Welcome To The 4th Quarter–Here’s What’s New
Stocks are higher on a
new quarter and a tech upgrade.
Applied Materials
(
AMAT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was upgraded at JP Morgan.
Economic data was mixed.Â
The ISM was 58.5% in September, in-line with estimates, but down from August’s
59.0%
Construction spending rose 0.8% in August, hitting an all-time high. Residential
projects had a strong showing. The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment
was 94.2, the lowest in four months and lower than expected.
Welcome to the fourth quarter! Semis are strong today, after being laggards last
quarter. In Q3, semis lost 20%.
Peoplesoft ousted CEO Craig Conway, renewing speculation that Oracle’s
takeover bid may succeed. Founder and chairman Dave Duffield was named CEO. PSFT
is up 8%.
Research in Motion
(RIMM)
beat by 0.02 but said Q3 revenue would be lighter than expected.
NetFlix (NFLX)
and TiVo (TIVO)
said they will work together to develop a digital movie downloading service.
Merck
(
MRK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is trading up 2% after yesterday’s sharp decline.
Faced with high inventories and falling market share, General Motors and
Ford are offering new sales incentives. GM will offer up to $6000 cash
rebates on most SUVs, and Ford will offer up to $2000 on some 2005 models.
US Airways and pilots agreed on a new
labor contract.
| Dow | +102.43 | 10182.70 |
| S&P 500 | +1.43 | 1111.14 |
| Nasdaq | +38.02 | 1934.86 |
Strong sectors are: Computer TechnologyÂ
(
XCI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +17.09%, Semis
(
SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+16.60% Insurance
(
IUX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+9.22%.
Weak: Gold
(
XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.19%.
10-year Notes are -045 at 113 095
The dollar
is +0.33 at 87.69
Gold is -0.10 at 418
Crude Oil is -0.14 at 49.50
908 million on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is positive.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 2341 | Up Vol 613 |
| Declining | 789 | Down Vol 88 |
| Ratio | 2.96 | 6.96 |
| Nasdaq |
||
| Advancing | 2020 | Up Vol 758 |
| Declining | 868 | Down Vol 106 |
| Ratio | 1.32 | 7.15 |
Stocks in the News
Constellation Brands’
(
STZ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) net income more than doubled.
EResearch
(
ERES |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) lowered its guidance.
Redback Networks
(
RBAK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) guided lower.
US Airways
(
UAIRQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and pilots agreed on a new labor contract.
Proctor & Gamble
(
PG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) will make an electric toothbrush with
toothpaste in it.
Brice Wightman