Will FedEx Make The Delivery?

  • November 12, 2004
  • Brice Wightman

Stocks are hovering above the flat line
today.
The major indices made new highs early in the
session but are currently in retreat. Strong retail sales and consumer
confidence along with positive earnings reports from Dell and Pixar pushed the
S&P 500 above the 1175 level (not seen since January 2002). The S&P has
gone up nearly 7.8% in the last three weeks.

Retail Sales for October came in at 0.2% vs.
consensus of 0.1%. Excluding autos, retail sales rose 0.9% vs. consensus of
0.6%. This was the highest jump since May. 

The University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment
Index for November came in at 95.5 vs. consensus of 93.0. 

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is again
going after the insurance industry. This time he is expected to file suit
against the San Diego, California based Universal Life Resources. 

Pixar
(
PIXR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is trading higher by
more the 5%  The animation company reported third quarter results that blew
past expectations. Pixar earned  38 cents a share vs. estimates of 24 cents
a share thanks to strong sales of “Finding Nemo”.


Charles Schwab

(
SCH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
is higher by nearly 2% after the discount broker reported daily client trading
volume up 16% from September. 

FedEx
(
FDX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is fractionally lower today. The shipping giant has been
ordered by the U.S. government to repay $29 million in excess funds. This stems
from an initial award of $119 that FedEx was entitled to from the Air
Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act. FedEx will dispute the
demand. 

 

Dow +27.65 10497.49
S&P 500 +3.65 1177.13
Nasdaq +7.14 2068.41

Strong sectors are: Gold
(
XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.23%, Oil Services
(
OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.66 %,
Airlines
(
XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.54%.

Weak sectors are: Transports

(
TRAN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.44%, Healthcare
(
HMO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.82, Biotechs
(
BTK.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-0.73%.

The dollar is -0.66 at
83.78

Gold is +3.50 at 438.80

Crude Oil is +0.18 at 47.60

ce=”Arial” size=”2″ face=”Arial”>Volume is 927 million on the NYSE and
1.0 billion on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth is positive.

NYSE Issues
Advancing 1912 Up Vol 585
Declining 1220 Down Vol 326
Ratio 1.57 1.79
Nasdaq
Advancing 1432 Up Vol 600
Declining 1500 Down Vol 425
Ratio 0.95 1.41

Brice Wightman