Stocks Higher On Upgrades, Lower Oil

Stocks rose as crude made another three-week low.
Several Dow stocks received upgrades, including:
Hewlett Packard
(
HPQ |
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which was upgraded to Buy at UBS. JP Morgan
(
JPM |
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outperform at Piper Jaffray and McDonald’s
(
MCD |
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outperform at Bear Stearns.

After the close, Comverse Technology
(
CMVT |
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also beat on revenues. (full
story) Solectron’s CFO
(
SLR |
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at Intuit
(
INTU |
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story)  Cooper Companies
(
COO |
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upside guidance. (full
story) Take Two Interactive
(
TTWO |
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Chicago Fed President Michael Moskow said that rising inflation
pressure should be met with “appropriate” increases in interest rates, and also
noted that Katrina may temporarily restrain growth. Of 81 economists polled by
Bloomberg, 68said they expect the Fed to raise rates by 1/4 point on September
20.

The Congressional Budget Office said that Katrina may slow economic
growth by 0.5 to 1.0% and that it could reduce employment by 400,000. Estimates
now are that the storm costs could reach $150-$200 billion.

In other Katrina-related news, the price of steel used in making cars could rise
20% in the next few months, The Wall Street Journal reports. Major steel
manufacturers like Nucor
(
NUE |
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(
X |
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raised prices 20% on September 1.

Albertson’s
(
ABS |
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missed by 0.04 and missed on revenues. (full
story)

Electronics For Imaging
(
EFII |
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PowerRating) raised its Q3 outlook and now sees 0.21 – 0.23.

McCormick 
(
MKC |
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Strong Sectors are:    Networking 

(
NWX |
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PowerRating)
+2.26%    
 Chemicals 
(
CEX |
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+1.31%     Retail 

(
RLX |
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PowerRating)
+0.93% 

Weak sectors are:          
Semis
(
SOX |
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PowerRating) -0.342%        Oil 

(
OIX |
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-0.21%     Oil Services

(
OSX |
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PowerRating)] -0.19%

McData
(
MCDT |
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beat by 0.03.

Yum Brands
(
YUM |
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was upgraded to Buy at UBS.

Altera
(
ALTR |
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reaffirmed guidance but said its gross margins would be lower than expected at
65 – 67%.

The Wall Street Journal reports that insiders are buying Lion’s
Gate
(
LGF |
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PowerRating). Seven execs and board members bought $819,000 in stock the
past month.

Brice Wightman