Note This Important Change In The Bank Index
Stocks sold
off Monday amid geopolitical fears in Taiwan and the Middle East,
with the Dow tallying its second consecutive triple
digit loss.
Chinese stocks such as Taiwan Semiconductor
(
TSM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), United
Microelectronics
(
UMC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), and Sinopec
(
SNP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) fell
over the Taiwanese election results. President Chen Shui-bian scored a
razor-thin victory and his opponent Lien Chan is demanding a recount. Stocks
fell 7% in Taiwan. In the Mid-East, Israeli forces assassinated Sheik Ahmed
Yassin, the co-founder of Hamas. The absence of economic numbers forced
investors and traders to focus on geopolitical events. European markets closed
at the lows for the year.
The Nasdaq has had only one
up-week so far this year. The Banking Index
(
BKX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) split 10:1; the
index closed at 98.62, post-split.
Over the past month, the
Airline Index
(
XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) has dropped 15% as a result of continued rising
jet fuel costs and fell as much as 3% intraday Monday Delta Airlines
(
DAL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is at a 52-week low. Lehman
Brothers said that there is just too much capacity growth in the industry.
Ten-year treasuries fell to a record low of 3.3%, the lowest since the Reagan
administration. Boston Scientific’s
(
BSX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Taxus drug-coated stents
sales from March 8 to March 19 reached $42 million with analysts estimating
between $52 million and $75 million for the entire month. Boeing
(
BA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
was downgraded by Credit Suisse First Boston to neutral.
Looking ahead, Applied
Material’s
(
AMAT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) annual meeting is scheduled for Wednesday;
PeopleSoft
(
PSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Nokia
(
NOK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) also have shareholder
meetings this Thursday.
Dow | -121.85 |
10064.75 |
S&P 500 |
-14.35 |
1095.43 |
Nasdaq | -30.56 |
1909.91 |
The day’s leading sectors were
Amex Gold Bugs
(
HUI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.40%, Gold and Silver
(
XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+0.%, Pharmaceuticals
(
DRG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.07%.
Weak today were Airlines
(
XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -3.21%, Internet
(
GIN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -3.05%, Networking
(
NWX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-3.20%.
No Economic news releases
today.
10-year Notes were +165
at 116 025
The dollar
was -0.33 at 87.83
Gold was +4.77 at 416.87
Crude Oil was -0.59 at
37.05
Volume was
1,447,742,000 on
the NYSE, and 1,978,401,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was negative.
NYSE | Issues | |
Advancing | 750 | Up Vol 116 |
Declining | 2555 | Down Vol 1318 |
Ratio | 3.40 | 11.3 |
Nasdaq | ||
Advancing | 668 | Up Vol 238 |
Declining | 2543 | Down Vol 1709 |
Ratio | 3.80 | 7.18 |
Stocks in the news:
US Oncology
(
USON |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was bought
out by investment group Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe which will investors
$15.05 a share, or a 18.5% premium over Friday’s closing price.
Global Crossing
(
GLBC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) drew some
interest after the announcement that telecom mogul Carlos Slim acquired a 9.1%
stake of its common stock.
Walgreens
(
WAG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
posted a profit of $433.5 million with revenue up 16% at 9.78 billion with
strong prescription growth accounting for 60% of its sales.
Cruise company Carnival
(
CCL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported
a 60% increase in earnings and net income of $203 million with revenue that
reached $2 billion on gains of its P&O Princess Cruises merger.