Will Any Of These Drugs Face Lawsuits Soon?
Stocks were higher this
triple witching Friday, as investors shook off weak consumer confidence data.
September PPI rose +0.1%; Core PPI gained +0.3%.
Retail sales for September rose +1.5%, double expectations; ex-auto, +0.6%.
Auto sales recorded the
fastest increase since October 2001.
The preliminary University of Michigan sentiment
figures came in at 87.5, down from 94.2, the lowest figure in 18 months.
For the week, the Dow and S&P fell -1.2%, mostly
due to AIG, while the Nasdaq lost -0.5%
Trader talk: what is the collateral damage to the Spitzer investigation? Many
investors were hurt by the large market drop after the announcement was made.
Wachovia
(
WB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.02; Q3 profits rose 14%.
Sprint
(
FON |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said Q3 will top forecasts and that it will cut 700
jobs.
Alan Greenspan commented on oil prices
today, saying “So far this year, the rise in the value of imported oil –
essentially a tax on U.S. residents – has amounted to about three quarters of
one percent of GDP.” The Fed chief says he doesn’t see high oil prices
inflicting the kind of economic pain they did in the ’70s. Crude oil closed up
3% for the week.
NetFlix
(
NFLX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is reducing prices in
an effort to maintain market share amid new competition from Amazon and
Blockbuster. Seven brokers downgraded the stock today. NFLX fell 41% today.
With Merck’s Vioxx being pulled from the
market, some traders are speculating what drug may encounter problems next. Here
are a few possibilities:
| Drug | Manufacturer | Symbol | possible concern raised |
| Zyprexa | Eli Lilly | ( LLY | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
diabetes risk |
| Paxil | GlaxoSmithKline | ( GSK | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
suicidal thoughts |
| Prempro | Wyeth | ( WYE | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
heart attack, breast cancer |
| Accutane | Roche Holding AG | RHHBF.PK | birth defects, suicide |
| Bextra | Pfizer | ( PFE | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
same class as VIOXX |
| Crestor | Astrazeneca | ( AZN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) |
liver and muscle side affects |
Next week, look for earnings from: MSFT SEBL,
SYMC, GOOG, AMZN, EBAY MNST, AMTD and AMGN, among others.
| Dow | +37.46 | 9931.91 |
| S&P 500 | +4.84 | 1108.13 |
| Nasdaq | +8.48 | 1911.50 |
Strong sectors were: Gold
(
XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.03%, Brokers
(
XBD.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.35%, Banks
(
BIX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.35%.
Weak sectors were:Â Insurance
(
IUX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-2.94%, Internet
(
GIN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.56%, Airlines
(
XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.47%.
10-year notes were: -100
at 113 070
The dollar
was -0.45 at 87.09
Gold was +0.40 at 418.40
Crude Oil was -0.11 at 53.95
1.16 billion on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was negative.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 2238 | Up Vol 890 |
| Declining | 1031 | Down Vol 571 |
| Ratio | 2.03 | 1.55 |
| Nasdaq |
||
| Advancing | 1763 | Up Vol 780 |
| Declining | 1267 | Down Vol 681 |
| Ratio | 1.39 | 1.14 |
Stocks in the News
Cree
(
CREE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat handily.
Charles Schwab
(
SCH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) met expectations; trading volume was down 29% in
September.
Schwab Soundview started coverage of Google
(
GOOG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) with a $180 price
target.
Juniper
(
NJPR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.02; the company guided lower for the first
half of 2005.
Delta
(
DAL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) sees a worse than expected Q3 loss.
Sun Microsystems
(
SUNW |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
was raised to peer perform from underperform at Bear Stearns, after the company
reported a narrower loss.
La Jolla Pharmaceutical
(
LJPC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is lower after the FDA asked for
additional trials of its lupus drug.
Brice Wightman