Just Can't Stop It: Nasdaq on Plus Side as Losses Narrow

The downdraft from the Brazilian debacle turns into just another buying opportunity, especially in techs.

Author:: Heather Moore
Publish date:: Jan 13, 1999 1:17 PM EST

The downdraft from the Brazilian debacle turns into just another buying opportunity, especially in techs.

The market was waiting for something fundamental, something economic, something global -- something real. Just so happens, it got

the

real.

Astoundingly adept at shrugging off

Clintonian

troubles, earnings nerves, Asian uncertainty,

Starbucks

(SBUX) - Get Report

-branded froth oozing out of the Internet sector, the U.S. stock market decided to retreat from this year's relentless traveling skyward on news of a de facto devaluation of Brazil's real.

But not by anywhere near as much as one might have thought at the open.

"I thought we'd see a 300-, 400-point decline," said Jim Volk, co-director of institutional trading at

D.A. Davidson

in Portland. "I thought we'd see a decline, rally, then strong selloff again, but we've held on pretty well."

Brazil's central bank said it would remove the real's mini-band -- the range in which the bank tried to keep the currency trading -- while broadening the maximum range in which it would trade, essentially devaluing the currency about 9%. The country's central banker,

Gustavo Franco

, resigned on the news.

The Brazilian

Bovespa

stock index lately was down 6.8%, following a trading halt. Bellwether

Telebras

(TBH)

recently was down 7.9%, off its session low of 50 1/8.

Back in North America, the

Dow Jones Industrial Average

was down 134 to 9341, off today's low of 9213.10.

Alcoa

(AA) - Get Report

Chevron

(CHV)

Hewlett-Packard

(HWP)

and

McDonald's

(MCD) - Get Report

were showing mild strength amid the majority of Dow securities flashing red like ambulance lights.

Displaying a more impressive comeback was -- guess -- Its Majesty, the

Nasdaq Composite Index

. The techified index lately was

a fraction to 2321, making no acquaintance with the session low of 2206.19.

Intel

(INTC) - Get Report

was consistently answering

yes

to a question akin to asking

Who's on first?

on Wall Street: Do earnings matter? The chip maker was up 2.7% after last night's blowout earnings report. (See more on the report below.)

Elsewhere in tech, the

Morgan Stanley High-Tech 35

was slipping 0.7%, the

Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index

was gaining 3.2% and

TheStreet.com Internet Sector

index was losing 1.7%. At midday,

Yahoo!

(YHOO)

marked a dizzying session high of 406 and low of 332. Of late, the Internet portal -- whose blowout earnings reported last night apparently were priced into the stock already -- was down 2.2%.

The broad

S&P 500

was down 6 to 1233, and the small-cap

Russell 2000

was down 3 to 424.

Market internals were decidedly negative on powerful volume. On the

New York Stock Exchange

, decliners lead advancers 2,163 to 807 on 558 million shares. The downs had the ups 2,579 to 1,258 on 691 million shares in

Nasdaq Stock Market

activity.

Following yesterday's Japanese intervention, the bond market was enjoying flight-to-quality gains. The 30-year Treasury was up 1 5/32 to 101 17/32, dropping its yield to 5.15%. (For more on the fixed-income market, see today's early

Bond Focus.)

With those relatively tame index losses, traders' minds were still free to chat about the day's other news: What's up with

Jordan

waiting until after the lockout?

"These days, even 300 points is not that much of a move for the Dow," said Volk, describing the market's mood as one of "caution and concern -- there's no panicking."

"We've still got money on the sidelines," Volk went on. "Concerns about fourth-quarter and first-quarter earnings have gone away. And, as we've seen from the

PPI

figure, the unemployment number, the nonfarm payroll, inflation is low. This is a healthy correction in a continuing upward movement."

Offering Intel,

Lattice Semiconductor

(LSCC) - Get Report

Seagate Technology

(SEG)

and

Ascend

(ASND) - Get Report

-- the latter to be bought by

Lucent

(LU)

for $20 billion -- Volk said there was still some strength left in technology.

"This is obviously all a knee-jerk reaction to Brazil," he continued. "Things aren't so good in Hong Kong, either. But we started the year off with the euro, the solid money flow into the markets, the momentum of buying in the Net stocks, strong gains five or six trading days in a row, going up 400 points. We adjusted yesterday with some profit-taking and on rumors that now have come true about Brazil."

Calling for a near-term 9000 on the Dow before another leg upward, the trader said at this point he believes the bull market is not in any jeopardy. "We still have to see what kind of earnings power there is in the second and third quarters. Something like 20% of America's business comes from Latin America, and a big chunk of that comes from Brazil. And of course, will it spread? We had this Asian contagion a year ago. There is the danger that could happen here. And there are still pockets of danger in China and Japan."

Wednesday's Midday Movers

By Aaron L. Task
Senior Writer

Not surprisingly, Brazilian ADRs were among the hardest hit names this morning.

Telebras

(TBH)

was down 6 3/16, or 9.9%, to 56 1/8,

Brahma

was off 1, or 11.8%, to 7 1/2,

Embratel

(EMT)

was off 1 3/4, or 13.4%, to 11 5/16,

Telesp Participacoes

(TSP) - Get Report

was lower by 2 7/16, or 13.9%, to 15 1/8, and

Unibanco

(UBB)

was lower by 1 9/16, or 12.7%, to 10 3/4.

In sympathy,

Telefonica del Peru

(TDP)

was down 1 5/8, or 12.5%, to 10 15/16 and Argentina's

Banco Rio de la Plata

(BRS) - Get Report

was off 1 1/4, or 12.2%, to 9.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch know as America, the faith in big technology appears unshaken, especially when the earnings news is good.

Intel was lately up 2 7/8, or 2.1%, to 138 9/16 after

last night posting fourth-quarter earnings of $1.19 a share, 12 cents higher than the 31-analyst consensus and above the year-ago 98 cents. The company said it sees its first-quarter gross margin falling slightly below the fourth quarter's 58% because of seasonal factors.

J.P. Morgan

upped its recommendation to buy from market perform and

Credit Suisse First Boston

lifted its price target to $180.

Seagate was up 2 5/8, or 6.7%, to 41 9/16 after it posted second-quarter earnings of 42 cents a share, well in excess of the 11-analyst forecast of 26 cents and the year-ago loss of 8 cents.

Yahoo! was struggling to stay positive but has clawed a long way back from its initial decline to as low as 332. The stock reached as high as 406 but lately was off 11 15/16, or 2.9%, to 389 3/16. Last night, the firm reported fourth-quarter earnings of 21 cents a share, topping the 24-analyst forecast of 16 cents and the year-ago 2 cents. The company also announced a 2-for-1 stock split.

BT Alex. Brown

cut its recommendation to buy from strong buy.

Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette

upped its six-to-12 month price target to 500 (presumably on a pre-split basis).

Other Internet names continue to pad the list of big percentage losers, including

Broadcast.com

, off 32 7/8, or 14.8%, to 189 and

Cyberian Outpost

(COOL)

, down 4 1/16, or 10.4%, to 35 1/16.

Earnings/revenue movers

Acclaim Entertainment

(AKLM)

was down 1 5/8, or 13.2%, to 10 3/4 after posting first-quarter earnings of 16 cents a share, a penny ahead of the five-analyst call for a repeat of the year-ago 15 cents.

Aetrium

(ATRM)

was down 1 5/8, or 13.4%, to 10 1/2 after warning it sees a fourth-quarter loss of 21 cents a share after establishing a $1 million reserve to cover past-due bills. The five-analyst estimate called for a loss of 14 cents.

Anicom

(ANIC)

was down 1 5/8, or 17.6%, to 7 3/4 after warning its fourth-quarter earnings would be 8 cents to 10 cents a share. The nine-analyst view was for profits of 13 cents.

Beyond.com

(BYND) - Get Report

was down 4 3/16, or 11.4%, to 32 5/8 after it announced a fourth-quarter loss of 53 cents a share, wider than the five-analyst forecast of a loss of 47 cents and the year-ago loss of 11 cents.

Linear Technology

(LLTC)

was up 8 15/16, or 10.3%, to 96 1/8 after it reported second-quarter earnings of 59 cents a share, 2 cents above the 17-analyst outlook and above the year-ago 55 cents. The company also set a 2-for-1 stock split.

In other news:

Advanced Health

(ADVH)

was up 1 15/16, or 97%, to 4 after the healthcare information concern said it will focus on electronic commerce between physicians and hospitals and change its name to

AHT

Gucci

(GUC)

was down 2 1/4, or 3.2%, to 67 13/16 after saying last night it was not consulted when

LVMH Moet-Hennessy Louis Vuitton

(LVMHY)

bought

Prada's

9.5% stake in Gucci. Louis Vuitton was down 2 1/8, or 4.5%, to 45 3/8.

KeraVision

(KERA)

was up 1 15/16, or 15%, to 15 after a