
3 cents a share. SBL closed lower 29.8%.

St. Paul Company
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fell 11.5%
after the company was downgraded by Keefe Bruyette.

Healthcare firm Ventiv Health
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sank 32.5% after the company announced it expects revenues for 2001 to be
slightly lower than the range they estimated in January. Ventiv revised their
revenues down to be between $450 to $490 million.

Inhale Therapeutics
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lost
8.2% after Pfizer
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announced a possible delay in seeking FDA approval
for the drug Exubera. INHL and PFE are in partnership in the development of
this inhaled form of insulin.

The Oil Index
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lost
0.7% as there was really no action in that sector.

The Insurance Index
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closed fractionally lower by 0.7%.

 

 

 

 

 

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