When The Market Shrugs Off Bad News…
Stocks were higher today on
lower-than-average volume. The market
shrugged off lower-than-expected consumer confidence levels of 89.6, with the
Dow chalking up another 34 points. The US Dollar continued its descent, trading
at an all-time low against the euro despite President Bush saying he favors a
strong dollar. Sony
(
SNE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Bertelsmann have announced a merger of
BMG and Sony music, excluding Sony’s music publishing and CD production units.
The music industry has been suffering financially from piracy and competition
from video games. Sears
(
S |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) became the first retailer to begin offering
major holiday sales. Many other retailers have been reluctant to offer deep
discounts to consumers but Sears have launched a surprise sale, slashing prices
by as much as 60%.
Stocks traded
higher for the third week in a row amid no intentions from the Fed to raise
interest rates and a stable outlook from many retailers. United Tech
(
UTX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
was upgraded by Prudential. UTX also confirmed its double-digit EPS growth
outlook.
Dow | +34.00 |
10042.16 |
S&P 500 |
+2.93 | 1074.14 |
Nasdaq | +6.68 | 1949.00 |
The day’s leading sectors were
Internet
(
GIN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +4.06%, Semis
(
SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +3.80%, Tech
(
TXX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.50%, and Insurance
(
IUX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.40%.
Weak today were Telecoms
(
XTC.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.90%, and Networking
(
NWX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.85%, .
Economic news releases included
a 0.3% decrease in PPI, and a trade deficit of $41.8 billion. Preliminary
Michigan Sentiment is at 89.6.
10-year Notes were -25
at 113 170
The dollar was -0.45 at
88.44
Gold was +4.80 at 409.40
Crude Oil was +1.19 at
33.04
Volume was 1,209,000,000
on the NYSE, and 1,449,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was positive.
NYSE | Issues | |
Advancing |
2104 | Up Vol 772 |
Declining | 1152 | Down Vol 420 |
Ratio | 1.82 | 1.84 |
Nasdaq |
||
Advancing |
1825 | Up Vol 845 |
Declining |
1297 | Down Vol 513 |
Ratio | 1.35 | 1.64 |
Top Dow stocks were:
United Tech [UTX|UTX],
+2.43% at 91.45, GM |GM|GM],
+1.40% at 49.61, Honeywell Intl [HON|HON],
+1.30% at 31.37, and Disney
(
DIS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.90% at 22.80.
Stocks in the news:
Ameritrade
(
AMTD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
gave investors a rosy outlook, upping its first-quarter earnings to 14-17 cents
a share. For the fiscal year, it expects to earn 37-59 cents per share. Customer
trading volume rose to 180,000 for the month of November, up 6% from October.
Coca-Cola
(
KO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
announced plans to buy back $2 billion shares of its stock in 2004, one third
more than in 2003. The company also expects to commit $125 million to fully fund
its pension plan in 2004, with pension and post-retirement expenses increasing
by $30-$40 million.
Halliburton
(
HAL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) hit a 2-month high
amid a Pentagon investigation. The audit showed the government may have been
overcharged by as much as $61 million for gasoline in Iraq.
Adobe Systems
(
ADBE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was up 1% after
reporting net income of $83.8 million for the fourth quarter, beating analysts’
expectations. Sales rose from $294.7 million to $358 million.
bricew@tradingmarkets.com