Overheard On The Street
Here’s what they’re saying at mid-day:
Edward Wedbush, President, Wedbush Morgan
Securities: "The Nasdaq market, of course, has had a tremendous bounce
back, and it’s sustainable only if the Federal Reserve changes its bias going
forward. Last time, they said their bias was still toward higher rates, and I
would watch the meeting’s conclusion and not pay too much attention to the
actual change in rates. My opinion is that if the bias is still up on rates,
then I would say that there’s a pretty good chance that the composite index for
the Nasdaq has run its course. If the Fed turns to a neutral bias, then I would
expect the Nasdaq would do even better than it has done."
Michael O’Boyle, Managing Director of
Nasdaq Trading, Equitable Securities: "Quiet day. Normal Friday during the
summer. Right here, there’s very slow activity, but there’s a little bit of
optimism out there. There’s a lot of people we’re talking to that don’t think
the Fed’s going to move next week. Of course, that puts us back to the September
meeting, and that’s going to turn around and help us out.
Hospitals got good news overnight from the Clinton Administration, as they
upped the Medicare payment to the hospitals. So that whole group, including the
biotechs, have been acting very well over the last two days, and that should
continue into next week. But volume and breadth, there’s very little of
it."
Dennis Jarrett, Chief Market Analyst,
Jarrett Investment Research: "I think you’re just seeing some general
profit-taking today in the technology area. We’ve had a fantastic couple of
weeks, and yesterday afternoon people began to throw in the towel. The situation
with Fed meetings in the last few is, generally, you buy on anticipation and
sell on the news. I almost suspect that now we’re selling on the news just a
little sooner because everybody knows what to do. For next week, I would expect
tight trading and maybe not a lot of direction one way or another."