Mega-Merger, Plus, Plenty Of Earnings You Need To Know About
Stocks rose
Wednesday as the US trade deficit shrank by 0.2%.
After the close, Intel
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INTC |
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PowerRating)
reported Q4 earnings of .33 vs a .25 estimate, and revenues of $8.74 billion. Yahoo!
(
YHOO |
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PowerRating)
reported 0.11, in-line;
Genentech
(
DNA |
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PowerRating) earned .27/share, beating expectations, and Apple
Computer
(
AAPL |
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PowerRating) said it earned 0.16, beating by a penny. NCR said
it sees Q4 above expectations.
Yahoo! announced a deal with
Sina
(
SINA |
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PowerRating) to jointly operate and run auction-based e-commerce
targeted towards small businesses in China. Sina gained 9% on the news.
AT&T Wireless
(
AWE |
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PowerRating)
shares are trading higher on news of a possible merger with Cingular Wireless
(
SBC |
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PowerRating). Plantronics
(
PLT |
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PowerRating) surged 10% after reporting a 91% jump
in net income. Earnings rose to 17.6% million on sales of 107.6 million, well
ahead of analysts’ forecasts. Gold
(
GCJ4 |
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PowerRating) traded lower for the
third day in a row.
In a deal to cooperate with
federal prosecutors, former Enron financial chief Andrew Fastow will get 10
years in prison. The dollar gained against the euro.
Dow | +111.19 |
10538.37 |
S&P 500 | +9.30 | 1130.52 |
Nasdaq | +14.69 |
2111.13 |
The day’s leading sectors were
Healthcare
(
HMO.X |
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PowerRating) +2.17%.Health Providers
(
RXH.X |
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PowerRating) +7.12%, Telecoms
(
XTC.X |
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News |
PowerRating)
+1.73%, Airlines
(
XAL.X |
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Chart |
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PowerRating) +1.32%,
Weak today were Amex Gold
Bugs
(
HUI.X |
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PowerRating) -4.78%, and Gold and Silver
(
XAU.X |
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PowerRating) -4.12%.
Economic news releases included
an improving trade deficit of $38 Billion, and Producer price index that rose by
0.3%.
The
dollar was +0.59 at 86.10.
Gold was -3.13 at 421.19
Crude Oil was -0.13 at
33.79
Volume was
1,518,186,000 on
the NYSE, and 2,091,489,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was Positive
NYSE | Issues | |
Advancing | 2241 | Up Vol 1117 |
Declining | 1041 | Down Vol 378 |
Ratio | 2.15 | 2.95 |
Nasdaq | ||
Advancing | 1920 | Up Vol 1163 |
Declining | 1256 | Down Vol 873 |
Ratio | 1.52 | 1.33 |
Stocks in the news:
After the close, The Wall Street Journal reports
that JP Morgan Chase
(
JPM |
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PowerRating) is acquiring Banc One
(
ONE |
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PowerRating) in a deal worth
$60 billion, or 1.32 shares JPM. Both stocks were halted in the after
market. Jamie Dimon is expected to be CEO of the new company.
Taser International
(
TASR |
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PowerRating) announced a three-for-one stock split in February, to increase liquidity and
attract private and institutional investors.
Battery maker Rayovac
(
ROV |
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PowerRating) will close
plant-and-service centers operated by its Remington unit. It expects to cut 528
jobs, with restructuring costs around $8 million. Investors pushed the stock up
56
Delta Airlines
(
DAL |
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PowerRating) reported a
fourth-quarter loss of $327 million on revenue of $3.4 billion. Excluding
unusual items, Delta lost $207 million, or $1.71 per share, 5 cents
higher than Wall Street consensus.
Shares of shoemaker Vans
(
VANS |
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PowerRating) rose
8% on raised third-quarter and 2004 earnings. The company now expects to earn 25
cents a share for the third quarter and 62 cents a share for the full year.
bricew@tradingmarkets.com