Naz At Year’s Low
Stocks were
broadly lower Friday, with the Dow closing below 10,000 and the Nasdaq off 2%
and closing at its lows for the year. The
Dow and S&P are approaching their yearly lows. For the week, the Dow lost
1.75%, the Nasdaq fell 1.8% and the S&P gave back 1.4%. This is the sixth
straight losing week for the S&P 500. For the month of July, AMZN is down 23%,
YHOO -21%, EBAY -17%, and INTC is down 17%.
Amazon
(
AMZN |
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PowerRating) reported earnings that missed expectations by a penny
at 18 cents a share but did raise 2004 annual revenue estimates by $75 million.
The company earned $76.4 million on revenue of $1.39 billion. Xerox
(
XRX |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported earnings that more than doubled to $187 million on stronger sales of
copiers and printers.
Broadcom
(
BRCM |
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News |
PowerRating) posted earnings of $63.8 million on revenue $641 million. The
company warned of lower gross margins and increasing inventory for the next
quarter. Schlumberger
(
SLB |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) posted net income of $356 million with
revenue rising 12% to $2.88 billion. The company benefited from continued
soaring crude and natural gas prices.
The $16 billion merger between
Anthem and Wellpoint is in danger of falling apart. California
regulators are expected to deny the merger. Both stocks were halted for the day.
So far this earnings season, 69% of S&P 500 companies have reported earnings
above estimates, 19% were in-line and 12% were below.
Mutual funds are building large
cash positions, with Longleaf Partners at 29% cash and the FPA Capital Fund at
30% cash. Large mutual fund cash positions are thought of as bullish because it
represents potential buying power.
| Dow | -88.11 | 9962.22 |
| S&P 500 | -10.64 | 1086.20 |
| Nasdaq | -39.97 | 1849.09 |
Strong today were:
Homebuilders
(
HGX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.42%.
Weak today were:
Internet
(
ECM.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -3.81%, Semis
(
SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -3.53%, Disk
Drives
(
DDX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -3.09%.
No Economic news releases
today.
10-year Notes were +075 at
110 235
The dollar
was +0.79 at 89.25
Gold was -4.00 at
389.90.
Crude Oil was +0.31 at
41.71
Volume was 1.33 billion
on the NYSE, and 1.68 billion on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was negative.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 1065 | Up Vol 290 |
| Declining | 2185 | Down Vol 1036 |
| Ratio | 2.05 | 3.57 |
| Nasdaq |
||
| Advancing | 829 | Up Vol 236 |
| Declining | 2240 | Down Vol 1431 |
| Ratio | 2.70 | 6.06 |
Stocks in the news:
United Airlines said they received an additional $500
million in bankruptcy financing from four lenders.
Microsoft said it will hire as many as 7,000 new employees
this business year.
Halliburton
(
HAL |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) posted a net loss of $663 amid
multiple one-time charges. Revenue rose 38% to $5 billion.
Coca-Cola
(
KO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) fell after it reported earnings of
$1.58 billion with worldwide sales growing only 1%. Revenue for the quarter rose
5% to $5.97 billion.
Overstock
(
OSTK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported a net loss of $2.3
million on increasing development expenses with revenue up at $87.8 million.
Brice Wightman
bricew@tradingmarkets.com