This Was The Winning Market Today
Stocks
closed in the red Friday, as the major indices were
pressured from the start with cautious comments from Dell
(
DELL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), a downgrade
on General Motors
(
GM |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating), and negative economic reports instigating a
broad-based decline. Stocks did briefly turn green after the better than
expected Michigan Consumer sentiment numbers, but soon fell back into the red.
Fears of deflation are plaguing the market today as the April CPI number came in
worse than expected. Earlier this week, prices at the producer level also
declined. Without pricing pressure, corporate profits and new hiring could be
hampered. The bond market continued its stellar rally today sending yields on
the 10-year notes to 45-year lows.
The Dow Jones Industrial
Average
(
$INDU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) lost 34.17 at
8,678.97. The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
slipped 2.37 at
944.30. The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
fell 12.85
at 1,538.53.
The day’s leading sectors were
Healthcare
(
$HMO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.25%, Telecoms
(
$XTC.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+1.28%, and Internet
(
$INX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.60%.
Weak today were
Semiconductors
(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.36%, Brokers
(
$XBD.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.21%, and Biotechs
(
$BTK.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-1.58%.
In economic news, April
Building Permits came in at 1.708 million vs. estimates of 1.700 million,
Core CPI for April flat vs. +0.1%, CPI for April -0.3% vs. -0.7% vs.
-0.1%, Housing Starts for April 1.630 million vs. 1.743 million.
Michigan Consumer Sentiment for May came in at 93.2 vs. 87.0.
The 10-year U.S. Note
is +195 at 118 01.
The dollar is -1.23 at
94.18.
Gold closed at 354.90.
Crude Oil closed at
29.14.
Volume is at
1,503,740,000
on the NYSE, and at 1,751,178,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was mixed,
with NYSE advancing issues over advancing issues by a ratio of 1.31, and up
volume over down volume by a 1.05 ratio. The Nasdaq had declining issues over advancing
issues at 1.42, and down volume over up volume at a 1.30 ratio.
Top Dow stocks are:
AT&T
(
T |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +4.81% at 18.28,
Hewlett Packard
(
HPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +.32 at 17.95, Johnson & Johnson
(
JNJ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+0.84 at 56.04, and SBC Communications
(
SBC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.19 at 24.95.
Stocks in the news:
Top PC maker Dell Computer
(
DELL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was off .99 on heavy volume. Yesterday the company reported first
quarter results in line with analysts’ estimates. However, the company did put
pressure on the market as Dell CFO Jim Schneider said, “We don’t expect
significant near-term improvement in economic conditions.”
General Motors
(
GM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
was off .47 on heavy volume. Prudential Securities downgraded the auto giant to
“sell” from “hold” due to negative industry outlooks. Prudential also lowered
fiscal 2003 and 2004 targets.
Real Networks
(
RNWK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
was down slightly on heavy volume. The shares of the Internet media company were
under pressure today as CFO Brian Turner is resigning due to health reasons.
Tanox
(
TNOX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gained
1.44 on heavy volume. An FDA advisory panel recommended approval
for its asthma drug Xolair, which is being co-developed by Tanox, Novaritis
and Genentech.