Wednesday: Buyers Abound, Networkers Rebound
You name it. They bought it.
Stock prices zoomed ahead in most sectors, pushing the major indexes higher with trading curbs in effect by early afternoon.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average
set a record, climbing 103.52 to 6961.63. The broader
S&P 500
climbed into record territory as well, rising 13.18 to 802.77. The
Nasdaq Composite Index
, apparently healed from the technology massacre of recent days, surged 27.45 to 1358.96. And the
Russell 2000
index, the small-cap measure, jumped 2.65 to 365.40.
Meanwhile the quiescent bond market shrugged off the government's auction of 10-year notes. The yield on the 30-year, benchmark bond held steady at 6.71%. The dollar climbed.
"It's been a lousy bond auction," says Matthew Ruane, vice president of trading for
Gerard Klauer Mattison
in New York. "I expect the 30-year auction (on Thursday) to be lousy, too."
Ruane says with the lack of inflation keeping bond yields low, "which would you rather chase: stocks or bonds?"
Stocks were the answer for many investors Wednesday, when winners more than doubled losers, with 567 million shares changing hands on the
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New York Stock Exchange.
Technology, oil and natural gas, auto makers and financial companies all rose on the benevolent buying tide.
Still, Ruane is skeptical. "I'm not too bullish," he says. At some point, "I expect at least a 10% pullback."
Ruane is staying away from technology. "The price-to-earnings ratios are out of whack," he says.
But as Ruane scoffed, others were buying.
Applied Materials
(AMAT) - Get Applied Materials, Inc. Report
led the group as the most heavily traded Nasdaq stock, gaining 6 7/8 to 52 1/8.
Intel
(INTC) - Get Intel Corporation Report
jumped 4 7/8 to 156 3/4;
Cisco Systems
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rose 4 to 64 5/8;
Ascend Communications
(ASND) - Get Ascendis Pharma A/S Report
surged 3 7/8 to 64 3/8;
3Com
(COMS)
rose 2 3/8 to 40; and
Cascade Communications
(CSCC)
gained 1 3/4 to 35 3/8. A
story Tuesday in
The Street
said the networking sector was near a bottom.
Even Tuesday's dog
Motorola
(MOT)
left the doghouse -- barely. It rose 1/4 to 63 3/4.
IBM
(IBM) - Get International Business Machines Corporation Report
held steady, down 1/4 to 145, in the face of analysts' earnings reductions.
Of the Big Three U.S. auto makers,
General Motors
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got the largest pop, climbing 1 1/8 to 57 7/8;
Ford
(F) - Get Ford Motor Company Report
rose 1/2 to 32 3/4; and
Chrysler
(C) - Get Citigroup Inc. Report
edged up 3/4 to 34 1/2.
In energy, the biggest gainers included:
Barrett Resources
(BRR)
, up 2 7/8 to 35 1/4;
Chesapeake Energy
(CHK) - Get Chesapeake Energy Corporation Report
, up 2 1/4 to 23 1/2; and
Noble Affiliates
(NBL) - Get Noble Energy, Inc. Report
, up 7/8 to 42 1/4. Perhaps they got a lift from the
PaineWebber
energy conference held this week.
Winners:
Converse
(CVE) - Get Cenovus Energy Inc. Report
bounced 4 3/8 to 20 3/4 after
Smith Barney
upgraded the sneaker maker to speculative buy from speculative outperform. And a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge gave the green light for Converse to liquidate subsidiary
Apex One
, mired in Chapter 11. The judge also granted a permanent injunction that bars Apex creditors from suing Converse.
Coleman Co.
(CLN)
climbed 1 5/8 to 13 7/8 after it reported Tuesday that Jerry Levin would replace Michael Hammes as chairman and chief executive. The camping gear maker rose despite announcing it would take a net loss in its fourth quarter because of restructuring charges. Analysts were expecting a loss of 10 cents per share, according to
Baseline
, a financial data firm.
Major financial institutions enjoyed favor.
Wells Fargo
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raced ahead 7 1/8 to 312;
Citicorp
(CCI) - Get Crown Castle International Corp Report
gained 1 3/4 to 119 1/2; and
NationsBank
(NB)
rose 1 7/8 to 115 1/4.
Birman Managed Care
(BMAN)
was prescient in arranging its IPO for such a bullish day. Shares were priced at 5, and finished up 2 1/4 to 7 1/2.
Not many losers:
Home Depot
(HD) - Get Home Depot, Inc. Report
slid 1/4 to 51 3/8 after PaineWebber cut its rating to neutral from attractive, citing slowed growth.
Chyron Corp.
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lost 3/8 to 7 1/8 after reporting 9 cents a share for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with 12 cents a year ago. No analyst estimates were available.
By Suzanne Kapner
skapner@thestreet.com
