OPEC Comes Through…Or Did They?

June 3, 2004
Brice Wightman

Stocks
are flat as many investors are waiting for tomorrow’s jobs data.
Weekly initial claims fell by 6,000 to 339,000, with the 4-week average rising
to 341,000. The unemployment rate will be announced tomorrow at 8:30 AM EDT,
with economists expecting a 5.6% number. Oil prices opened strong but fell below
$40 mid-day. OPEC said they would raise output by two million barrels a day
effective July 1st and another 500,000 barrels a day starting August 1st. Some
industry observers feel there is $7-$8 of premium built into oil prices
currently. The current OPEC quota is 23.5 million barrels per day, with the new quota
set for 25.5 mb/d. Current production is 25.7 mb/d, which is higher than the new
quota. Many members are already pumping above the quota, cheating, in essence.
OPEC is expected to meet again on July 21.

CIA Director George Tenet
resigned, citing personal reasons. The CIA has weathered recent criticism for
intelligence lapses. Tenet’s last day will be July 11. Deputy director John
McLaughlin will take over as acting director.

Retailer giant Wal-Mart
(
WMT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said its same store sales rose 5.9% in
May with strong sales in electronics and food departments.Â Analysts had
expected an increase of 4 to 5.5%. Sales for May rose 12.8% to $21.43 billion.

Monster.com said most
industries reported moderate job growth availability in May. The Monster
Employment Index for May was 128. April, 125; March, 109; February, 107;
January, 102.

Intel
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) will
provide a mid-quarter business update after the close today.

Dow	+12.07	10274.57
S&P 500	-0.57	1124.56
Nasdaq	-9.80	1979.37

Economic news releases today:
Productivity for Q1 that rose to 3.8%, Initial claims fell by 6,000 to 339,000.
Factory Orders for April fell by 1.7% and ISM services index that also was lower
at 65.2.

10-year Notes are +55 at
109 175

The dollar
is +0.26 at 89.16

Gold is -3.50 at 388.10

Crude Oil is -1.26 at
38.75

Volume is 539,000
million on the NYSE, and 685,000 million on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth is negative.

NYSE	Issues
Advancing	1101	Up Vol 188
Declining	1959	Down Vol 334
Ratio	1.78	1.78
Nasdaq
Advancing	948	Up Vol 224
Declining	1950	Down Vol 441
Ratio	2.07	1.97

Top Dow stocks are:

Stocks in the news:

Hard disk maker Seagate Technology
(
STX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
got a lift after announcing plans to shed 2,900 workers and saying it will take
a fourth-quarter charge of $50 million. STX also was upgraded by Craig-Hallum to
Buy.

FuelCell
(
FCEL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) fell after
missing earnings expectation by 5 cents, with a net loss of $18.9 million.
Revenue fell to $7 million from $8.9 million a year ago.

Comverse Technology
(
CMVT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)Â reported
earnings that rose 23% to $47 million on sales of $221.4 million.

Johnson & Johnson
(
JNJ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
won FDA approval recommendation on its Charite Artificial Disc for degenerative
disc disease. It was the first artificial disc that was reviewed by the FDA.

Brice Wightman

bricew@tradingmarkets.com

OPEC Comes Through…Or Did They?

BUY THE FEAR, SELL THE GREED

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