The Latest Company To Be Investigated
Stocks today
are flat. The University of Michigan
released a higher-than-expected consumer sentiment index number of 93.5, up from
91.3 for the month of November. Other major economic news included retail sales
falling 0.3% last month, and core inflation at the wholesale level rising 0.5%,
much higher than the expected 0.2%. Charles Schwab
(
SCH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) has been
subpoenaed by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer for its market-timing
activity in mutual funds. In its quarterly report filed today, American
Express
(
AXP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said it is responding to “requests for information” from
federal and state regulators as part of the continuing investigation of the
mutual fund industry. AXP is trading down 1%.
The Dow Jones Industrial
Average
(
$INDU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is up 0.07% at 9845.64. The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
is down -0.01% at 1058.21. The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is down -0.57% at
1956.20.
The day’s leading sectors are
Pharmaceutical Index
(
$DRG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), 2.11%, Oil Service Sector Index
(
$OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.04%, Utility Sector
(
$UTY.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.19%,
Morgan Stanley Consumer Index
(
$CMR.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +.10%.
Weak today are GSTI Internet
Index [GIN.X|GIN.X] -2.06%,
Semiconductor Sector Index
(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.73% and GSTI Software Index
(
$GSO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.67%.
Economic news releases for
today included Core PPI, up 0.5%; retail sales down 0.3%; and auto sales, up
0.2%. Capacity utilization held up at 75%, industrial production edged up 0.2%,
and preliminary Michigan sentiment numbers came in at 93.5.
10-year Notes are +175
at 113 060.
The dollar
is -.04 at 91.70.
Gold is +0.11 at 395.40.
Crude Oil is +0.60 at
32.50.
Volume is 596,000,000 on
the NYSE, and 851,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is positive,
with NYSE issues advancing over declining issues by 1.07 and up over down volume
by 1.21; Nasdaq issues declining over advancing issues at 1.61, and down volume
over up volume at 1.49.
Top Dow stocks are:
Johnson & Johnson [JNJ|JNJ],
+4.3% at 52.21, Merck |MRK|MRK],
+2.31% at 46.87, SBC Communications [SBC|SBC],
+1.51% at 23.22, and International Paper
(
IP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.2% at 38.02
Stocks in the news:
BEAS Systems
(
BEAS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported lower-than-expected software license sales and is trading 8%
lower. Despite the fact that net income rose to $29 million with total revenue
up 8% to $252 million, the company received downgrades from Robert W. Baird and
CE Unterberg Towbin.
Putnam Investments a unit of Marsh &
Mclennan
(
MMC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), has agreed to settle with the SEC for alleged wrongdoings in
the mutual fund scandal. Putnam has agreed to “significant and far-reaching
corporate governance, compliance, and ethics reforms.” Putnam settled without
admitting or denying guilt, the SEC said.
Pegasus Communications
(
PGTV |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose
30% after the Federal District Court in Los Angeles ruled that the DirecTV
National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative settlement “has no effect” on any
Pegasus rights.
Univision Communications
(
UVN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
rose 7% after issuing a stronger-than-expected forecast for 2003. Net income
rose 52% for the third quarter on its acquisition of Hispanic Broadcasting. Net
income reached $42.2 million on revenues of $321.1 million. UVN expects revenue
to be between $1.304 billion to $1.313 billion, up from analysts’ consensus of
$1.26 billion.
If you have any comments or questions, please
feel free to email me.
bricew@tradingmarkets.com