Thursday, April 15, 1999

The stealth bulls surface as the Nasdaq Comp rallies late, while cyclicals rule the Dow again.

Author:: Thomas Lepri
Publish date:: Apr 15, 1999 4:45 PM EDT

Markets

If there was a

stealth bull trend beneath the recent technology selloff, it just showed up on radar. After suffering sharp losses amid respectable volume for the better part of two days, the

Nasdaq Composite Index

rallied late to finish in the black. Cyclicals kept the

Dow Jones Industrial Average's

tenor positive. But the Net sector never got it going.

The Nasdaq added 14.75 to 2522.03; the Dow gained 51.06 to a record 10,462.72; the

S&P 500

lost 5.52 to 1322.92; the small-cap

Russell 2000

hopped 0.38 to 417.77; and

TheStreet.com Internet Sector

index shed 15.45 to close at 678.72.

Major European indices finished lower, while Asian markets were mixed overnight. Hong Kong's

Hang Seng

gained 128.10 to 11,962.23, while Japan's

Nikkei

lost 37.60 to 16,727.08.

For more markets action and news, click

here.

Companies

Genentech

(GNE) - Get Report

will pay a $50 million fine to settle

Justice Department

charges that the biotechnology firm illegally marketed the synthetic hormone

Protopin

between 1985 and 1994 for uses not approved by the

FDA

General Dynamics

(GD) - Get Report

last night withdrew its $1.4 billion bid for

Newport News Shipbuilding

(NNS)

after the

Defense Department

rejected the takeover.

First-quarter numbers for the Big Two are in:

Ford Motor

(F) - Get Report

earned $1.46 a share, 7 cents a share above expectations;

General Motors

(GM) - Get Report

made $3.04 a share, well above the $2.86-a-share

First Call

estimate.

Mattel

(MAT) - Get Report

said it will cut 3,000 jobs and close some of its plants after it reported a first-quarter loss of 7 cents a share, a penny better than analysts expected. The company also set plans to invest $50 million in an Internet venture, a portion of which the company said may be offered to the public.

Shares of

Pfizer

(PFE) - Get Report

are reeling after the company reported first-quarter

Viagra

sales of $193 million, down from $236 million the previous quarter. Overall, Pfizer earned 62 cents a share, meeting the First Call estimate. Its shares closed down 14 5/8 to 130.

For more news on companies and stocks, click

here.

Tech

Advanced Micro Devices

reported a first-quarter loss of 88 cents a share, results that Chairman

W.J. "Jerry" Sanders

called "horrific" despite beating the First Call consensus of a loss of 92 cents a share.

TheStreet.com

reported on the AMD conference call last night.

Driven by strong

iMac

sales,

Apple

(AAPL) - Get Report

last night posted second-quarter earnings of 60 cents a share, 3 cents above the 18-analyst First Call estimate.

For more tech news and commentary, click

here.

General News

The

Labor Department

released figures showing initial jobless claims at a three-month high of 316,000 for the week ended April 10, up 14,000 from the previous week.

NATO

continues to bomb Serbian targets today. Meanwhile, the alliance acknowledged that a NATO aircraft mistakenly bombed a civilian vehicle in a convoy in Kosovo, adding that Serbian vehicles may have been in or surrounding the convoy.

Pakistan has let fly another nuclear-capable missile, its second test in two days. Today's fare was a

Shaheen 1

, a surface-to-surface missile with a range of 450 miles, considerably less than the 1,200-mile reach of the

Ghauri II

tested yesterday by Pakistan.

International

After posting flat first-quarter profit,

Deutsche Telekom

(DT) - Get Report

set plans to sell as much as $12.7 billion worth of stock to fund international acquisitions.

The U.K.'s

Imperial Chemical Industries

(ICI)

is selling four chemicals units to closely held U.S. chemical company

Huntsman

. The deal will nearly double Huntsman's size.

Rebranding at work: Japan's

Ministry of Finance

will be renamed the

Treasury Ministry

as part of that country's revamping of its ministries and agencies in 2001.

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa

has yet to respond to

TSC

reporter

Dave Gaffen's

suggestion that he change his name to

Robert Rubin

For more international news and commentary, click

here.

In the Papers

The Chicago Tribune's

Greg Burns

dissects the turmoil on the floor of the

Chicago Board of Trade

caused by the rumor that new

Chairman David Brennan

is looking to oust

CBOT President Thomas Donovan

Boeing

(BA) - Get Report

today reported first-quarter earnings of 50 cents a share, 7 cents above the First Call estimate. Today's

Seattle Times

takes a look at the thickening profit margins behind the aerospace giant's strong numbers.

Korea Development Bank

prices its $1 billion debt issue,

The South China Morning Post

looks forward to

China Development Bank's

planned $500 million global bond offering, the largest mainland debt issue since the

Ministry of Finance's

$1 billion sale last December.

Elsewhere

Some late spring training for

Darryl Strawberry

turned sour last night when the

New York Yankees

outfielder was arrested in Tampa Bay on charges of possessing 0.3 grams of cocaine and soliciting an undercover officer for sex for a princely $50.

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