Surprise From National Semi…

Stocks are off their lows today after
National Semi

(
NSM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
beat by 0.03 intraday. The day started off red after
Altera
(
ALTR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
and Xilinx
(
XLNX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
cut quarterly sales
forecasts.

Eli Lilly
(
LLY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
said 2005 earnings will rise to between 3.05 and
3.15, up from the 3.12 consensus. The company meets with analysts today.

Costco’s
(
COST |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
earnings rose 21%, but were a penny shy of
expectations.

Ciena’s
(
CIEN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
loss widened but revenue rose 16%; the company
sees more revenue growth this quarter.

McDonald’s
(
MCD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
same store sales rose 7.1% in November.

Dreamworks
(
DWA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
beat by a penny and said it will delay the
release of Shrek 3. It was the first report since the company went public.

Jobless claims for the week of rose 8,000 to 357,000, more than expected and
are now at the highest levels since late September

IPO today: Symmetry Medical (SMA)

GM will cut 12,000 jobs in Europe.

Reminder: roll index futures to March–ESH5, YMH5, NQH5.

Strong sectors are: Oil Services
(
OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+0.98%, Internet
(
GIN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+0.70%, Biotech
(
BTK.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+0.54%.

Weak sectors are: Semis
(
SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-2.30%,
Airlines
(
XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-1.17%.

Dow -18.99 10,475.24
S&P 500 -2.27 1,180.54
Nasdaq -13.16 2,112.95

The dollar is +0.47 at
82.37

Gold is -4.00 to 435.50

Crude Oil is +0.41 at 42.35

ce=”Arial” size=”2″ face=”Arial”>Volume is 824 million on the NYSE and
1.2 billion on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth is negative.

NYSE Issues
Advancing 1156 Up Vol 277
Declining 1979 Down Vol 486
Ratio 1.71 1.75
Nasdaq
Advancing 906 Up Vol 419
Declining 2080 Down Vol 748
Ratio 2.29 1.78

Stocks in the News.

News Corp.
(
NWS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
will replace Deluxe
(
DLX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)

in the S&P 500. DLX will be added to the Mid Cap Index.

Time Warner
(
TWX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
was upgraded at
Smith Barney, to ‘buy.’

Toll Bros
(
TOL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
profit nearly doubled and the company raised its 2005
guidance

This Day In History

1851 first YMCA opened, in Montreal

1965 “A Charlie Brown Christmas” premiered

 

Brice Wightman