What’s New At Motorola
Stocks are mixed today. A
slew of economic data included the CPI dropping an unexpected 0.2% in November;
and single-family Housing Starts rising 4.5%, the fastest rate in 19 years.
Industrial output across the board experienced a good pickup. Chip Maker
Motorola
(
MOT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) named ex-Sun Executive Chairman Edward Zander as CEO. The
move comes amid Motorola’s problems with delivery of some of its wireless phones
and the spin-off of its semiconductor unit. Boston Federal Reserve president
Cathy Minehan sees economic expansion picking up and advised the Central Bank to
postpone raising interest rates. She also expects a stronger job growth in 2004.
Honeywell
(
HON |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported it might miss its previous earnings forecast
by as much as 10% due to higher pension expenses.
| Dow | +54.32 |
10077.15 |
| S&P 500 | +2.29 | 1070.39 |
| Nasdaq | -11.05 |
1907.25 |
The day’s leading sectors are
Oils [OIX.X|OIX.X] +1.12%, Natural
Gas
(
XNG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.02%, Banks
(
BIX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.73%,
Pharmaceuticals
(
DRG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.62%.
Weak today are Amex Gold
Bugs [HUI.X|HUI.X] -2.87%, Gold and
Silver
(
XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -2.56%.
Economic news releases included
Core CPI down 0.1%, with CPI Basic Groups falling 0.2%. The Current Account was
-$135 billion. Housing Starts came in at 2.07 million, with requests for
building permits at 1.874 million. Capacity Utilization was at 75.7%, with
Industrial Production up 0.9%.
10-year Notes are +65
at 113 185
The dollar
is -0.14 at 88.74
Gold is -1.60 at 408.40
Crude Oil is -0.20 at
32.98
Volume is 705,000,000 on
the NYSE, and 934,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is negative.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 1406 | Up Vol 287 |
| Declining | 1704 | Down Vol 325 |
| Ratio | 1.21 | 1.32 |
| Nasdaq | ||
| Advancing | 1047 | Up Vol 290 |
| Declining | 1921 | Down Vol 559 |
| Ratio | 1.89 | 1.93 |
Top Dow stocks are:
United Tech [UTX|UTX],
+2.53%, Caterpillar
(
CAT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+2.04% at 92.51, Exxon Mobil [XOM|XOM],
+1.84% at 24.47, and IBM
(
IBM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.50% at 52.50.
Stocks in the news:
Wireless service provider Sprint PCS
(
PCS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
announced its net loss for the year would be at the low end of forecasts, from
43 to 48 cents, on an improved financial outlook. Sprint expects no material
fourth-quarter impact from the number-portability rule. The company plans to
take a $65 million charge related to its 2000 job cut and says its new billing
system should help reduce the value of PCS business by $300 million.
Verizon Communications
(
VZ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) received an
upgrade from Banc of America as its stock rallied 2%. The analyst raised his
price target to $38, citing favorable pension factors and a strong wireless
operation.
Retailer Pier 1 Imports lost 10% after
announcing fourth-quarter earnings below previous forecasts. Sales for December
were weak due to recent snowstorms and revised earnings for the quarter are
expected to be around 55 cents.
Lehman Brothers
(
LEH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was upgraded by
UBS to buy on valuation. UBS stated that the broker has one of the highest
pretax margins in the group and trades at a steep discount relative to
competitor Goldman Sachs
(
GS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating).
bricew@tradingmarkets.com