More Jobs Growth? This Report Says So
Stocks are flat today. President
Bush signed a 10-year $400 billion Medicare reform bill into law, expanding roles for
private health plans. Investors are anxious for
confirmation from the Fed that it will keep interest rates unchanged in
Tuesday’s meeting. Forrester Research predicted that online
shoppers will spend more money online than ever this holiday season. Sales are
expected to reach $12 billion due to convenience, steep deep discounts, and
promotional tools such as free shipping. A separate report from Citigroup
(
C |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
said that US economic expansion has reached a self-sustaining stage and labor
demand is expected to pick up in the next few quarters.
| Dow | +28.51 |
9891.21 |
| S&P 500 | +0.79 | 1062.45 |
| Nasdaq | -6.88 | 1930.25 |
The day’s leading sectors are
Airlines
(
XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.70%, Disk Drives
(
DDX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+0.6%, Banks
(
BIX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.48%, and Financials
(
$NF.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.34%.
Weak today are Health Providers
[RXH.X|RXH.X] -2.3%,
Internet
(
GIN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -2.36%, and
Biotechs
(
BTK.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) 0-1.4%.
No Economic news releases
today.
10-year Notes are -95 at 113
070
The dollar is -0.48 at 88.71
Gold is +1.40 at 407.80
Crude Oil is +1.02 at 31.75
Volume is 510,000,000 on the
NYSE, and 797,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is mixed.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 1722 | Up Vol 221 |
| Declining | 1344 | Down Vol 258 |
| Ratio | 1.28 | 1.17 |
| Nasdaq | ||
| Advancing | 1273 | Up Vol 232 |
| Declining | 1722 | Down Vol 513 |
| Ratio | 1.35 | 2.21 |
Top Dow stocks are:
General Motors
(
GM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+1.84% at 49.71, Johnson & Johnson
(
JNJ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+1.64% at 49.47, Boeing [BA|BA],
+1.63% at 38.43, and Kodak
(
EK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.70% at 35.08.
Stocks in the news:
Lowes
(
LOW |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) announced it would buy back
$1 billion of common stock through private transactions. Currently there are
$786 million outstanding shares. The company also declared a quarterly dividend
of 3
cents per share, payable January 30, 2004.
Freddie Mac
(
FRE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
named Richard Syron to become the company’s third CEO. Syron previously held
positions at the American Stock Exchange, the Boston Federal Reserve and a
technology firm.
Aerospace giant Lockheed Martin
(
LMT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was given antitrust clearance for its $1.8 billion acquisition of
Titan Corp
(
TTN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating). The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of
2004, subject to Titan stockholder approval.
McDonalds
(
MCD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported that monthly US
sales jumped 10.2%, with eight straight month of gains.
bricew@tradingmarkets.com