Why CMX Has Buyers Today
Stocks are
higher on news of solid earnings from FedEx and Bear Stearns.
Yesterday, the Fed met to discuss economic issues
and decided to leave interest rates at 1%.
For February, $17.3 billion flowed into equity funds
or $900 million a day. Vanguard and Fidelity have gained market share in its
mutual funds due to their lower costs. Foreigners have contributed $12.8 billion
in US stocks for the month of January.
Bear Stearns
(
BSC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
earnings leaped 32% to $361 million as it beat earnings estimates by 52 cents.
Net revenue rose 14% to $1.7 billion with strength in its bond business.
FedEx
(
FDX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) third-quarter income rose to $207 million or 68 cents a
share on lower costs with revenue rising 9% to 6.06 billion. FDX expects to earn
$1.15 EPS for the fourth-quarter and $3.35 for fiscal year 2004.
Shanghai-based Semiconductor
Manufacturing International Corp
(
SMI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) debuted on the NYSE today, with
investors pouring $1.8 billion into the IPO. 103.03 million shares were offered
at $17.50 trades on the NYSE. Shares traded lower than the offering price due to
less interest in the chip sector and Chinese stocks in general for the past week
have been trading lower. Also, the IPO was delayed five days after pricing. At
press time, SMI was trading at 15.83.
Biopharmaceutical
company Tercia
(
TRCA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) also started trading today.
| Dow | +103.78 |
10288.66 |
| S&P 500 |
+12.50 |
1122.98 |
| Nasdaq | +26.80 |
1969.85 |
The day’s leading sectors are
Internet
(
INX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +3.20%, Airlines
(
XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.78%,
Networking
(
NWX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.57%, and Disk Drives
(
DDX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+2.19%.
Weak today are Amex Gold
Bugs
(
HUI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.43%, Gold and Silver
(
XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.38%.
Economic news releases today
included Consumer Price Index (CPI)Â that rose by 0.3%, core CPI rose by
0.2%, both in line with estimates.
10-year Notes are -65 at
117 180
The dollar
is +0.13 at 89.15
Gold is +0.60 at 403.20
Crude Oil is +0.36 at
37.80
The Euro
is -0.33 at 122.04
Volume is 700,000,000 on
the NYSE, and 855,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is positive.
| NYSEÂ | Issues | Â |
| Advancing | 2380 | Up Vol      531 |
| Declining | 786 | Down Vol  164 |
| Ratio | 3.03 | 3.31 |
| Nasdaq |  |  |
| Advancing | 2133 | Up Vol     727 |
| Declining | 851 | Down Vol   100 |
| Ratio | 2.51 | 7.27 |
Top Dow stocks are:
Caterpillar
(
CAT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.37% at
77.12, International Paper
(
IP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.12% at 41.65, JP Morgan Chase
(
JPM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.12% at 42.26, General Motors
(
GM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.02% at 46.46.
Stocks in the news:
Yahoo
(
YHOO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) received an upgrade from First Albany after it raised its
fiscal 2004 estimates. First Albany likes its on-line advertising revenue growth
and broadband subscriber signup numbers.
Caremark Rx
(
CMX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is buying AdvancePCS
(
ADVP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and will
replace Tupperware
(
TUP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) in the S&P 500 at the end of the day.
Tupperware will replace ADVP on the S&P MidCap 400. Index funds will be making
adjustments to their portfolios.
Publishing firm Scholastic
(
SCHL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported a net loss of $6
million from the impact of the newly implemented Do Not Call List registry as it
hurt its sales. For the fiscal year, the company guided the Street lower with
earnings at $1.95 a share.