Market Update: Dow Posts Solid Gain, Nasdaq Also Ends in the Green

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Sector Watch Bonds/Economy

The Dow Jones Industrial Average chalked up a solid triple-digit gain today, making up for last week's poor finish that left the blue-chip index near where it started the year.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index didn't faring quite as well; but still ended higher.

Major Indices INDEX CHANGE % VALUE YR TO DATE Dow 165.32 1.53% 10,946.77 1.5% S&P 500 15.56 1.18% 1330.32 0.8% Nasdaq 18.74 0.76% 2489.71 0.7% Russell 2000 7.59 1.53% 504.64 4.4% TSC Internet 11.36 3.48% 337.78 12.3% NOTE CHANGE PRICE YIELD 10-Year Treasury 4/32 99 19/32 5.05% Market data as of: 4:09 p.m. EST, Feb. 12, 2001

Networking giant Cisco(CSCO Quote) was the talk of last week after missing estimates and lowering its revenue forecasts. It fell for three straight days. Traders staved off the bloodletters and the stock rose 4.9% to $29.56.

The big news today takes us back to a crazy day last August when Emulex(EMLX Quote) dropped 57% before a press release was determined fraudulent. The bogus release said the company would restate its fourth-quarter profit as a loss.

Well, today, the networking-equipment maker dropped 47.9% to $40.38 -- and not because of a hoax. This time, the company said in a Webcast late Friday that if order deferrals for its fiber-channel products continue, it could hurt third-quarter earnings.

The news sparked a downgrade by U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray analyst Ashok Kumar to neutral, citing flat quarter-to-quarter revenue growth and customer "pushouts," or order delays. In his report this morning, Kumar said Emulex's third-quarter earnings per share could be lower by about 3 cents to 5 cents if current trends continue.

Kumar also said he believes Emulex's stock faces "both valuation and earnings compression," and that the company, along with QLogic(QLGC Quote), could be affected by the "ailing" storage industry. QLogic was spun off Emulex in 1992 and is now independent.

Competitors EMC(EMC Quote), Juniper Networks(JNPR Quote) and Brocade(BRCD Quote) were dropping in sympathy. EMC slid 4% to $54.16, Juniper fell 4.8% to $79.88 and Brocade tumbled 15% to $63.

But all was not lost in tech land, especially not in biotechnology, where Celera Genomics(CRA Quote) was benefiting from a story in The Wall Street Journal that said the company's map of the human genetic code appears to be superior to that of the publicly funded Human Genome Project's version. The stock was up 14.8% to $47.75. It helped lift the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index 3%.

Elsewhere on the Big Board , oil giant Schlumberger(SLB Quote) was down 11.8% to $69 after announcing that it would buy information-technology firm Sema(SEMA Quote) for about $5.2 billion. Sema rose 14.7% to $16.06.

And don't forget those pesky PC-makers U.S. computer hardware and software giant Compaq(CPQ Quote) warned of slowing sales growth in the first half of 2001, dropping its target to a little under 5% -- that's down from 10% in 2000. In an interview published today, Compaq told German magazine Der Spiegel that its sales would be slow to flat during the first quarter and then pick up through the rest of the year. The stock was off 2.2% to $22.

Compaq's related sector, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Computer Box Maker Index, was beaten down last week, so it was shaking off the news and rallying. It was up 1.5%. Blue-chip IBM(IBM Quote) was giving the sector some big support, up 2.6% to $114.90.

IBM's rise was also helping out the Dow. The index has had a shiny, happy day with 25 cheerleaders. Healthcare behemoth Johnson & Johnson(JNJ Quote) and discount retailer Wal-Mart(WMT Quote) were among the strongest components.

Betrothed blue-chips General Electric(GE Quote) and Honeywell(HON Quote) were in tandem today, each making healthy gains of late.

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Sector Watch

The Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index was coming back after being a part of last week's fall. It lately was 2.8% higher. Chip equipment maker KLA-Tencor(KLAC Quote) was one of the biggest bouncers, up 8.4% to $38.88.

Last week, same-store sales results came out and sent the S&P Retail Index in a tailspin. Today, the sector was licking its wounds and pulling out a nice rally, up 3.7%.

And even though tech was looking a little better to investors, defensives were strong today, with the American Stock Exchange Pharmaceutical Index up 1.3% and the American Stock Exchange Tobacco Index 1.6% higher.

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Bonds/Economy

Treasury prices are mixed, with the long bond dipping and the notes just about positive. With no economic news due today, the money market is likely to respond mostly to equity movements. Traders are also awaiting Greenspan's address tomorrow. They hope that the central bank chief will reiterate the need for more interest-rate cuts to boost the economy.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note lately was down 4/32 to 99 19/32, yielding 5.05%.

Cathy Minehan, president of the Boston Federal Reserve Bank and a voting member of the Fed's monetary policy committee, said today that the Fed's 100 basis-point lowering of interest rates in January is already producing encouraging results. She predicted that gross domestic product (definition | chart | source) growth this year should be around 2%. Echoing recent statements by Greenspan, Minehan asserted that inflation was "well behaved." This was good news to Fed-watchers, since figures released last week showed that unit labor costs were rising, which is usually perceived as inflationary.

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