You’ve Got To Earn It

October 15, 2001
Marc Dupee

Stocks are down slightly and consolidating gains made
off the Sept. 21 lows as market participants await corporate performance
news in the quarter’s heaviest week of earnings releases. Over one-third of
stocks on the S&P 500 report this week and many analysts are expecting
the worst showing in ten years, with expectations of an average drop in
profits of over 22%.

The S&P 500 is down 7.94 at 1083.70, the Dow is
down 53 at 9290, and the Nasdaq is down 23.52 at 1680.10.

The world’s biggest semis outfit, Intel
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
is also taking a hit, down 3.64%. Of course, Intel’s product line is
diversified by producing more than just microcircuitry for the
communications industry.

One feature to expect from this week’s heavy slate of
earnings announcements is for firms to show drastic cuts in earnings that
still come in ahead of lowered expectations. Bank of America
(
BAC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is a
case in point. Bank of America saw its net income more than halved in Q3,
but is up 2.5% to 54.40 after coming ahead of lowered expectations.

Reported cases of anthrax in New York, Florida and
Nevada are also making traders cautions.

In a sign of the impact of the manufacturing
downturn, Bethlehem Steel
(
BS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), the nation’s fifth largest steel company,
announced it would file for bankruptcy protection and is trading at a
multi-year low. BS

Airlines
(
$XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) are coming on in the session and
are now the strongest sector, up 1.48%. The airlines have managed to gain
only 25% of the drubbing the sustained following the Sept. 11 attacks.

You’ve Got To Earn It

BUY THE FEAR, SELL THE GREED

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