What You Should Know About Rates Today
The
major indices fell Friday. A worse-than-expected jobs report sent the
market down early. The semiconductor index broke out to a 15-month high before
pulling back. The S&P broke an eight day win streak, and the Nasdaq, seven. The
SOX managed to stay in the green today. Unemployment fell to 6.1% from July’s
6.2%, and futures sold off before the open on the news of 93,000 non farm
payroll losses. Manufacturing payrolls continued to decline, suffering a
worse-than-expected loss of 44,000 jobs while service-producing industries shed
67,000 positions, but construction added 19,000. Bonds were higher for the third
consecutive session, with the
yield on the 10-year note at 4.34%, and the
two-year note showing the biggest gain in a year, to
1.69%
The Nasdaq gained 2.5% for the
week, and has gained 200 points, or 12% in the past month. Weekly Nasdaq gains
were as follows: CSCO +7%, PSFT +8%, MSFT +7%, and DELL +5%.
The
major hedge fund investigation was widened today, with more firms subpoened,
including Millennium Management, Vanguard and Invesco Funds. The SEC announced
today it was looking at mutual fund trading practices at “all major fund
complexes” as well as brokers.
Today’s
Market Indices
The Dow Jones Industrial
Average
(
$INDU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -84.56% at 9503.34.
The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-6.60 at 1021.37 .
The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-10.85 at 1858.12.
Today’s leading sectors were Airline
(
$XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+1.74%, Gold and Silver
(
$XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+1.63%, Semiconductors
(
$GSM.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+0.93%, and Pharmaceuticals
(
$DRG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+0.43%.
Weak sectors were
Homebuilders
(
$HGX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) –1.74%, Brokers
(
$XBD.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
–1.72%, Software
(
$GSO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) –1.53%, S&P Retail Index
(
$RLX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-1.44%, Health Providers
(
$RXH.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.40%, and Internet
(
$MOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.24%.
Economic
News
The US economy saw a slight
decline in the unemployment rate to 6.1% vs. consensus at 6.2%. Wall Street is
focusing on a surprising loss of 93,000 jobs last month. Though recent data is
signaling an acceleration in economic activity, the expansion in the output of
goods and services has yet to create new jobs in the economy. Hourly earnings
came in at .1% vs. expectations of .3%. Average workweek came in slightly under
expectations at 33.6 vs. 33.7.
Key Futures
The 10-year U.S. Note
was +1 150 at 112 260
The dollar was -1.12 at
97.08.
Gold was +3.90 at
377.40.
Crude Oil was -0.06 at
28.92.
Volume was
1,448,514,000 on
the NYSE, and 1,937,744,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was positive,
with NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by 1.02, and up over down
volume by 1.14. Nasdaq advancing issues over declining issues at 1.03, and up
volume over down volume at 2.04.
Top Dow stocks:
AT&T
(
T |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+0.17 at 22.69
Merck
(
MRK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.40 at 51.00
Intel
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +.11 at 28.71
Citigroup
(
C |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.07 at 44.34
Microsoft
(
MSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.05 at 28.38
Stocks in the news
AMR Corp.
(
AMR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
gained 3% after receiving an upgrade to “equal weight” from “underweight” from
Lehman Bros. Lehman Bros. believes the industry has the possibility to show
continued revenue momentum.
Intel
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) added
.11 after yesterday raising the lower range of its previously
announced 3Q guidance to between $7.6 billion and $7.8 billion from $7.3 billion
to $7.8 billion, and above the Street’s projection of $7.57 billion.
Eli Lilly
(
LLY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reiterated 3Q guidance for earnings of $0.65-$0.67 per share, in line with First
Call estimates, while the company projects full-year EPS of $2.55-$2.60. LLY
closed at 61.00, down 0.04.
PeopleSoft
(
PSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
During a conference call late Thursday company officials said they plan to cut
about 750 to 1,000 jobs and buy back up to $350 million of its common stock from
the public market before the end of 2003. PSFT closed at 19.30, down 0.04.
If you have any comments or
questions, please feel free to email me.
bricew@tradingmarkets.com