Lower Opening

Stocks appear set to open lower
Thursday.

Bear Stearns downgraded Immersion
Corp. from Buy to Attractive and lowered its price target for the company in the
range of $10-$13 from $14-$21.

Credit Suisse First Boston was
positive on Finsar Corp.
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, citing upside potential in the April
quarter for company.

Ciena
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is holding a
conference call which began at 8:30 AM EST.

Lucent Technologies
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reaffirmed
that it expects to return to profitability during FY02.

ABN Amro is positive on Amdocs Ltd.
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and raised its price target on the company from $31 to $39.

Apollo Group
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will replace
XO Communications
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in the Nasdaq 100 Index beginning on Dec. 17.

Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein
downgraded Research In Motion
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from Hold to Reduce based on
valuation.

Prudential Securities downgraded
Advanced Micro Devices
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from Hold to Sell.

Robertson Stephens upgraded Ann Taylor
Stores
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from Market Perform to Buy.

Prudential Securities downgraded
Microchip
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from Buy to Hold, citing valuation.

Bioject Medical
(
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has
entered an agreement with Amgen
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that will allow AMGN the potential
to use BJCT’s needle-free injection system.

PPI for November fell 0.6%, while
the core rate rose 0.2%.

Retail Sales fell 3.7% and 0.5%, excluding autos
for November

Jobless claims rose 86,000 to 394,000
for the week of Dec. 8.