Spitzer To Grasso: Return The Money

May 24, 2004
Brice Wightman

Stocks
were mixed Monday as oil prices climbed. Saudi Arabia attempted to
calm oil markets by calling for an increase of 11%, or as much as 2.5 million
barrels a day. Traders were disappointed by comments from Venezuelan Energy and
Mines Minister Rafael Ramirez as he was opposed to the increase and cited
Saudi’s lack of authority. Some analysts doubt whether the Saudi pledge to
increase output unilaterally is sufficient to meet demand.

New York AG Eliot Spitzer said
he would file a lawsuit against Richard Grasso to seek the return $100 million
of his $188.5 million pay package. Under NY statutes, compensation for
executives at non-profit corporations must be commensurate with services
provided. Also named in the suit are former NYSE compensation chairman Kenneth
Langone as well as the exchange itself. Grasso said he would contest the civil
suit in court. Alcoa
(
AA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) announced plans to build a $1 billion
smelting plant in Trinidad which would have an annual capacity of 250,000 tons
of aluminum. The project is expected to cost more than $1 billion with Alcoa
holding a 60% stake. Campbell Soup
(
CPB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported earnings that rose
10% to $142 million with revenue up 4% to $1.7 billion on a weak dollar and
one-time gains offsetting declining US soup sales.

Volume continues to be on the
light side on the NYSE, with program volume accounting for over 50% of total
volume recently; there has never been two consecutive weeks with program volume
this high.

President Bush will appear
speak at 8 PM EDT tonight to outline his Iraq strategies.

Tomorrow, look for IPO
Genworth Financial (GNW).

Dow	-8.31	9958.43
S&P 500	+1.78	1095.34
Nasdaq	+10.89	1922.98

10-year Notes were +55
at 109 040

The dollar
was -0.03 at 90.51

Gold was +2.26 at 385.84

Volume was 1.22 billion
on the NYSE, and 1.53 billion on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth was positive.

NYSE	Issues
Advancing	2395	Up Vol 823
Declining	920	Down Vol 376
Ratio	2.60	2.18
Nasdaq
Advancing	1939	Up Vol 944
Declining	1167	Down Vol 456
Ratio	1.66	2.07

Stocks in the news:

Lucent Technologies
(
LU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) acquired
maker of VoIP systems Telica for $295 million in stock and options.

Boeing
(
BA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is higher after a CSFB upgrade to
outperform. The analyst cited optimism in its 7E7 aircraft due to an increasing
number of comparable jets nearing retirement.

WalMart ]WMT|WMT] re-affirmed May same-store sales to
be around 5%. The company opened 18 new super-centers and 5 discount stores over
the last week. Its annual shareholders are expected to meet June 4th.

Brice Wightman

bricew@tradingmarkets.com

Mines Minister Rafael Ramirez as he was opposed to the increase and cited
Saudi’s lack of authority. Some analysts doubt whether the Saudi pledge to
increase output unilaterally is sufficient to meet demand.

New York AG Eliot Spitzer said
he would file a lawsuit against Richard Grasso to seek the return of part of his
$188.5 million pay package. Under NY statutes, compensation for executives at
non-profit corporations must be commensurate with services provided. Alcoa
(
AA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) announced plans to build a $1 billion smelting plant in Trinidad which
would have an annual capacity of 250,000 tons of aluminum. The project is
expected to cost more than $1 billion with Alcoa holding a 60% stake.
Campbell Soup
(
CPB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported earnings that rose 10% to $142 million with
revenue up 4% to $1.7 billion on a weak dollar and one-time gains offsetting
declining US soup sales.