Following Foreboding Trend, Futures Again Signal Firm Open
With bargain-hunters coming into the futures market, what looked like an early decline in the stock market turned course, and a positive open now beckons. Too bad.
For four days now, stocks have headed higher on bargain-hunting in the morning but have been unable to hold their gains, as investors have used any strength to raise cash. That the bottom-fishers have again come to the market suggests that the capitulating action, the fear that portends a bottom, has yet to come. Traders remain skeptical of this market.
"I really don't know how much faith I have in the market in the short term," said Paul Rich, trader at
BT Brokerage
. "Pretty much it really comes down to interest rates, plus a really interesting lack of faith in the Internets. We've had some really disparaging talk about the
Nasdaq
for the last few days."
Even barring this morose mood, it seems like any movement up in the market today will be capped by worries about the tomorrow's
employment report
, which, if it comes in strong, will settle the outlook for the
Fed
meeting at the end of the month.
At 9 a.m. EDT, the
S&P 500
futures were up 4.4, about 2 points above fair value and indicating a firm open.
The 30-year Treasury was up 8/32 to 88 13/32, putting the yield 6.1%.
Tokyo stocks got creased, with technology stocks again taking the brunt of the blow. The
Nikkei
dropped 327.19, or 1.9%, to 17,358.19.
Softbank
, heavily invested in U.S. Internet issues, led the decline, falling 7.1%.
Until today, Hong Kong stocks had held up pretty well through this latest downdraft, supported by enthusiasm for market heavyweight
HSBC
(HSBHY)
. Couldn't fight against the tide forever. The
Hang Seng
dropped 336.68, or 2.5%, to 13,254.34.
Poor earnings reports, euro-strength worries, interest-rate jitters -- it wasn't hard to figure out why Frankfurt screens were flashing red in a selloff which left very few stocks unscathed. The
Xetra Dax
was down 88.08, or 1.7%, to 5031.29. Within the Dax, decliners were outpacing advancers by a near 6-to-1 margin.
In Paris, the
CAC
was down 49.8, or 1.2%, to 4276.40.
London's
FTSE
rebounded a bit after the
Bank of England
announced that it kept its benchmark rate on hold at 5%, but the index was still down significantly. It was lately off 85.16, or 1.4%, to 6149.8.
Thursday's Wake-Up Watchlist
By
Brian Louis
Staff Reporter
Earnings/revenue reports and previews
(Earnings estimates are from
First Call
.)
Barclays
(BCS) - Get Report
posted better-than-expected first-half results.
Ethan Allen
(ETH) - Get Report
posted fourth-quarter earnings of 54 cents a share, ahead of the 12-analyst estimate of 52 cents.
Pier 1 Imports
(PIR) - Get Report
said its chief financial officer resigned and second-quarter earnings will fall below expectations. Pier 1 said it expects to report earnings of 12 to 14 cents a share. The 15-analyst estimate called for the company to earn 18 cents. The company said Stephen Magnum, the CFO, is leaving "to pursue other interests."
Royal Dutch/Shell Group
, on an adjusted current cost of supplies basis, posted better-than-expected second-quarter results of $1.61 billion, up about 5% from $1.54 billion in the year-ago period.
Royal Dutch Petroleum
(RD)
owns 60% of Royal Dutch/Shell Group, while
Shell Transport & Trading
(SC) - Get Report
owns 40%.
UnitedHealth Group
(UNH) - Get Report
posted second-quarter earnings of 76 cents a share, ahead of the 21-analyst estimate and up from the year-ago 45 cents.
Mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures
Cardinal Health
(CAH) - Get Report
is acquiring privately held
Automatic Liquid Packaging
of Woodstock, Ill., a custom manufacturer of sterile liquid pharmaceuticals and other health-care products, for $390 million in stock.
Jabil Circuit
(JBL) - Get Report
said it plans to acquire
GET Manufacturing
, a privately-held electronics manufacturing services provider which is headquartered in Hong Kong, for $250 million in stock. GET has principle manufacturing operations in China, with additional sites in Mexico and California.
Analyst actions
Warburg Dillon Read
initiated coverage of
Charles Schwab
(SCH)
with a buy rating and set a $55 price target on the stock.
Offerings and stock actions
BancBoston Robertson Stephens
priced
Cobalt's
(CBLT:Nasdaq) 4.5 million share IPO at $11 a share.
J.P. Morgan
priced
Interactive Pictures'
(IPIX:Nasdaq) 4.2 million share IPO at $18 a share.
Merrill Lynch
priced
Internet Capital's
(ICGE:Nasdaq) 14.9 million share IPO at $12 a share
Miscellany
Bear Stearns
(BSC)
is slated to reach a settlement with federal regulators and prosecutors over its role in clearing trades, with Bear Stearns paying a total of $37 million in the accords,
The Wall Street Journal
reported.
Eastman Kodak
(EK)
said that Jesse J. Greene, Jr. has been promoted to senior vice president of business strategy and information technology, a newly created position that expands the executive management team. Greene will report directly to Dan Carp, who will become the company's CEO in January, Kodak said.
Microsoft
(MSFT) - Get Report
is laying plans for low-priced, or perhaps even free, Internet access in a challenge to
America Online's
(AOL)
dial-up Net-access business, according to a report in the
Journal
.
The Heard on the Street column in the
Journal
today takes a look at prominent analyst Bill Burnham of
Credit Suisse First Boston
. The column notes that his record at First Boston has been mixed, pointing out that his 12-month price targets on
E*Trade
(EGRP)
and
Ameritrade
(AMTD) - Get Report
have been surpassed, but two of the initial public offerings he recommended after First Boston took the companies public -- online broker
TD Waterhouse Group
(TWE)
and
Pilot Network Services
(PILT)
, an Internet-security firm -- are now trading well below their IPO prices. People in the industry say that new investment banking clients have been drawn to First Boston because of the clout of Burnham, the column reports, helping improve the firm's rankings in Internet underwritings.
