Market Struggles as Stocks Fall From Session Highs
Rally or ambush? That's the question traders and investors were asking themselves this morning as tech stocks sought to revive themselves after
yesterday's thrashing. After an hour of trading, those long the market were beginning to look for booby traps as early gains evaporated.
As many players expected, investors initially forsake the recently torrid cyclical stocks for perceived bargains in techland. Drug makers were also recovering from their recent losses, while financials continued to exude strength thanks to strong earnings at
Chase
(CMB)
and a 3-for-2 stock split announcement by
Citigroup
(C) - Get Report
. But groups initially in favor slackened while the laggards weakened further.
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
was fading as the morning progressed, lately down 50 to 10,390. Recent favorites
Chevron
(CHV)
and
United Technologies
were pacing the Dow's retreat. Cyclicals overall were recoiling from recent gains -- the
Morgan Stanley Cyclical Index
was down 2%.
Coming off one of its worst days in history, the
Nasdaq Composite Index
was the best performer of major indices in the early going, rising as high as 2379.90. But the tech-befuddled index was off its session highs, last up 5 to 2351.
Bellwethers such as
Dell
(DELL) - Get Report
and
Sun Microsystems
(SUNW) - Get Report
led the initial bounce, but were struggling to sustain the forward momentum. The
Nasdaq 100
was up fractionally.
Ahead of its profit report, due after the close,
Microsoft
(MSFT) - Get Report
was up fractionally. The software colossus is expected to post third-quarter profits of 32 cents a share vs. 25 cents a year ago, according to the 21-analyst consensus.
Internet stalwarts also hit a pothole on the comeback trail. With
America Online
(AOL)
and
Amazon.com
(AMZN) - Get Report
notably retreating from early gains,
TheStreet.com Internet Sector
index was down 8 to 523 after rising as high as 579.23 early on.
Elsehwere,
Inktomi
(INKT)
was up 15% and
DoubleClick
(DCLK)
was higher by 11%, after
Goldman Sachs
upped its recommendation on each to the recommended list from market outperform.
E*Trade
(EGRP)
was up 4 3/4 to 78 7/8 after posting a narrower-than-expected second-quarter loss.
But in the Net-stocks-are-still-dangerous category,
Network Associates
(NETA)
was down 32% after
last night posting a disappointing first-quarter earnings report and a dim outlook for the second quarter.
The
Russell 2000
was lately down 1 to 411.
10:00 a.m.: Stocks Mostly Higher After Monday's Collapse
The market's major barometers were mostly higher early on as technology and Internet stocks begin to bandage the heavy losses they suffered
yesterday while a flood of key earnings reports hit Wall Street.
The
Nasdaq Composite Index
was up 23 to 2369.
TheStreet.com Internet Sector
index was up 4 to 565.
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
was down 13 to 10,428. The
S&P 500
was up 4 to 1294. The
Russell 2000
was up 2 to 414.
The 30-year Treasury bond was down 4/32 to 95 31/32, yielding 5.53%.
Philip Morris
(MO) - Get Report
recently posted first-quarter operating earnings of 80 cents a share, in line with the 12-analyst estimate. It was up 3/4 to 33 7/8.
Most Up at Open -- NYSE
Citigroup (C) - Get Report, up 3 1/4 to 73
: Citigroup set a 3-for-2 stock split.
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter
raised its 12-month price target on the stock to $87 from $79.
Most Up at Open -- Nasdaq
DoubleClick (DCLK) , up 9 5/8 to 113 5/8
:
Goldman Sachs
upgraded the company to its recommended list.
Most Down at Open -- NYSE
Telebras (TBH) , down 2 11/16 to 84 5/8
.
Most Down at Open -- Nasdaq
Go2Net (GNET) , down 10 1/4 to 136 1/2
.
--
Brian Louis
