This Company Makes A 10-Minute HIV Test
Stocks
rallied Monday, with the Nasdaq closing
over 2000 for the first time since January
15, 2002.
Year to date, that puts the Nasdaq up 50%, the S&P up 26%, and the Dow up 25%.
Twenty-nine of the 30 Dow stocks gained. McDonalds
(
MCD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) traded higher on a JP Morgan upgrade. The analyst said the recent drop
due to the mad-cow scare presents a good buying opportunity. Lehman Brothers
believes the Fed will hold interest rates steady throughout 2004. ComScore, a
market research firm, released data that showed online sales for the week of
Dec. 26 surging 43% over the year-ago period. The dollar continued its descent,
trading at $1.25 per euro.
According to the Stock
Trader’s Almanac, the market has an up bias in the last five trading days of
the year and the first two in days in January. Nicknamed the “Santa Claus rally,”
it has been good for an average 1.5% gain since 1950.
| Dow | +125.25 |
10449.92 |
| S&P 500 | +13.58 |
1109.47 |
| Nasdaq | +33.34 |
2006.48 |
The day’s leading sectors were
Amex Gold Bugs
(
HUI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.99%, Gold and Silver [XAU.X|XAU.X]
+2.50%, Semis
(
SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.29%, and Brokers
(
XBD.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+1.25%,
There were no losing sectors
today.
No Economic news
releases today.
The dollar
was -0.24 at 87.39
Gold was +1.64 at 414.07
Crude Oil was -0.49 at
32.37
Volume was
1,055,575,000 on
the NYSE, and 1,383,021,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was positive.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 2515 | Up Vol 832 |
| Declining | 788 | Down Vol 92 |
| Ratio | 3.19 | 9.04 |
| Nasdaq | ||
| Advancing | 2244 | Up Vol 970 |
| Declining | 991 | Down Vol 273 |
| Ratio | 2.26 | 3.55 |
Stocks in the news:
Irish based Trinity Biotech
(
TRIB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
gained over 56% after it said it received regulatory approval to market its
10-minute HIV test in the United States. TRIB closed at 5.14, up 1.86.
The Alabama Supreme court reversed a $3.5
billion jury ruling against ExxonMobil
(
XOM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) involving natural gas
well royalties. The judge sent the case back to a lower court.
Ameriana Bancorp
(
ASBI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) will take a
$5.6 million charge to ante up its reserves for the fourth quarter. The company
is expected to reduce earnings by $1.08 a share,due to a failed investment in a
leasing company.
Banc of America upgraded shares of Red Hat
(
RHAT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) to “Buy.” RHAT is trading 2% higher.
Eli Lilly
(
LLY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) received FDA approval
to sell its bipolar disorder drug, Symbyax, said to treat the depression stages
of the illness without triggering mania.
bricew@tradingmarkets.com