Why The Semis May Be Down Tomorrow
Following
two days of solid gains, stocks fell after
a suicide attack in Saudi Arabia as well as slower-than-expected revenues from the world’s
largest retailer, Wal-Mart
(
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PowerRating), and Merrill Lynch’s downgrade of several chip
stocks. Bonds are again higher today after some earlier weakness. The US dollar is firmer today after hitting another four-year low against the Euro.
The Dow Jones Industrial
Average
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$INDU.X |
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$SPX.X |
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lost 2.81 at 942.30. The Nasdaq
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$COMPQ |
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The day’s leading sectors are Disk Drives
(
$DDX.X |
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+2.74%, Internet
(
$GIN.X |
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(
$OSX.X |
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+2.03%.
Weak today are Gold and
Silver
(
$XAU.X |
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(
$SOX.X |
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-0.76%, Paper
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$FPP.X |
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$CEX.X |
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-0.78%.
In economic news, the Trade
Balance for March fell to -$41 billion from -$40.4 billion.
The 10-year U.S. Note
is +025 at 117 020.
The dollar was up .16 at
94.88.
Gold is -1.70 at 350.20.
Crude Oil +0.99 at
28.19.
Volume is
1,384,854,000
on the NYSE, and at 1,855,787,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is mixed,
with NYSE declining issues over declining issues by a ratio of 1.01, and up
volume over down volume by a 1.07 ratio. Nasdaq advancing issues over declining issues are at
1.09, and up volume over down volume is at a 1.55 ratio.
Top Dow stocks are:
AT&T
(
T |
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(
IBM |
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(
MO |
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(
DD |
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Stocks in the news:
The world’s largest retailer Wal-Mart
(
WMT |
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PowerRating), reported first-quarter
earnings of 42 cents a share vs. 37 cents a share a year ago. Although
earnings were inline with expectations,
the company missed the revenue forecast. Other retailers including Ann Taylor
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ANN |
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Federated Department stores
(
FD |
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(
KSS |
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(
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set to report later this week.
Drug maker Schering-Plough
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SGP |
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reported first-quarter results of 12
cents a share or down from 41 cents a share in the same period a year ago.
However Schering managed to top estimates by 2 cents. Schering blamed the
results on weak sales of Claritin and lower U.S. sales.
Tech Data
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lost .14 after Lehman Brothers reduced its fiscal year 2004 estimates to $1.65
from $1.81.