Friday, April 16, 1999
Markets
With P/E ratios in the darling tech and Internet sectors as high as they are, you've got to expect that investors will get a little squirrelly around earnings season. Choppy trading split the indices today as money continued to move toward cyclicals and transports. The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
closed at its fifth record high in five days, up 31.17 to 10,493.89; the
Nasdaq Composite Index
fell 39.34 to 2482.43, a drop that masked moderately positive breadth; the
S&P 500
lost 4.09 to 1318.77; the small-cap
Russell 2000
surged 3.81 to 421.58; and
TheStreet.com Internet Sector
index shed 9.70 to 669.02.
Major European indices finished lower, while Asian markets roared overnight. Hong Kong's
Hang Seng
skyrocketed 528.07 to 12,490.30 while Japan's
Nikkei
rose 124.50 to 16,851.58.
For more markets action and news, click
here.
Companies
This could put a damper on the recent cyclical rally:
Caterpillar
(CAT) - Get Report
posted first-quarter earnings of 57 cents a share, 15 cents a share above the
First Call
consensus. But the company also said it expects 1999 sales and revenues to be below 1998 results, and forecast 1999 earnings per share to be 10% to 15% lower than the previous year.
U.S. District Court Judge
Joe Kendall
yesterday levied a devastating fine against the pilots union of
AMR
(AMR)
unit
American Airlines
pilots' union for last month's "sickout." The fine totals more than $45 million, nearly all of the union's net worth. Kendall scheduled a hearing Monday to discuss how the union will make the payments.
Eastman Kodak posted first-quarter earnings of 80 cents a share, 4 cents above the First Call estimate.
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter
today upgraded Kodak to outperform from neutral.
For more news on companies and stocks, click
here.
Tech
Adobe Systems
(ADBE) - Get Report
said its board has approved a stock repurchase plan of up to 5 million shares.
Lycos
(LCOS)
today reassured investors that its third-quarter earnings will meet Wall Street expectations of 3 cents a share, saying that it expects its fiscal 1999 revenues to more than double.
For more tech news and commentary, click
here.
General News
The
Census Bureau
today released figures showing housing starts at 1.77 million units for March, 1.3% lower than February's 1.79 million units.
NATO
continued to pound Yugoslav targets today, attacking sites in Belgrade and military targets in the republic of Montenegro. Meanwhile, the Russian
State Duma
voted 293-54 in favor of a resolution to include Yugoslavia in a union with Russia and Belarus.
International
A possible white knight has emerged for
Telecom Italia
(TI)
in its effort to ward off
Olivetti's
hostile takeover bid.
Deutsche Telekom
(DT) - Get Report
is in advanced-stage merger talks with Telecom Italia, according to London's
Financial Times
. Neither company would confirm the report.
TSC
German correspondent
Marc Young
yesterday
looked at Deutsche Telecom's expansion plans.
U.K. retailer
Kingfisher
is in talks to buy supermarket chain
Asda Group
for about $9.6 billion in stock. The deal would make Kingfisher the third-largest retailer in the U.K.
Two of Australia's top three telecommunications companies are talking merger: Number two
Cable & Wireless Optus
is bidding $960 million for number three telecom
AAPT
.
For more international news and commentary, click
here.
Elsewhere
It's official:
Wayne Gretzky
, the most prolific scorer in
NHL
history, today announced his retirement.
The
Los Angeles Lakers
waived freakazoid forward
Dennis Rodman
today; Rodman, 38, was averaging 2.1 points and 11.2 rebounds a game.
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