Mixed Opening

  • September 5, 2001
  • Greg Che

Stocks appear set to open
mixed Wednesday.

Merrill Lynch downgraded a number of
telecom equipment stocks including Alcatel
(
ALA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) from Accumulate to Long
Term Neutral, Ericsson
(
ERICY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) from Buy to Long Term Accumulate, Motorola
(
MOT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) to Near Term Neutral from Accumulate and Marconi
(
MONI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
from Long Term Neutral from Accumulate.

UT Starcom
(
UTSI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) announced a contract deal with
China worth approximately $52 million.

Xerox
(
XRX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) has chosen Akamia
Techmologies’
(
AKAM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Akamia Edge Suite service for the company’s internet
infrastructure.

UBS Warburg upgraded the U.S.
Broker/Dealers to Buy from Hold. Individuals within the sector raised were
Lehman Brothers
(
LEH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), Goldman Sachs
(
GS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), Merrill Lynch
(
MER |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter
(
MWD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating).

Lehman Brothers downgraded Diebold
(
DBD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
from Strong Buy to Market Perform.

Waters Corp.
(
WAT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was upgraded by
JP Morgan from Long Term Buy to Buy.

Bernstein upgraded Vodafone PLC
(
VOD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
from Market Perform to Outperform.

Salomon Smith Barney downgraded
Tellabs
(
TLAB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) to Neutral from Outperform.

ABN Amro lowered its 2001 and 2002
estimates for AOL Time Warner
(
AOL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) to take into consideration the reduced U.S.
advertising forecasts.

According to a report by the
Associated Press, Japan’s economy has shrunk more than 1% between April and
June.

Re-insurance company General Re Corp.
named Joseph Brandon Chief Executive Officer. General Re is the re-insurance
section of Berkshire Hathaway
(
BRKa |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating).

JNI Corp.
(
JNIC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said it expects
to report a Q3 loss between 3 cents and 6 cents. Analysts’ consensus was for the
company to earn 2 cents a share.

Marconi
(
MONI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) announced the
resignation of its CEO and said it will be cutting its workforce by an
additional 2000 positions. The company also said it has put a hold on any
dividend payments.

Laboratory Corp.
(
LH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said it plans
to raise approximately $435 million through a private offering of zero coupon
convertible subordinated notes which will be due in 2021.