NYSE Widely Held Stock In Play!
Stocks
rallied after Greenspan’s testimony, with the Dow
closing at a 2 3/4 year high, and the highest since June 2001. Greenspan
said that the US economy had turned the corner, with expected annual growth of
4.5% to 5.0%. The Fed can remain patient before raising interest rates but
Greenspan is troubled by immense government spending that created the massive
budget deficit. He added that the lack of a conservative fiscal policy could
create problems “in the relatively near term;” it may push up market rates, and
slow down growth unless a convincing plan is in place. Greenspan also said the
Fed could remain “patient” about raising interest rates even though the economy
is expanding rapidly.
“The picture has brightened,” Greenspan said. On the issue of the
declining dollar, he saw no material adverse effects.
Cable operator Comcast
(
CMCSK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
made a bid to buy Walt Disney
(
DIS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) for $66 billion. Terms of the
deal included an exchange of 0.78 of a Comcast class A share for each Disney
Share, putting Disney at $26.47 a share, or a 10% premium. DIS reported stronger
earnings of $688 million on revenue of $8.55 billion. DIS closed at 27.61, up
+3.47. Disney CEO Michael Eisner, who has been under pressure from the board
recently, originally rejected the offer but later said the company would
“carefully evaluate” the offer. The Wall Street Journal reports that
other bidders may emerge.
After the close, Brocade’s
(
BRCD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q1 beat by a penny on revenues +17% on the year; the stock was
trading up 5% at press time. Computer Sciences
(
CSC |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by a penny,
ex items, but was light on revenue; Whole Foods
(
WFMI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.03
and guided higher for 2004; Vertex
(
VRTX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.03. Alkermes
(
ALKS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.04 but missed on revenues and InVision
(
INVN |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
beat by 0.03 and reiterated ’04 guidance. Hewlett Packard
(
HPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) pre-announced
in-line with consensus and revenues at $19.5B.
| Dow | +123.85 |
10737.70 |
| S&P 500 |
+12.22 |
1157.76 |
| Nasdaq | +14.33 | 2089.66 |
The day’s leading sectors were
Brokers
(
XBD.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +3.88%,
Gold and Silver
(
XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.94%, Amex Gold Bugs
(
HUI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+2.89%, and Homebuilders
(
HGX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.34%.
Weak today was Healthcare
(
HMO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.00%.
10-year Notes were +235
at 114 215.
The dollar
was -0.69 at 85.15.
Gold was +2.53 at
409.57.
Crude Oil was +0.10 at
33.97.
Volume was
1,694,144,000 on
the NYSE, and 2,126,367,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was Positive.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 2269 | Up Vol 1206 |
| Declining | 1013 | Down Vol 304 |
| Ratio | 2.23 |
3.97 |
Stocks in the news:
Aluminum maker Alcoa
(
AA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was upgraded
by Prudential to ‘overweight’ amid expectations of higher aluminum
prices.
Micromuse
(
MUSEE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported
preliminary earnings that beat Wall Street estimates with its shares up 24%.
The company reported earnings of 2 cents a share on revenue of $37 million in
sales.
Priceline
(
PCLN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported earnings of
$2.2 million compared to a loss of $7.4 million a year ago. Revenue fell to
$180 million from $197 million a year ago. PCLN is up 16% on the news.
Soft drink maker Coca-Coca
(
KO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported earnings of $927 million, above analyst estimates. Operating revenue
was also higher at $5.18 billion. A lower-than-expected tax rate and a favorable
currency exchange rate helped the higher earnings.
Garmin
(
GRMN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported earnings of
$54.6 million on higher revenue of $170.1 million. it expects to earn 36 cents
on revenue of $138 million for the next quarter. GRMN is down 10%.