Why We May Be Set For A Lower Session Thursday
Stocks sank after cautious Fed
comments and a lukewarm sales forecast from Cisco
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slightly lower. Late yesterday, Cisco Systems reported third-quarter results
that beat estimates by a penny. However the company’s cautious comments of flat
revenues for the fourth quarter is putting a drag on tech stocks. Bonds are up
sharply and are back near their March highs.
The Dow Jones Industrial
Average
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lost 4.77 at 929.62. The Nasdaq
(
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The day’s leading sectors were Oil
Services
(
$OSX.X |
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(
$FPP.X |
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(
$DXE.X |
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PowerRating), +1.11%.
Weak today were Airlines
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$XAL.X |
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PowerRating),
-3.99%, Biotechs
(
$BTK.X |
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(
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-2.41%.
In economic news, Wholesale
Inventories for March came in at +1.00% versus estimates of + 0.2%.
The 10-year U.S. Note
is +235 at 116 145.
The dollar is +0.18 at
95.76.
Gold is +0.1 at 342.30.
Crude Oil +0.08 at
26.20.
Volume was
1,495,254,000 on
the NYSE, and at 1,899,459,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is slightly
mixed, with NYSE declining issues over advancing issues by a ratio of 1.09,
and down volume over up volume by a 1.56 ratio. Nasdaq declining issues over
advancing issues are at 1.28, and down volume over up volume is at a 2.86
ratio.
Top Dow stocks are:
Coca-Cola
(
KO |
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(
BA |
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PowerRating), +.24 at 28.38, United Technologies
(
UTX |
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PowerRating), +.30 at
63.25, and Johnson & Johnson
(
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Stocks in the news:
Black Box Corp.
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was up 10% on double its average volume. After accounting for special items, the
company reported fourth quarter results that bested estimates by 2 cents. The
company will also buy back an additional 1 million shares of its stock.
Soft drink giant Coca Cola
(
KO |
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PowerRating)
was up 4.50% on heavy volume and earlier hit a three-month high. Morgan Stanley
upgraded the stock from “equal weight” to “over weight” as
Coke’s pricing power should improve in 2004.
Emerson Electric
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EMR |
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PowerRating)
was down 5.5% on double its average volume. After the company reported second
quarter results that were down 14%, Emerson also cut its full year outlook.
Networking giant Cisco
Systems
(
CSCO |
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PowerRating) was down 2% after the company reported third quarter
results that beat estimates by a penny late yesterday. However Cisco expects
revenues for the fourth quarter to come in at $4.62 or flat compared to its
latest quarter.
Forest Labs
(
FRX |
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down 3.5% on heavy volume. The company reported disappointing results in its Memantine compound for the treatment of nerve pain for diabetics.
Lamar Advertising
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PowerRating)
was off 3.5% on more than triple its average volume. The company reported a wider
than expected first quarter loss of 20 cents per share versus estimates of 17
cents per share. Going forward, the company expects second quarter revenues to
come in at $206 million while analysts forecast was $211.5 million.