The QQQs Are Getting A New Home—Here’s Where
Stocks were mixed on low
volume again today, but there were no real signs of selling pressure.
Transports are at 5-year highs and utilities are at 3-year
highs. Other new highs today include: DOW, TYC, BEN, FDX, NRG, DGX, some
homebuilders (TOL) and some HMOs.
Wholesale inventories for September rose +0.5%;
wholesale sales rose +0.6%. It was the smallest increase since April and
suggests companies may be becoming more tentative about the economy.
Gold made a 7-month high at $435 as traders
express concern about the dollar weakness. Oil is at a 6-week low.
To date, 90% of the S&P 500 companies have
reported earnings this quarter. On average, earnings are up 15.1% from a
year ago and revenues are up +11.9%.
Fed funds indicate an 80% probability that we
will end the year with a 2 1/4% Fed Funds rate, as increases are expected both
tomorrow and at the December 14 Fed meeting. Bulls are looking for a catalyst to
move the market, and hope to find something in the wording of the Fed
announcement tomorrow. No major changes in the wording are expected, however. k
As of December 1, the QQQs will have a new
home. The “Qs” as they are known, currently trade on the AMEX, but will transfer
to the Nasdaq under the symbol QQQQ The Nasdaq current handles about 14% of the
QQQ trades; most QQQ trading is on Instinet and ArcaEx.
At the annual meeting, Microsoft
shareholders approved a $3/share dividend payable December 2 to shareholders of
record as of 11/17.
Marsh & McLennan
(
MMC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said Q3 profit
fell 94%; the company will cut 3000 jobs (5%).
Trader talk: shallow pullback is coming, but
December rally.
Cisco
(
CSCO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported $0.21, in-line.
Net income was $1.4 billion and revenues were $6 billion, also in-line. Cisco
often beats by a penny and the stock traded down after hours.
| Dow | -4.94 | 10386.37 |
| S&P 500 | -0.81 | 1164.08 |
| Nasdaq | +4.06 | 2043.33 |
Strong sectors were:
Healthcare Providers
(
HMO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +3.20, Airlines
(
XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+1.36%, Chemicals
(
CEX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.83%.
Weak sectors were: Semis
(
SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.67%,
Oil Services
(
OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-0.75%.
The dollar was +0.09 at
84.20
Gold was +2.60 at 435.20
Crude Oil was -1.74 at 47.35
1.66 billion on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was mostly
negative.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 1862 | Up Vol 701 |
| Declining | 1437 | Down Vol 602 |
| Ratio | 1.29 | 1.16 |
| Nasdaq |
||
| Advancing | 1663 | Up Vol 701 |
| Declining | 1435 | Down Vol 845 |
| Ratio | 1.15 | 1.20 |
Stocks in the News
Merck
(
MRK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was lower after they said the feds are investigating the Vioxx
withdrawal. The stock closed at the lowest level since 1985.
Sears
(
S |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) traded higher; last week Vornado announced they acquired a 4.3% stake in the company.
Abercrombie & Fitch
(
ANF |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) profits fell
to 0.42 in Q3 from 0.51 in the same period last year.
DreamWorks Animation
(
DWA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said it
sold 12.1 million copies of Shrek 2 since the DVDs went on sale last week.
Brice Wightman