Will Your Mutual Fund Be Next?
Stocks
rallied Monday to start out the new month with
a better-than-expected October ISM index — 57, up from an estimated 55.4. Tech
stocks also benefited from the news from the SIA that chip sales rose 6.5% to
$14.4 billion for September. The Nasdaq hit a 21-month high before sliding
slightly into the close. Factory order numbers released from Institute for
Supply Management grew for the fourth consecutive month to 57%, up from 53.7%. A
few indices closed at historic highs: S&P Smallcap, S&P Midcap, and the Value
Line Arithmetic Index.
Putnam
Investments chief exec Lawrence Lasser stepped down in the midst of a widening
investigation into the mutual-fund industry.
Congress opened a series of hearings on mutual fund
industry abuses.
The Dow Jones Industrial
Average
(
$INDU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is +57.35 at 9858.46. The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
is +8.28 at 1058.99. The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is +35.49 at 1967.70.
The day’s leading sectors are
Semiconductor Sector Index
(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +3.87%; CBOE Internet
Index
(
$INX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.82%; GSTI Composite Index
(
$GSM.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+3.55%; and Computer Hardware
(
$HWI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.37%.
Weak today are Gold and
Silver Sector Index [XAU.X|XAU.X] -2.13%,
Morgan Stanley Healthcare Index
(
$HMO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.11% and Oil
Services
(
$OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.12%.
Economic releases included
Construction spending up 1.3% and the ISM index at 57.0. Auto and Truck sales
figures were not available at the time of writing.
10-year Notes were -165
at 111 250.
The dollar
was +0.97 at 93.70.
Gold was -7.4. at
376.90.
Crude Oil was -0.24 at
28.90.
Volume was
1,356,205,000 on
the NYSE, and 2,054,410,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was positive,
with NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by 2.13 and up over down volume
by 2.69; Nasdaq advancing issues over declining issues at 1.99, and up volume
over down volume at 2.79.
Top Dow stocks were:
Alcoa [AA|AA],
+0.62 at 32.19, AT&T [T|T],
+0.28 at 18.87, Intel [INTC|INTC],
+1.09 at 34.04, JP Morgan Chase
(
JPM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.81 at 36.71, and Home Depot
(
HD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+0.45 at 37.52.
Stocks in the news:
Energy maker Dynegy
(
DYN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
continued its ascent, up 4% for the day after reporting that it has agreed to
sell Illinois Power to Exelon
(
EXC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) for $2.23 billion. Exelon will
assume $1.8 billion of debt and will pay $275 million in cash, and $150 million
in the form of a promissory note.
Principal Financial Group
(
PFG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was up
2.67% after Barron’s suggested the company would post strong
retirement and insurance numbers later this week. After Bank of
America
(
BAC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) announcement of is merger with FleetBoston Financial
(
FBF |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
the banking industry is filled with rumors of consolidation, with PFG said to be
an ideal candidate due to its widespread influence.
Discount online brokerage firm
Ameritrade
(
AMTD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) shares are down 3.8% after it registered with the SEC
(Friday) that it would offer 44.1 million shares to existing shareholders. Of
the 44 million shares, Ameritrade would repurchase 7.5 million. An increase in
the number of shares dilutes the values of existing shares.
Cereal Manufacturer Kelloggs
(
K |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) posted strong sales, with earnings up 14% to $231 million from 203.5
million in the year-ago quarter. Sales were up 7% to $2.28 billion, cereal sales
rose 11%, but internal sales of its US snacks business fell 4%. The company also
raised 2003 annual earnings forecast by a penny to $1.89 to $1.91 a share.
Microchip giant Conexant
Systems
(
CNXT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) fell after announcing its purchase of
GlobespanVirata
(
GSPN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) for $836 million to expand its broadband
products. The company expects combined sales to be over $1.2 billion, with 2,400
employees.
If you have any comments or questions, please
feel free to email me.
bricew@tradingmarkets.com