Psychologically Good
Stocks opened weak Friday as the
markets were spooked by the PPI numbers which were released this morning. The
wholesale prices fell 0.9%, while the “core” rate of inflation
increased 0.2%.
NYSE breadth was positive, with the
advancers leading decliners 1896 to 1185. It was a different story for the Nasdaq, as
decliners beat advancers 1626 to 1458.
The markets made a turnaround
after lunchtime with the Dow Jones Industrial swinging more than 200 points
from its lows. In the end, the broader markets closed mixed, with the Dow
Jones Industrials closing up 1.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite closing off 0.3%, but
rallying up 50 points from its low of the day.
The CBOE Volatility Index
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$VIX.X |
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closed off 3.5%, as the Nasdaq 100 Volatility Index
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0.3% as the markets are still working on the bias signal made yesterday.
The broader markets turning
around and closing near the highs of the day is construed by most traders as a
positive look on the markets, thus a psychological plus for the markets
overall, especially after the Nasdaq tested its support level of 1935 to close
above it for the week.
Sectors up in the session were the Oil
Services Index
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$OSX.X |
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oversold as the sector took out support made on July 18, so a bounce was
imminent.
Drug companies did a 180° in the
session, as the
Pharmaceutical Index
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$DRG.X |
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tacking on 1.3%
The Transportation Index
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moved higher fractionally, 0.9%, and appears to be forming a multi-week ascending triangle at
its 200-day moving average.
Up also was the Chemical Index
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$CEX.X |
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as it scaled up 1.6%, closing above its 200-day moving average, but still lower
than its 50-day average where the index could run into some potential
resistance.
Also gaining in the session was the
Cyclical Sector
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$CYC.X |
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index closed higher 1.7%.
In the red were technology sectors
such as the GSTI Internet Index
(
$GIN.X |
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PowerRating), which closed lower by 3.0%.
Also losing ground was the Interactive
Week Internet Index
(
$IIX.X |
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After a good day yesterday, the Gold
and Silver Index
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$XAU.X |
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average. The index lost 1.4%.
Among individual stocks gaining in the
session was Pharmaceutical Resources
(
PRX |
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yesterday.
Three Five Systems
(
TFS |
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higher 10.3%.
Semiconductor IPO, Mykrolis
(
MYK |
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8.3%
on its first day of trading.
United Therapeutics
(
UTHR |
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58.9% after the company announced that the Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs
Advisory Committee of the FDA has recommended approval of Remodulin injections
as a
treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension.
Memberswork
(
MBRS |
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9.3% after the company announced it would sell iPlace Inc. to
Homestore.com
(
HOMS |
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On the communications front, Boston
Communications Group
(
BCGI |
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Losing ground was Radio Shack
(
RSH |
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as shares slipped 5.7% after Banc of America Securities initiated coverage at
Market Perform.
Amdocs Limited
(
DOX |
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Cablevision Systems
(
CVC |
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3.0% after the company was downgraded by Goldman Sachs to Market Outperform
from Recommended List.
Cerner
(
CERN |
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Macrovision
(
MVSN |
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9.0%.
Black Box
(
BBOX |
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3.8%.
Mercury Interactive
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MERQ |
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off in the session as the stock lost 7.2% after Goldman Sachs cut estimates on
a number of stocks in the software sector, including Oracle
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ORCL |
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Seibel Software
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SEBL |
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Netegrity
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NETE |
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session as it closed lower 8.9%