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 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) has pulled the plug on
Viacom
(
VIA.B |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) 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
(
TXN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) 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
(
NKE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
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
(
DIS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
President Bob Iger said that a new and higher bid may come from Comcast.
Interpublic Group
(
IPG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
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
(
SUNW |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
fell 7% on 113 million shares.
After the close, Net2Phone
(
NTOP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) missed by Q2 by 0.04, ex items. Proctor & Gamble
(
PG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) 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 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
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 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.22%,
Gold and Silver
(
XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.10%, and Amex Gold Bugs
(
HUI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+0.13%.
Weak today are Networking
(
NWX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -3.60%, Airlines
(
XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -2.73%, and Disk Drives
(
DDX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.76% and Biotech
(
BTK.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -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
(
WY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) 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.