Weaker Opening
Stocks appeared set to open lower
Friday.
Former Beatle, George Harrison, passed
away at the age of 58, late Thursday.
Salomon Smith Barney reiterated its
Neutral rating on Dell Computers
(
DELL |
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PowerRating) citing concerns about estimates for
the second half of 2002.
Ambac Financial
(
ABK |
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PowerRating) was upgraded
by Goldman Sachs from Market Perform to Recommend List and was given a price
target in the high $60 range.
Goldman Sachs is positive on SAP AG
(
SAP |
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PowerRating),
stating business has improved rising sequentially over the last couple of
months.
Lehman Brothers issued some positive
statements on Oracle Corp
(
ORCL |
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PowerRating) saying it would not be surprised if ORCL
beat estimates.
Morgan Stanley downgraded Capital One
Financial
(
COF |
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PowerRating) from Outperform to Neutral.
Novellus
(
NVLS |
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PowerRating) was downgraded by
Robertson Stephens from Buy to Market Perform. The analyst also lowered its FY02
estimates.
Cable & Wireless
(
CWP |
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PowerRating) said it will purchase the assets of Exodus Communications for $850 million.
GDP for the third quarter was revised
downward 1.1% — expectation was for a downward revision of .9%.
At 10:00 am. ET, the Chicago Purchasing
Managers Survey is due out.