Surprise Move By OPEC — How It Will Affect You
Stocks
are flat on light volume. In a surprise move, OPEC
said effective April 1 it would cut oil output by 1 million barrels a day to a
target of 24.5 million barrels, with warm
weather expected to erode demand. Oil-consuming nations see the move as a
threat to world economic recovery. “It is our hope that producers do not take
actions that undermine the American economy … and American consumers,” said a
White House spokesman.
UBS AG posted a $1.5 billion
fourth-quarter profit on spectacular strength in its Investment Banking and
Securities, with dividends rising by 30%. UBS authorized a buyback of up to $5
billion in shares. Viacom
(
VIA |
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PowerRating) reported fourth-quarter adjusted
earnings that rose to $1.25 billion on revenue of $7.5 billion. It also
announced plans to spin off 81% of Blockbuster
(
BBI |
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PowerRating), which reported
weak same-store sales, a net loss of $1.19 billion and a less optimistic outlook
with growth rate in the single digits.
| Dow | +19.04 |
10598.06 |
| S&P 500 |
+3.74 | 1143.53 |
| Nasdaq | +8.75 | 2069.34 |
The day’s leading sectors are
Oil Services
(
OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.80%, Hardware
(
HWI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.12%,
Natural Gas
(
XNG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.74%, Networking
(
NWX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.07%,
and Energy
(
DXE.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.02%,
Weak today are Disk Drive
(
DDX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.58% and Services
(
GSV.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.15%.
No Economic news releases.
10-year Notes are -75
at 113 315
The dollar
is -0.25 at 85.92
Gold is +1.90 at 409.30
Crude Oil is +0.67 at
32.70
Volume is 585,000,000 on
the NYSE, and 802,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is positive.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 1918 | Up Vol 317 |
| Declining | 1186 | Down Vol 249 |
| Ratio | 1.70 | 1.28 |
| Nasdaq | ||
| Advancing | 1669 | Up Vol 501 |
| Declining | 1323 | Dow Vol 255 |
| Ratio | 1.24 | 1.98 |
Top Dow stocks are:
AT&T [T|T],
+1.82% at 19.88, Alcoa
(
AA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.62% at 35.57, Disney [DIS|DIS],
+1.43% at 24.14, and 3M [MMM|MMM]
+1.22% at 80.39
Stocks in the news:
Human Genome Sciences
(
HGSI |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported a lower-than-expected loss of $48.9 million on revenue of $4.6 million,
with shares up 6%.
TradeStation
(
TRAD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported
earnings of $3 million in line with estimates. Revenue rose 18% to $15.8
million. The company expects 2004 revenue to reach $76 million with earnings of
35 cents a share.
Nintendo said its next video gaming
console would hit the stores in 2005 or 2006. The price of the new Nintendo DS
is expected to be under $200.
FindWhat.com
(
FWHT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported
fourth-quarter earnings of $3.5 million on a 57% jump in revenue of $21
million. FWHT announced an amended merger agreement to acquire Espotting for
about $170 million in a stock and cash deal. The company dropped 14% on the
news.
Regal Entertainment
(
RGC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported a rosy quarter of earnings with net income of $58.8 million on revenue
of 683.3 million, well ahead of analyst consensus. Regal also upped its
dividends by 3 cents to 18 cents a share.