New Bid For DIS? Plus, Big News From PG


Stocks fell Tuesday with the Dow closing below its 50-day moving average

for the second day in a row. It was the lowest close of
the year for the Nasdaq and also the first close below 2000 this year for
the tech-heavy index. Financial services were weak; they make up the bulk of the
S&P 500 index. Interest rates are hovering at 40-year lows again and real estate
was strong today.


Satellite
provider EchoStar Communications
(
DISH |
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has pulled the plug on
Viacom

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channels after a dispute over programming fees. DISH
said Viacom was seeking rate increases up to 40%; the dispute would impact 1.6
million customers in the US. Texas Instruments
(
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said its
first-quarter outlook would be at the top half of previously targeted goals with
earnings of 20 cents a share and revenue of $2.9 billion. Nike
(
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rose to a 52-week high after guiding the Street higher. It expects to maintain a
20% growth rate with earnings to exceed 71 cents a share. NKE is currently
trading at 10-year high.

Disney
(
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President Bob Iger said that a new and higher bid may come from Comcast.

Interpublic Group
(
IPG |
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reported a net loss of $102.5 million on revenue of $1.63 billion, due to its previously announced $42.7 million restructuring charge.

Sun Microsystems
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fell 7% on 113 million shares.

After the close, Net2Phone
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missed by Q2 by 0.04, ex items. Proctor & Gamble
(
PG |
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was
halted, pending news. The company said they would beat Q3 estimates, announced a
2:1 split, raised guidance and raised its annual dividend to $2.00/share.

Wednesday morning, look for results from Krispy Kreme
(
KKD |
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PowerRating)
with a
0.26 estimate.

Finally, March 10 2000 was the
all time high of the Nasdaq at 5048.

Dow
-72.52

10456.96
S&P 500
-6.63
1140.57
Nasdaq
-13.62

1995.16

The day’s leading sectors are
Semis
(
SOX.X |
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+0.22%,
Gold and Silver
(
XAU.X |
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+0.10%, and Amex Gold Bugs
(
HUI.X |
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+0.13%.

Weak today are Networking
(
NWX.X |
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-3.60%, Airlines
(
XAL.X |
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-2.73%, and Disk Drives
(
DDX.X |
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-1.76% and Biotech
(
BTK.X |
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-1.74%.

10-year Notes were +120
at 116 010.

The dollar
was +0.63 at 88.63

Gold was +5.10 at 406.00

Crude Oil was -0.29 at
36.28

Volume was
1,481,787,000 on
the NYSE, and
2,081,462,000 on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth was negative.

NYSE Issues
Advancing 1258 Up Vol
255
Declining 2048 Down Vol 1148
Ratio 1.62 4.50
Nasdaq
Advancing 1042 Up Vol
618
Declining 2134 Dow Vol
1413
Ratio 2.04 2.28

Stocks in the news:

Weyerhaeuser
(
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has settled an
antitrust case for $34.5 million and is expected to take a first-quarter charge.
The suit alleged that it had monopoly power or attempted to gain monopoly power
in the Pacific Northwest. The company has not admitted liability.

The FDA approved Amgen’s
(
AMGN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Sensipar, to treat chronic kidney disease and parathyroid cancer.


bricew@tradingmarkets.com