Will This Computer Giant Miss Its Target By $2 Billion?
Stocks
opened strong but turned negative during the last hour of trading.
The ISM index rose for the sixth straight month to
66.2 in December while the New Orders index rose to 77.6, the highest number
since 1950. Citibank rose on news that it is one of two foreign banks to be
granted approval to issue credit cards in China. The other bank was UK-based
HSBC
(
HBC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating). Both stocks are higher on the news. In a survey by KPMG,
automotive industry executives around the world said they expect higher profits,
but not a full recovery until 2006. 80% of those surveyed predicted Asian
automakers will gain market share while 53% believe US automakers will continue
to lose market share globally. Cattle futures moved higher for the first time in
a week.
Steel stocks rose after China
officially announced it will end tariffs on US steel imports. Bear Stearns
believes IBM
(
IBM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) may miss its fourth-quarter number by as much as
$2 billion. AT&T
(
T |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) shares traded higher on news that it will increase
phone rates for some of its customers. An analyst at Evergreen Investments
expects GDP to expand 3.5% to 4.0% in the new year. Bond traders in the pit said
they will pay closer attention to the market rate (rather than the rate set by
the Feds) as some traders expect a slight increase.
| Dow | -44.07 |
10409.85 |
| S&P 500 | -3.44 | 1108.48 |
| Nasdaq | +3.31 | 2068.68 |
The day’s leading sectors were
Disk Drives
(
DDX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.58%, Networking
(
GIP.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.32%,
Internet
(
INX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.25%, Telecoms
(
XTC.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.04%,
Pharmaceuticals [DRG.X|DRG.X] +0.86%.
Weak today are Retail
(
RLX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-2.08%, and Banks
(
BIX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.20%.
Economic news releases included
an ISM index that jumped to 66.2, and new orders index rising to 77.6.
10-year Notes were -295
at 111 110
The dollar
was -0.33 at 86.3
Gold was -1.10 at 417.20
Crude Oil was -0.06 at
31.83
Volume was 1,137,000,000
on the NYSE, and 1,651,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was positive.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 1726 | Up Vol 593 |
| Declining | 1493 | Down Vol 519 |
| Ratio | 1.15 | 2.26 |
| Nasdaq | ||
| Advancing | 1879 | Up Vol 1149 |
| Declining | 1281 | Down Vol 477 |
| Ratio | 2.51 | 2.40 |
Top Dow stocks were:
Merck
(
MRK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.16% at 47.39,
AT&T [T|T], +0.63%
at 20.90, Citigroup
(
C |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+0.61% at 49.11, and GM [GM|GM],
+0.60% at 53.98.
Stocks in the news:
NASA opted to extend its International Space
Station project with Boeing
(
BA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) valued at up to $1.62 billion if all
options are exercised. The length of the entire contract runs for two years.
Ciphergen Biosystems
(
CIPH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) warned it
will miss its fourth-quarter revenue estimates due to increased competition for
products that analyze genes and proteins for drug research. Sales targets were
lowered to $15 million from $19 million. CIPH Shares were 26% lower.
Netflix
(
NFLX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported a 74%
increase in 2003 in its subscriber base, from 2002 levels. Ninety-five percent
of the subscribers were paying customers, with the remaining being trial
members. NFLX is expected to report fourth0quarter earnings on Jan 21.
bricew@tradingmarkets.com