Market Update: Stocks Loaf Through Uninspiring Session; Nasdaq Ends Slightly Higher
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was a quitter. Sign it. Seal it. Deliver it.
The Dow ended down 8 points to 10,957, paring down earlier gains and again failing to close above 11,000 -- a feat it has not accomplished since Sept. 14.
The Dow drew the majority of its strength from three companies:
IBM
(IBM)
,
3M
(MMM)
and
Hewlett-Packard
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. The trio added a combined 35 points to the Dow. Unfortunately, H-P and 3M slid in strength toward the end of the day.
That deterioration, coupled with overall weakness and the minute-by-minute crumbling in
J.P. Morgan
(JPM)
, helped push the Dow into the red.
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Cisco
(CSCO)
reports earnings this evening and the questions were flying about the company's performance. Would it beat estimates but give horrible guidance for the future? Would it miss estimates but say the future was too uncertain to make predictions? Some from column A? Some from column B?
Whatever the outcome, the kids were bullish on the Cisco. It rose 3.4%, to $35.75.
In addition to Cisco, strength in areas like biotechnology and PC makers was offset by weak volume. Volume on both the
New York Stock Exchange and the
Nasdaq was thin, an indication that many people are sitting out trading sessions until the economic outlook solidifies and also an indication that market moves are not supported by the full weight of the market community. That means we can look forward to a lot more sideways movement and unclear leadership.
But, biotechnology and PC makers were nonetheless strong. The
American Stock Exchange Biotechnology Index
rose 3.8%, with many of its components deep in the green.
Myriad Genetics
(MYGN)
announced a second-quarter net loss that beat analyst estimates, while touting the discovery of a gene that puts men at risk of prostate cancer. Revenues at the company rose to $11.9 million from $8.3 million.
That was really all the news this battered sector, which has fallen for the five straight sessions, needed to rebound. As a result, Myriad rose 6.5% to $71.50. Big bellwethers
Affymetrix
(AFFX)
and
Protein Design Labs
(PDLI)
and smaller guns
Vertex Pharmaceuticals
(VRTX)
and
Human Genome Sciences
(HGSI)
were all atop the Nasdaq's leaderboard.
SDL's
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stock has been bananas all day after the
Justice Department
approved the company's merger with
JDS Uniphase
(JDSU)
. In order to get clearance for the deal, JDS Uniphase sold a fiber-optic manufacturing plant to Nortel for $3 billion in stock, but as the kids in the street say -- it was all good. The move unites JDS Uniphase, the world's largest fiber-optic gear maker, with SDL, the world's second largest. That's a whole lotta big merged company. SDL rose $11.13 to $196.50. JDS Uniphase rose 3.6% to $51.81.
Elsewhere in tech, that little rally in H-P and IBM tossed a bone to the emaciated mutts in the PC sector, reeling from slowing consumer and corporate spending. The
Philadelphia Stock Exchange Computer Box Maker Sector
index, a loser in the last five sessions, gained 3.6% today.
But, the market had its share of losers, too. Precious metals should probably consider some new adjectives after the
Philadelphia Stock Exchange Gold & Silver Index
dropped 2.1%. This is the third-straight session of losses for the gold bugs, which rose to prominence as a defensive play while the presidential election turned into a junior high student council race with juvenile behavior, lots of finger- pointing and a margin of victory somewhere in the hundreds.
Banks and insurers were also lower. The
Philadelphia Stock Exchange/KBW Bank Index
dropped 2.3%, led by a 4.3% drop in
Bank of America
(BAC)
, while the
S&P Insurance Index
slid 2.1%. Both indices had gains yesterday.
What does this all mean? Well, for earnings season: Churn. Churn. Churn.
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Sector Watch
After a positive report from
Merrill Lynch
outlined a decent future for electronics contract manufacturers, most of the biggest names in the sector fell. What gives?
Well, a lot of these guys, especially
Celestica
(CLS)
,
Flextronics
(FLEX)
and
Solectron
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, have been rocketing up since Dec. 1. The three companies listed rose 38.4%, 56.7% and 29.6% over that span respectively.
And what the markets giveth, the markets taketh away -- for profit-taking purposes. Celestica dropped 5.2%, Flextronics dropped 3%, while Solectron fell 4.1%.
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Bonds/Economy
Treasury notes are trading slightly lower as the market awaits the auction of $32 billion worth of new and reopened Treasury debt. Dealers are selling to create space in their portfolios for the latest available issues due on the market later this afternoon. The long bond has slid further in reaction to the advice of a
Bond Market Association
committee that its issue be continued. Yields are up by about 3 basis points at the short end and by a point for the bond.
The
Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee
, comprising investors, had suggested last week that the 30-year bond be removed after its August sale due to continued federal budget surpluses. However, the
Primary Dealer Committee
of the BMA, composed of dealers that trade directly with the
Federal Reserve in the Treasury market, advised against it yesterday to lessen the cost of buying back older debt. It also said that the 30-year remained the most suitable security for long-term oriented bond investors.
The benchmark 10-year
Treasury note lately was down 8/32 to 104 2/32, yielding 5.203%.
In economic news, the
BTM-UBSW Weekly Chain Store Sales Index
(
definition |
chart ) was down 0.1% for the week ending Feb. 3 after having advanced 0.6% in the previous week. The slight fall was due to a decrease in consumer spending with no retailer exceeding the weekly sales target. The yearly moving average rose 3.7% from its reading 12 months earlier, although it was down from 3.9% recorded in the end of January. Analysts believe that consumer spending will fall no further, and will derive strength from the cash available through mortgage refinancing, lower tax rates and Fed easing.
The
Redbook Retail Average
(
definition |
chart ) for the fifth week of January was up 2.2% from its value in the closing week of December. Sales for the month rose 3.2% from the same period a year ago and have been targeted for a 3.1% gain in February. Fast moving merchandise due to heavy promotion and heavy discounts have kept the numbers healthy.
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