Tuesday, August 3, 1999
Markets
For the second straight day, stocks rallied early. And for the second straight day, they defended those early gains from profit-takers like
Chuck Person
on
Michael Jordan
-- which is to say, very poorly indeed.
Technology and Internet shares got slammed. The
Nasdaq Composite Index
dumped 35.60 to 2588.03, and
TheStreet.com Internet Sector
index lost 20.96 to 519.07.
Blue-chips were mixed at best. The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
was the only proxy to close in the black, gaining 31.35 to 10,677.31, while the
S&P 500
shed 5.87 to 1322.18. Meanwhile, the decidedly negative market breadth took its toll on the
Russell 2000
. The small-cap index fell 6.35 to 436.28.
The 30 year Treasury bond lost 18/32 to 87 21/32, its yield fattening to 6.164%.
The big European indices all finished solidly lower, paced by London's
FTSE
, which lost about 1.2%.
Asian markets moved higher overnight, as Hong Kong's
Hang Seng
tacked on 38.41 to 13,438.99 and Tokyo's
Nikkei
climbed 144.23 to 17,969.93.
More markets news and commentary are available in
TSC's
Markets section.
Companies
Global Crossing
(GBLX)
posted a second-quarter loss of a penny a share, in line with the one-analyst estimate and considerably narrower than the year-ago 58-cent loss.
Healthsouth
(HRC) - Get Report
posted second-quarter earnings of 27 cents a share, in line with the 11-analyst estimate but down from the year-ago 28 cents.
Jones Apparel
(JNY)
set plans to close several
Nine West
shoemaking facilities, affecting more than 1,900 workers at those plants.
Waste Management
(WMI)
reported second-quarter earnings of 58 cents a share, matching the twice-lowered 13-analyst consensus and up from the previous year's 41 cents.
More news on companies and stocks is available in
TSC's
Stock News section.
Tech
Highflying isn't the word to describe today's four Internet offerings.
1-800-Flowers.com
(FLWS:Nasdaq) lost 2 7/8, or 13.7%, to 18 3/16 after being priced above-range last night at $21 a share by lead underwriter
Goldman Sachs
;
Quotesmith.com
(QUOT:Nasdaq) sank 1 3/8, or 12.5%, to 9 5/8 after
Hambrecht & Quist
yesterday priced it top-range at $11 a share;
Splitrock Services
(SPLT:Nasdaq) backed up 1, or 10%, to 9, having been priced at $10 a share last night by
Bear Stearns
; and
BigStar Entertainment
(BGST:Nasdaq) -- which has no relation to
Alex Chilton
-- fell 1 7/8, or 18.75%, to 8 1/8 after it was priced last night at $10 a share by
Prudential Securities
.
National Semiconductor
(NSM)
set plans to sell its
Cyrix
PC processor business to Taiwan's
VIA Technologies
for $167 million. National Semi bought the Cyrix business for $500 million two years ago.
Excite@Home
(ATHM) - Get Report
President George Bell said there was "no truth" to a report in
Business Week Online
that
Yahoo!
(YHOO)
has been in talks over the last six weeks to buy it at a premium to its current market value of about $17 billion. The article had cited sources close to both companies.
More tech news and commentary are available in
TSC's
Tech Stocks section.
General News
At least 226 bodies have been removed from the site where two trains collided head-on in India yesterday, according to a report by the
Associated Press
. The report also said that authorities thought that more than 200 other bodies remained within the wreck.
International
British American Tobacco
(BTI) - Get Report
set plans to buy the 58% it doesn't already own of Canada's
Imasco
, whose
Imperial Tobacco
unit controls 69% of the Canadian cigarette market. B.A.T said it will immediately sell Imasco's
CT Financial Services
unit, which is Canada's largest trust company, to
Toronto-Dominion Bank
(TD) - Get Report
for about $5.3 billion in cash. B.A.T said it also plans to sell Imasco's property development and retail businesses.
Ford
(F) - Get Report
unit
Ford Credit Japan
is buying
Mazda's
auto loan unit,
Mazda Credit
, for about 8 billion yen ($69.4 million). Ford owns about 33% of Mazda.
More international news and commentary are available in
TSC's
International section.
Elsewhere
The New York state troopers have posted 14 photos of looters and vandals from last week's
Woodstock 99
debacle on the official state police
Web site, exhorting visitors to email any information they might have on the identities of the featured perps. Whether you're playing along at home, or just another prurient Web surfer, you'll want to check out the gallery, which culminates with a photo of a particularly feckless youth carrying a battered husk of a payphone.
