Software Giant Gets A Boost
Stocks are
trading higher today. The Labor
Department released a much higher revised third-quarter non-farm productivity
number of 9.4%, the strongest growth in 20 years. The ISM non-manufacturing
index fell to a disappointing 60.1%. The dollar continued its slide against the
euro, down to $1.2125. The SEC proposed that funds stop accepting orders at 4PM
EST. Wal-Mart
(
WMT |
Quote |
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PowerRating) has announced it
will stop taking MasterCard debit cards to due the provision that transactions
require a signature. Transaction fees are lower for pin-based transactions than
ones involving a signature. Strength in technology helped the Nasdaq Composite
reach the 2,000 level for the first time in almost 2 years.
| Dow | +81 | 9936.55 |
| S&P 500 | +6 | 1073.24 |
| Nasdaq | +17 | 1997.11 |
The day’s leading sectors are
Software
(
GSO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.61%,
Semiconductor
(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.27%, Pharmaceuticals
(
$DRG.X |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+0.98%, and Healthcare
(
$HCX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.81%.
Weak today is Amex Gold Bugs
[HUI.X|HUI.X] -1.40%, Oil Service
Sector [OSX.X|OSX.X] -0.86%, and Gold
and Silver [XAU.X|XAU.X] -0.86%.
Economic news releases included
revised productivity numbers that came in at 9.4%, ISM services at 60.1.
10-year Notes are -65
at 111 295
The dollar
is -0.01 at 89.68.
Gold is -1.10 at 402.60.
Crude Oil is -.02 at
30.80.
Volume is 675,000,000 on
the NYSE, and 1,107,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is positive.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 1967 | Up Vol 413 |
| Declining | 1141 | Down Vol 215 |
| Ratio | 1.72 | 1.95 |
| Nasdaq | ||
| Advancing | 1746 | Up Vol 774 |
| Declining | 1310 | Down Vol 272 |
| Ratio | 1.31 | 2.82 |
Top Dow stocks are:
GM |GM|GM],
+6.24% at 45.91, Merck [MRK|MRK],
+3.80% at 43.68, Boeing [BA|BA],
+1.63% at 38.41, and Du Pont
(
DD |
Quote |
Chart |
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PowerRating), +1.52% at 43.00.
Stocks in the news:
Slumping drugmaker Merck
(
MRK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said it expects to earn $3.11 to $3.17 per share next year. Wall
Street analysts were relieved that Merck did not guide lower for lack of new
blockbuster drugs. Merck reiterated its October 2003 forecast and MRK is
bouncing back from 52-week lows.
General Motors
(
GM |
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PowerRating)
hit a 52-week high after announcing its pension plan is recovering and may help
2004 earnings. Auto sales for GM were up 22% at 363,000 vehicles.
Oracle
(
ORCL |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
received an upgrade from UBS to “buy” as analysts cited a more favorable
environment for application software vendors. Bank of America also raised
Oracle’s second-quarter earnings and license and total revenue estimates.
Wendy’s
(
WEN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) raised
its 2003 earnings outlook on very strong sales. November same-store sales rose
9.4%. It projected full year fiscal earnings to be $2.01 to $2.04 a share, up
from $1.97 a share.
bricew@tradingmarkets.com