Semis Downgraded – But Does That Mean You Should Sell?
Stocks are
lower after a semiconductor downgrade.
Merrill Lynch downgraded the entire Semiconductor Capital Equipment sector to
Neutral, saying they are beginning to doubt whether the inventory rebuild that
the sector needs in order to support their industry estimates will occur; they
see no upside at this time. Intel
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was also downgraded and
will report earnings tomorrow. INTC is trading at the bottom of a channel where there has been prior support. NCR Corp raised its second-quarter
outlook; it now expects earnings of at least 35 cents a share with revenue to be
around $1.44 billion.
Novellus
(
NVLS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
posted earnings that beat estimates by 3 cents and reported sales that rose
41.5% for the quarter. The CEO said that they have strong operating level with
strength in its 300 millimeter wafers. Semitool
(
SMTL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) won a key
ruling against NVLS on a patent infringement lawsuit.
| Dow | -34.73 | 10178.66 |
| S&P 500 | -4.10 | 1108.77 |
| Nasdaq | 20.00 | 1926.22 |
Strong today are: Telecoms
(
XTC.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.77%, REITs
(
DJR.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.42%, Banks
(
BIX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+0.39%, Insurance
(
IUX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.28%
Weak today are: Semis
(
SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-1.27%, Networking
(
NWX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.58%
No economic news release today.
10-year Notes are +35 at
110 220
The dollar
is -0.07 at 87.60
Gold is -1.10 at 408.10
Crude Oil is +0.74 at
40.35
Volume is 480 million on
the NYSE, and 625 million on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is negative.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 1298 | Up Vol 129 |
| Declining | 1768 | Down Vol 289 |
| Ratio | 1.36 | 2.24 |
| Nasdaq |
||
| Advancing | 929 | Up Vol 106 |
| Declining | 1938 | Down Vol 486 |
| Ratio | 2.08 | 4.64 |
Top Dow stocks are:
WalMart
(
WMT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+0.44%, IBM
(
IBM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.31%, Caterpillar
(
CAT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.28%,
American International Group
(
AIG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.17%,
Stocks in the news:
Smith Barney raised their target and
estimates on Qualcomm
(
QCOM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) but was cautious in saying the WCDMA
expectations are rising too fast.
Cal-Maine Foods
(
CALM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose
after reporting earnings of $17.2 million with sales up 38%.
General Motors
(
GM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said China
auto sales rose 58% for the first half of the year to 259,653 vehicles from a
year ago.
MCI
(
MCIA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said Leucadia
National
(
LUK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) intends to purchase at least 50% of MCI’s common stock.
Brice Wightman
bricew@tradingmarkets.com