Will This Seasonal Bias Return?
Stocks
started December strong with the S&P hitting an 18-month high.
Historically, December is the best month for the S&P, and the second best month
for the Dow.
Semis showed their strongest month-on-month growth since 2002,
according to an industry survey. Chip sales rose 23% for the year, the strongest
gain in 13 years. The Institute for Supply Management index on U.S. factory
activity rose to 62.8% for the month of November, 4.9% higher than consensus.
Boeing’s
(
BA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) CEO and Chairman Phil Condit resigned Monday, saying he wanted
to distance the aerospace giant from controversies over its defense contracting.
The company also lost a $1.5 billion Qantas Airways order to Airbus. Vice
Chairman Roy Disney resigned from Disney’s
(
DIS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) company board Monday, and
called on Michael Eisner to resign as CEO. Mr. Disney is being forced to resign
due to a mandatory retirement age rule.
| Dow | +1.00% | 9881.25 |
| S&P 500 | +0.96% | 1068.44 |
| Nasdaq | +1.24% | 1984.11 |
The day’s leading sectors are
Biotechs
(
$BTK.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +3.47%, Chemicals
(
$CEX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+2.28%, Software
(
$GSO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.61%, Healthcare
(
$HCX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+1.55%, and Pharmaceuticals
(
$DRG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.48%.
Weak today is the Gold and
Silver index [XAU.X|XAU.X] -0.07%.
Economic news releases for
today included Construction spending, up 0.9%, and the ISM index, which rose to
62.8.
10-year Notes are -250
at 111 200.
The dollar
is +0.24 at 90.52.
Gold is +0.32 at 40.00.
Crude Oil is -0.06 at
32.86.
Volume is 655,000,000 on
the NYSE, and 917,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is positive.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 2258 | Up Vol 489 |
| Declining | 875 | Down Vol 124 |
| Ratio | 2.58 | 3.94 |
| Nasdaq | ||
| Advancing | 1973 | Up Vol 617 |
| Declining | 1089 | Down Vol 224 |
| Ratio | 1.81 | 2.75 |
Top Dow stocks are:
Merck
(
MRK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+3.84% at 42.16, Intl Paper [IP|IP],
+3.72% at 37.68, Alcoa [AA|AA],
+3.23% at 33.81, and 3M
(
MMM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.77% at 81.20.
Stocks in the news:
General Electric
(
GE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
got an upgrade to buy from AG Edwards, which expects a turnaround in GE’s
specialty materials, aircraft engines, power and plastic divisions.
Neurogen
(
NRGN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
shot up 65% after announcing an alliance with slumping manufacturer Merck
(
MRK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
to research, develop and commercialize new pain drugs. Merck will purchase $15
million of Neurogen’s stock, $12 million in research funding and license
maintenance payment and another $15 million for the license fee.
Rambus
(
RMBS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
gained 3% after Wednesday’s news of a judge tossing out FTC charges.
Tripath Technology
(
TRPH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
was chosen by Hitachi to power its new line of Plasma TVs. The amplifiers will
be used in the 32, 37, and 42 inch TVs that produce 12 Watts of power.
If you have any comments or
questions, please feel free to email me.
bricew@tradingmarkets.com