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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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+4.06%, Semis
(
SOX.X |
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Chart |
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PowerRating)
+3.80%, Tech
(
TXX.X |
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News |
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+2.50%, and Insurance
(
IUX.X |
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PowerRating)
+2.40%.

Weak today were Telecoms
(
XTC.X |
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-0.90%, and Networking
(
NWX.X |
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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 |
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PowerRating)
, +0.90% at 22.80.

Stocks in the news:

Ameritrade
(
AMTD |
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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 |
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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 |
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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.

Brice
Wightman

bricew@tradingmarkets.com