Big Cap & IPO Movers

[JimmyTL]

[mick]

hi cosmokidd , was surfing and i see some of your work. very nice.

[cosmokidd]

U.S. stocks rally in final half-hour of trading
Wednesday October 6, 3:40 pm ET
By Mark Cotton


NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- U.S. stocks gained ground in the final half-hour of trading Wednesday as investor appetite for attractively valued shares helped the market overcome a spate of profit warnings and a new high for oil after weaker-than-expected supply data.
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The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI - News) was sitting close to its high for the session, up 43 points, at 10,220, breaking out of a narrow 37-point trading range it has been mired in for most of the session.

Among the gainers on the Dow, Alcoa (NYSE:AA - News) gained 1.7 percent on a favorable Commerce Department ruling over aluminum dumping on the U.S. market.

Boeing (NYSE:BA - News) gained 0.8 percent after the U.S. government filed a complaint to the World Trade Organization over European Union subsidies to rival aircraft maker Airbus.

Merck was a notable decliner on the benchmark index, slumping 4.7 percent, after a media report quoted a Food and Drug Administration study showing its recently withdrawn Vioxx drug may have behind several thousand heart attacks.

The Nasdaq Composite Index (NasdaqSC:^IXIC - News) rose 10 points to 1,965, setting itself up for a seven session of gains in a row.

The S&P 500 index (CBOE:^SPX - News) was up 5.11 points, at 1,139, while the Russell 2000 index (CBOE:^RUT - News) of small-cap stocks gained 0.6 percent.

"The market is holding up remarkably well," said Mark Bryant, senior vice-president at Brean Murray. "There is a lot of fresh money which has come in with the beginning of the fourth quarter. People have had funds sitting on the sideline and they need to put those funds to use."

"Historically the market does better between October and April."

Crude tops $52 a barrel
Crude-oil futures climbed to new heights to $52 a barrel after two key reports said U.S. supplies rose less than expected and distillate inventories fell.

Crude for November delivery was last up 81 cents at $51.90 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after briefly spiking at $52.02 intraday.

On the foreign exchange markets, the dollar posted modest gains against its major counterparts.

Gold futures ended modestly higher, driven by uncertainty surrounding the next moves for oil and the dollar, and before Friday's key employment data.

Treasury prices fell for a second straight session amid concerns Friday's job data may show a pick-up in the economy in September.

The benchmark 10-year note was down 09/32 at 100 13/32. Its yield, which moves in the opposite direction of price, was at 4.21 percent from 4.18 percent at Tuesday's finish.

Turning back to the broader market for equities, advancers outpaced decliners by an 18 to 13 score on the New York Stock Exchange, while gainers had a 15 to 14 edge over decliners on the Nasdaq.

Volume was 1.02 billion on the Big Board, and 1.46 billion on the Nasdaq.

Stocks in focus
Dow component Alcoa (NYSE:AA - News) gained in afternoon trading after the U.S. Commerce Department ruled that South Africa's Hulett Aluminum dumped certain types of aluminum in the U.S. at below-market prices.

Elsewhere on the benchmark index, Boeing advanced after the United States filed a World Trade Organization complaint Wednesday, seeking to end European subsidies to Airbus, Boeing's top rival in making airplanes.

The European Union fired back, claiming Boeing also received billions of dollars in indirect subsidies.

Earlier, Wall Street digested a slew of profit warnings in morning trading.

Nasdaq market maker Knight (NasdaqNM:NITE - News) warned of a loss in the September quarter, where analysts were expecting a profit, weighed on financials.

Knight cited "persistent lackluster market conditions" for operating losses in its equity markets and asset management businesses. Knight shares were last down 1.2 percent. Read market focus

Investors also have another earnings warning to digest from auto parts maker Delphi Corp (NYSE:DPH - News) .

The company, which was spun off from General Motors in 1999, said it expects to report a net loss between $113 million to $120 million, wider than its previous loss targets of $10 million to $40 million. The stock plummeted 5.3 percent.

Credence Systems (NasdaqNM:CMOS - News) meanwhile said it now expects to report a fourth quarter loss of between 17 cents a share and 21 cents a share, compared with a prior forecast of a profit of 5 cents a share and 10 cents a share. The chip equipment maker's stock tumbled 5.7 percent in afternoon trading.

Shares of Chiron Corp (NasdaqNM:CHIR - News) fell 2.1 percent , extending a 16 percent decline in the prior session sparked by news it would not be able to release any of its Fluvirin flu vaccine this year.

Analysts rushed to cut their earnings estimates on Chiron, although UBS analyst David Molowa upgraded the company to "neutral," due to a more attractive valuation after the sell-off in its shares.

Overnight, Henry Schein Inc. (NasdaqNM:HSIC - News) , the primary distributor of Chiron's Fluvirin flu vaccine, cut its 2004 earnings forecast late Tuesday. The stock erased opening losses to trade up 2.9 percent in afternoon trading.

Elsewhere in the pharmaceutical sector, Merck (NYSE:MRK - News) was under pressure on concern it may face lawsuits over its Vioxx arthritis drug, which it pulled off the market last Thursday on evidence its use could lead to heart problems.

A report in the Wall Street Journal said that the Food and Drug Administration concluded in a study released to a U.S. Senator that more than 27,000 heart attacks may have been prevented if patients had used Pfizer's ( PFE : news , chart , profile ) Celebrex instead of Merck's drugs.

Shares of Pfizer briefly spiked higher in early trading, but were last off 1 percent at $30.95.

Computer Associates hits acquisition trail
In other news, Computer Associates (NYSE:CA - News) is to acquire Netegrity Inc (NasdaqNM:NETE - News) for $10.75 per share in a deal valued at $430 million.

The purchase price represents a 39 percent premium over Netegrity's $7.75 closing price on Tuesday. Shares of Computer Associates were last up 1.9 percent at $27.92 while Netegrity shares soared more than 35 percent in afternoon trading.

[cosmokidd]

market summary: Close Dow -58.70 at 9988.54, S&P -6.59 at 1103.52, Nasdaq -19.60 at 1859.88: It was a choppy session for the stock market that ultimately ended at its worst levels - speaking volumes about the issues weighing it down... Crude oil and analyst commentary all worked in the favor of the bears, and the equity market finally caved in under such profits' concerns... Crude oil climbed 2% for the day - ending at 49.64/bbl - as traders worried about the supply implications of four hurricanes off the Florida coast and incidences of civil unrest in Nigeria... As a result, the energy group was one of the few groups to find buying interest in today's session...
Homebuilding/mortgage was the other exception as (1) interest rates fell in conjunction with the bond market's rally (2) August New Home Sales rose to 1.184 mln (consensus of 1.155 mln), and (3) Fannie Mae (FNM 66.50 +0.99) found bargain-hunting interest following its sell-off last week on federal regulators' accounting findings... Conversely, brokerage, biotech, airline, insurance, retail, and technology all led the market lower...

The latter was particularly impacted by a Morgan Stanley downgrade of semiconductor to In-Line from Attractive and a Prudential downgrade of communication equipment to Neutral from Favorable...SOX -1.5, NYSE Adv/Dec 1183/2115, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 866/2216

[cosmokidd]

U.S. stocks end at session lows; crude pushes $50
Monday September 27, 4:28 pm ET
By Susan Lerner


NEW YORK (CBS.MW) - Stocks tumbled Monday as crude futures soared to all-time highs and bearish broker calls on semiconductors and communications equipment stocks put added pressure on the technology sector.
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Crude-oil futures closed above $49 a barrel, marking fresh uncharted territory in New York as production shutdowns from hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and unrest in Nigeria exacerbated concerns about tight supplies.

November crude moved as high as $49.75 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, topping the record intraday level of $49.40 seen on Aug. 20 before closing up 76 cents at $49.64 -- the first close above $49 in the 21-year history of crude futures trading on the exchange. See Futures Movers.

"We seem to be recoupled to oil again today," said Stephen Sachs, head of Trading at Rydex Investments. "If oil hangs around $49 or $50 for very long I think it could get ugly pretty quickly."

The major indexes closed at session lows, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI - News) finishing below the 10,000 mark for the first time since Aug. 17. The blue chip gauge slumped 58.70 points, or 0.6 percent, to close at 9,988.54.

The Nasdaq Composite Index (NasdaqSC:^IXIC - News) ended the day down 19.60 points, or 1 percent, at 1,859.88 while the S&P 500 (CBOE:^SPX - News) dropped 6.59 points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,103.52.

Decliners outnumbered advancers by a 21-to-12 margin on the New York Stock Exchange and by 11-to-4 on the Nasdaq. Big Board volume was about 1.26 billion shares, while some 1.31 billion shares traded on the Nasdaq.

All but four Dow stocks finished in the red led by a 1.6 percent slide in JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM - News) . The bank's JPMorgan Fleming Asset & Wealth Management said it will buy a majority stake in hedge fund manager Highbridge Capital Management. Read more.

Other big blue chip decliners included American Express (NYSE:AXP - News) , Citigroup (NYSE:C - News) , Boeing (NYSE:BA - News) , Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - News) , 3M (NYSE:MMM - News) and Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS - News) - all down more than 1 percent on the day.

Alcoa (NYSE:AA - News) , ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM - News) , McDonald's (NYSE:MCD - News) and Merck (NYSE:MRK - News) were the only Dow advancers.

Besides the concerns over crude, said Michael Metz, chief investment strategist at Oppenheimer & Co., markets are facing "a lot of random noise" as the third quarter winds down this week.

"A lot of portfolio managers are biting the bullet and selling their losers, and I think they're preferring to go into cash rather than committing themselves elsewhere," he said.

With the oil situation still "unnerving" and markets remaining "accident-prone" as far as earnings are concerned, Metz said there was no reason right now to get aggressive on the buy side.

Phil Dow, director of equity strategy at RBC Dain Rauscher, concurred.

"My guess is that the week is going to be one where you don't expect a whole lot and probably don't get a whole lot. I think the key here is holding on for the next major catalyst," said Dow, who expects the market will do better later this year and into 2005.

A number of calls from the brokers also influenced Monday's trading.

Dow stock Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE:WMT - News) , which had risen after being upgraded to "buy" from "neutral" at Banc of America in a valuation call, gave up its gains and closed down 0.6 percent. See The Ratings Game.

Fellow blue chip Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO - News) fell 0.9 percent. Credit Suisse First Boston cut its 2005 earnings outlook for the soft-drink giant but Alcoa rose 0.4 percent after Smith Barney raised its estimates for the miners and said aluminum fundamentals were turning positive.

Morgan Stanley, meanwhile, lowered its rating on the semiconductor sector to "in line" from "attractive," due to expectations for a sharp deceleration in revenue growth in the industry and for a significant number of third-quarter earnings warnings from chip companies.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (Philadelphia:^SOXX - News) fell 1.5 percent, while Dow component Intel (NasdaqNM:INTC - News) lost 0.9 percent.

Elsewhere in the tech sector, Prudential went "neutral" on the communications-equipment sector and sliced Nortel Networks (NYSE:NT - News) , saying its business momentum appears to have stalled in 2004. Nortel's shares lost 4.4 percent.

The broker also said its own checks regarding business at Lucent Technologies (NYSE:LU - News) "suggest that the company is tracking toward revenues of slightly over $2.2 billion for fiscal fourth quarter," as opposed to the average analyst forecast as polled Thomson First Call of just less than $2.3 billion. Lucent's shares dropped 2.2 percent. See Silicon Stocks.

And J.P. Morgan realigned its ratings on a number of smaller names in the airline sector, upgrading ExpressJet (NYSE:XJT - News) , Pinnacle Airlines (NasdaqNM:PNCL - News) and SkyWest (NasdaqNM:SKYW - News) but downgrading AirTran (NYSE:AAI - News) , Frontier (NasdaqNM:FRNT - News) and JetBlue (NasdaqNM:JBLU - News) . The Amex Airlines Index stumbled 4 percent. See Market Focus.

In other news, Tommy Hilfiger (NYSE:TOM - News) skidded 22 percent to $10.30 after the company disclosed that a grand jury was looking into the buying-office commissions the retailer pays to a non-U.S. subsidiary. See Screamers.

U.S. Treasurys retained their early, oil-related gains. The benchmark 10-year note closed 8/32 higher at 102 to yield (CBOE:^TNX - News) 4, after ticking below the 4 percent mark earlier.

December gold futures prices closed up $1 at $410.70 an ounce on the Nymex. See Metals Stocks.

The U.S. dollar was down 0.1 percent against the euro at $1.2290 but moved up 0.5 percent against the Japanese yen at 111.30 yen. See Currencies.

[cosmokidd]

market summary: The rally continues into the final half hour of trading...volume is lackluster again despite the Fed announcement...breadth is very impressive as advancing issues lead declining issues by more than two-to-one...bonds are now up and the 10-year is +6/32 to yield 4.03% as the yield curve continues to flatten...bonds have rallied sharply since the Fed started raising short-term rates...NYSE Adv/Dec 2310 /961, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1995/1048

[cosmokidd]

U.S. stocks rally on Fed comments
Tuesday September 21, 3:06 pm ET
By Susan Lerner


NEW YORK (CBS.MW) - Stocks rallied Tuesday afternoon as investors applauded comments from the Federal Reserve that the economy appears to have "regained some traction."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI - News) was last up 56 points, or 0.6 percent, to 10,261, while the Nasdaq Composite Index (NasdaqSC:^IXIC - News) added 16 points, or 0.9 percent, to 1,924 and the S&P 500 (CBOE:^SPX - News) rose 9 points, or 0.8 percent to 1,131.

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"This is a positive for the market. The Fed is saying that the economy is going to strengthen and that inflation is low, which indicates stronger growth ahead," said Peter Cardillo, chief market analyst at S.W. Bach.

In its third hike this year, the Federal Open Market Committee raised the fed funds rate to 1.75 percent from 1.50 percent while the statement that accompanied the announcement repeated that rate hikes can proceed at a measured pace.

Others didn't get all they had hoped for from the Fed comments, however.

"I was a little disappointed that they did not change their orientation -- they have this perpetual belief that the economy will recover sharply once energy prices fall" said Ned Riley, chief investment strategist at State St. Global Advisors. "I believe this economy is slowing more on a natural basis than an extraneous effect basis."

Treasury prices were trading modestly lower in the wake of the Federal announcement. The benchmark 10-year note fell 7/32 to 101 9/32 to yield 4.09 percent, up from 4.06 percent at Monday's close.

The dollar extended its modest gain against the Japanese yen and pared briefly its decline against the euro in the wake of the news. The dollar was quoted at 110.05 yen vs. 109.94 yen just before the announcement; up about 0.2 percent from Monday's U.S. trading. The euro fell to $1.2249 vs. $1.2277, but has since returned to its pre-Fed level. The dollar remained down 0.8 percent against Europe's shared currency compared to Monday. See Currencies.

The spotlight on the Fed announcement overshadowed a series of warnings in the technology sector and better-than-expected earnings from Lehman Bros. and Goldman Sachs.

"When you look at the trade-off between the pre-announcements and the Fed, I think right now the Fed's influence is obviously superceding any of the individual company fundamentals," Riley said.

ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM - News) and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM - News) were the best blue-chip performers, up 2 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - News) led the Dow's decliners, tallying a 2.1 percent loss as the Justice Department kicked off opening arguments in its civil racketeering case against cigarette makers. See related story.

Also within the Dow, American International Group (NYSE:AIG - News) shed 1.1 percent after it said the Securities and Exchange Commission is considering civil enforcement action against the insurer and its AIG Financial Products unit over alleged securities violations in 2001.

In broader market, advancers led decliners by 21 to 11 on the New York Stock Exchange and by 18 to 11 on the Nasdaq. Big Board volume was about 780 million shares, while some 940 million shares traded on the Nasdaq.

Lehman and Goldman kicked off earnings season for the brokers with better-than-expected profit reports.

Lehman reported fiscal third-quarter earnings of $1.71 a share, topping the average analyst estimate as compiled by Thomson First Call of $1.55, while revenue rose to $2.62 billion, also better than analysts' forecasts of $2.54 billion.

Goldman posted earnings $1.74 a share on revenue of $4.5 billion, well ahead of the average forecasts of analysts calling for earnings of $1.42 a share and revenue of $4.12 billion. Read more.

Lehman shares lifted 4.3 percent, while Goldman rose 2.7 percent.

The Amex Securities Broker/Dealer Index (AMEX:^XBD - News) climbed 2 percent.

The good news from the brokers came in the face of a raft of negative news from the technology sector, however.

PalmOne (NasdaqNM:PLMO - News) outpaced fiscal first-quarter expectations but provided a disappointing outlook for the second quarter, and a handful of tech companies -- Integrated Silicon Solution (NasdaqNM:ISSI - News) , Silicon Storage Technology (NasdaqNM:SSTI - News) , Power Integrations (NasdaqNM:POWI - News) , Teradyne (NYSE:TER - News) and RF Micro Devices (NasdaqNM:RFMD - News) -- all warned about their upcoming results.

Red Hat (NasdaqNM:RHAT - News) , meanwhile, topped earnings expectations for its fiscal second-quarter, but revenues fell short. The stock, downgraded to "neutral" at UBS, tumbled 14 percent. See story.

Adobe Systems (NasdaqNM:ADBE - News) , however, outpaced its previously raised third-quarter financial targets due to strong demand. The graphics software company's shares added 4 percent.

In the latest economic news, the Commerce Department said August housing starts rose 0.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted 2 million annual pace, better than economists' expectations for a decline to 1.92 million. Building permits declined, however. See Economic Report.

In the commodities market, gold futures closed at their highest level in three weeks ahead of the FOMC's rate decision. Gold for December delivery traded as high as $412 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its highest level since Sept. 1 before closing up $3.10 at $410.10 an ounce. See Metals Stocks.

Crude futures held on to their gains after the decision as traders bet on a big drop in U.S. inventories to be reported Wednesday. October crude traded at $47.08 a barrel on the Nymex, up 73 cents. See Futures Movers.

[cosmokidd]

market summary [BRIEFING.COM] Contrary to the evening and early-morning experience for residents of the Gulf Coast who stared down Hurricane Ivan, it was a relatively calm session for Wall Street on Thursday... That point notwithstanding, there were some developments on the corporate and economic front that didn't go unnoticed... In particular, Nortel Networks (NT 3.50, -0.30) indicated that it expects Q3 (Sep) revenues to come in below Q2 levels and acknowledged that its outlook for mid-single digit revenue growth in FY04 would be less than the rate of growth for the overall communications equipment market... That news resulted in a sizable hit to its stock, but it didn't derail the tech sector, which reclaimed a small portion of Wednesday's losses, boosted by reassuring guidance from Western Digital (WDC 8.65, +0.30) and modest gains in a number of big-cap tech issuess... The sector's resilience, and the resilience of the broader market for that matter, was aided by the drop in long-term rates (to 4.06% from 4.17%) that followed in the wake of a pleasing CPI report and a weaker than expected Philadelphia Fed Index... The former came out before the open, and with gains of just 0.1% in total and core-CPI for August, offered participants a reminder that inflation is under control and that the FOMC can proceed at a measured pace in returning the fed funds rate to a more neutral level... A similar conclusion on the pace of tightening was reached after the Philadelphia Fed Index for September registered a 13.4 reading that was below the consensus estimate of 25.0... While any number above zero reflects growth, the report triggered misgivings about the pace of growth as it was down noticeably from the prior month's reading of 28.5... Accordingly, the stock market's enthusiasm was held in check and buying efforts tapered off following the regional manufacturing report... A rebound in crude prices (+$0.30 at $43.88) in the afternoon session also detracted from buying interest... The major indices, though, still ended the day in positive territory, supported by pockets of leadership in the technology, homebuilding, building materials, REIT, transport, and utility groups... From a market-cap standpoint the small-cap components attracted the majority of today's buying interest as evidenced by the outperformance of the Russell 2000 (+1.1%)... Volume was light at both the NYSE (1.11 bln) and the Nasdaq (1.32 bln) as the observance of Rosh Hashanah acted as a suppressing factor... Tomorrow volume should pick up with the quarterly expiration of stock options, index options, index futures, and individual stock futures... ..NYSE Adv/Dec 2455/840. ..NASDAQ Adv/Dec 1954/1076.

[cosmokidd]

market action

[cosmokidd]

market summary Close: It was another slow day, but yet another up day for the stock market...stocks opened mixed, and traded near unchanged all day, but ended with modest gains...there were few big sector moves, and only a few major stock moves...oil prices were up 52 cents ahead of OPEC meeting tomorrow, which hampered stocks a bit...August retail sales data was much as expected, with a dip in auto sales producing an overall 0.3% decline...excluding autos, sales were up a modest 0.2%, in line with soft, but decent, consumer spending trends...
a number of earnings warnings hit individual stocks such as Office Depot (ODP 15.12 -1.08) and A.O. Smith (AOS 23.40 -2.10) but didn't impact the broader market...on the plus side, McDonald's (MCD 27.63 +0.46) raised their dividend 38%...volume was very light again and volatility low...now, it is on to Oracle's earnings report due after the close...NYSE Adv/Dec 1609/1698, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1421/1626

[cosmokidd]

U.S. stocks gain ground in final half-hour of trading
Tuesday September 14, 3:29 pm ET
By Mark Cotton


NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- U.S. stocks moved higher heading in the final half-hour of trading Tuesday as a dividend hike by McDonald's tempered some of the concern over rising crude prices, weaker-than-expected August retail sales and the outlook for corporate earnings.
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The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI - News) was last up 10 points at 10,324 after briefly surging to 10,340.13 after McDonald's announced its dividend increase.

Within the Dow, the fast food giant (NYSE:MCD - News) remained the biggest percentage gainer, up 1.9 percent after it raised its annual dividend by 15 cents, or 38 percent, to 55 cents a share. Prior to the announcement, the stock was down as much as 0.5 percent.

Elsewhere on the benchmark index, DuPont (NYSE:DD - News) was off 0.6 percent as the company's share price showed little reaction after it reaffirmed its 2004 earnings outlook.

Pfizer shares (NYSE:PFE - News) posted a modest gain of 0.7 percent after a panel of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said that while antidepressant drugs may trigger suicidal behavior in a small percentage of children, they can also be effective in treating pediatric depression. Pfizer makes Zoloft, one of the leading treatments for depression.

The Nasdaq Composite Index (NasdaqSC:^IXIC - News) was up 3.37 points at 1,913.75, off an intraday high of 1,917.74. In the prior session, the tech-rich index closed above 1,900 for the first time since July 20.

The S&P 500 (CBOE:^SPX - News) was 2.77 points higher at 1,128.59, while the Russell 2000 index (CBOE:^RUT - News) of small-cap stocks was off 0.5 percent.

Market strategists said concern over corporate outlooks and rising oil prices was weighing on sentiment.

"We are in the pre-announcement confession season and it's been a little rougher than what we've seen in the past quarters, and it's enough to cause a pause in the market at these levels," said Peter Boockvar, equity strategist at Miller Tabak.

Office Depot, Kroger and LCI Logic were the latest companies to issue downbeat outlooks on future earnings and revenues.

Boockvar said a fresh rise in oil prices on supply concerns was another factor keeping the market in check.

Crude-oil futures continued to surge on concern over the threat to U.S. oil production facilities posed by Hurricane Ivan as it nears the Gulf of Mexico, with reports of sabotage on Iraqi export pipelines further lifting prices.

Turning back to the broader market for equities, decliners outpaced advancers by a 17-to-15 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, and by a 16-to-13 score on the Nasdaq.

Volume was 975 million shares on the Big Board and 1.24 billion shares on the Nasdaq.

By sector, drug stocks (AMEX:^DRG - News) , Internet companies (CBOE:^GIN - News) and energy groups (CBOE:^OIX - News) were all moving higher.

Brokerages (AMEX:^XBD - News) , semiconductors (Philadelphia:^SOXX - News) and biotechnology stocks (AMEX:^BTK - News) traded lower.

In other markets, the dollar eased against other currencies after the government reported a yawning current account deficit.

Gold futures closed near $408 an ounce as the greenback's weakness raised the attractiveness of the precious metal as an investment.

After trading lower for most of the session, bonds reversed course heading into the close higher.

Retail in focus
Retail stocks were in the spotlight after the latest data offered a mixed picture on consumer spending and as investors digested lackluster earnings outlooks from Office Depot and Kroger.

Retail sales in August fell a larger-than-expected 0.3 percent, marking the third decline in the past five months. Economists had been expecting a 0.1 percent drop.

Excluding autos, sales rose 0.2 percent, as expected.

"Retail sales were a little a bit of a disappointment," said Peter Cardillo, chief market analyst and strategist at S.W. Bach.

At the same time, the figures were not that much of a surprise, Cardillo added. At the beginning of September, a mixed bag of same-store sales figures from retailers had already given the market a foretaste of the government's August data.

Meanwhile, the retail sales index compiled the International Council of Shopping Centers and UBS showed an increase of 0.2 percent in same-store sales for the week ended Sept. 11 compared to the prior week.

ICSC characterized the increase as "moderate," reflecting Labor Day sales, back-to-school shopping and the lingering impact of a sales-tax holiday in New York state.

In other news for the sector, shares of Office Depot (NYSE:ODP - News) slumped as much as 7 percent after the office-supply retailer warned that third-quarter earnings would fall short of expectations due to lower-than-anticipated sales across all three of its business segments. The stock was last down 6.5 percent at $15.15.

Shares of supermarket giant Kroger (NYSE:KR - News) tumbled 4.6 percent after the company posted second-quarter results below analyst expectations, and warned that it would be a challenge to meet its same-store sales growth target of 1.3 percent for the full year.

On a more positive note shares of Pier 1 Imports (NYSE:PIR - News) rose 4.8 percent after the specialty home-furnishings retailer posted second-quarter earnings which topped analyst estimates by a penny.

Federated Department Stores (NYSE:FD - News) meanwhile said late Monday it is planning to change the name of all its regional department stores to the Macy's nameplate. Federated shares were last up 1 percent at $46.03.

Shares of Kmart Holding (NasdaqNM:KMRT - News) jumped $3.44, or 4 percent, to $88.78 after UBS raised its price target on the retailer to $101 from $85.

"We are more comfortable with the cash-flow generation after strong second-quarter results and no longer value the company simply on its assets," analyst Gary Balter told clients.

MGM, and more gloom for the chip sector
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (NYSE:MGM - News) extended a 4 percent gain from the prior session, with the studio's shares last up 14 cents at $11.69 after agreeing to be bought by a consortium led by Sony (NYSE:SNE - News) for $12 a share in cash, plus assumed debt, in a deal valued at about $4.8 billion.

Sony's shares dipped 0.6 percent to $35.59.

In the chip sector, LSI Logic (NYSE:LSI - News) became the latest company to lower its third-quarter outlook, prompting brokerage Wachovia Securities to downgrade the stock.

Over the last two weeks, Intel (NasdaqNM:INTC - News) , Texas Instruments (NYSE:TXN - News) and National Semiconductor (NYSE:NSM - News) all warned of slowing revenues.

Shares of LSI Logic were last down 9.3 percent to $4.76.

Also, Morgan Stanley said it was also lowering its 2005 revenue growth rate for the semiconductor industry as an inventory correction and slower economic growth have reduced near-term demand.

And in another blow for the sector, Bear Stearns reduced its capital-spending forecast for the semiconductor capital-equipment industry.

Broker action
Overnight, Merrill Lynch downgraded its ratings on defense stocks United Defense Industries (NYSE:UDI - News) and Rockwell Collins (NYSE:COL - News) to "neutral" from "buy," citing valuation.

On United Defense, Merrill told clients: "While demand for Bradley armored vehicles, armor track & upgrades could lead to earnings growth, naval ship and repair programs may be pressured in coming years."

Shares of United Defense traded last down 1.7 percent at $39.14, while Rockwell Collins shares trimmed early losses to trade down just 7 cents to $36.15.

Oil, currencies, gold, bonds
Crude-oil futures closed more than 1 percent higher in New York on supply concerns and fading hopes that OPEC would adopt a rise in oil-output quotas when cartel members meet Wednesday in Vienna.

Overnight, Saudi oil minister said his country is not in favor of raising OPEC's official production rate or the $22-to-$28 price band, AFX News reported.

Crude for October delivery ended up 52 cents at $44.39.

On foreign-exchange markets, the dollar edged lower after the Commerce Department reported the U.S. current account deficit widened to a record $166.2 billion in the second quarter from $147.2 billion in the first quarter.

Worries about the U.S.'s inability to draw enough foreign capital to finance its trade imbalance have hounded the dollar for nearly two years.

The euro was up 0.1 percent against the greenback at $1.2265. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar was off 0.6 percent at 109.40.

Gold for December delivery rose $1.50 to $407.50 after climbing as high as $409 an ounce intraday.

"Shorter term, gold as well as the euro are most likely anticipating additional weak economic reports for the rest of the week, which would bring more dollar selling," said Dale Doelling, chief market commentator at Bullion.com in Chicago.

U.S. Treasury prices regained some traction in afternoon trade, after trading lower on August retail sales much of the session.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note ended the day up 2/32 at 100 3/32. Its yield (CBOE:^TNX - News) , which moves in reverse of price, stood at 4.13 percent.

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market summary Close Dow +1.69 at 10314.76, S&P +1.90 at 1125.82, Nasdaq +16.07 at 1910.38: It was a bit of a roller coaster day for the market, but a positive bias held for most of the session and translated into modest gains for the S&P 500... The major indices crescendoed into gains of 0.5-1.3% around 12 ET, but slowly gave back most of those in the mid-afternoon trade... Nonetheless, the market made the most out of news that was not entirely favorable...
US Airways (UAIR 1.02 -0.44) filed for bankruptcy - citing the familiar theme of high fuel costs and intense competition - and Hurricane Ivan made its way towards the Gulf Coast after already killing 60 people in the Caribbean... Finally, Broadcom (BRCM 30.30 +2.60) announced that Q3 (Sept) sales would come up short - the latest in a string of semiconductor warnings... The group, somewhat surprisingly, did not retreat but instead rallied following the conference call - concluding demand was no worse than previously expected... Believing an inflection point may be near, semiconductor soared 2.5% and took with it internet, storage, and disk drive...

Biotech, managed care, and oil service (off a 2.5% jump in crude oil prices, to $43.87/bbl, on worries that Hurricane Ivan would disturb US oil production) also performed well... The only notable laggards of the day were utility, tobacco, and banking...SOX +2.5, NYSE Adv/Dec 2034/1291, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1881/1188

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Nasdaq back above 1,900 as U.S. stocks end higher
Monday September 13, 4:47 pm ET
By Susan Lerner


NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Another surge in technology stocks propelled the Nasdaq past the 1,900 level for the first time in almost two months Monday, while blue chips stalled ahead of key economic data set for release this week.
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The Nasdaq Composite Index (NasdaqSC:^IXIC - News) closed up 16.07 points, or 0.9 percent, to 1,910.38 -- marking its first close above 1,900 since July 20.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI - News) , however, managed a gain of just 1.69 points to 10,314.76, while the S&P 500 (CBOE:^SPX - News) added 1.89 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,125.81.

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ - News) and Intel (NasdaqNM:INTC - News) were the best-performing blue chips, with respective gains of 2.2 percent and 1.3 percent.

H-P won a $290 million five-year contract from the Defense Logistics Agency to provide information technology infrastructure. The agreement includes one-year options for another five years.

Blue chips were pressured by Merck (NYSE:MRK - News) , which ended down 0.7 percent at $45.45, after the U.S. Food & Drug Administration advisory committee rejected an application for Exanta from the company's partner AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN - News) .

Other Dow decliners were American International Group (NYSE:AIG - News) and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM - News) . See Financial Stocks.

Advancers led decliners 20 to 13 on the New York Stock Exchange and 19 to 12 on the Nasdaq. Big Board volume neared 1.3 billion shares, while more than 1.7 billion shares traded on the Nasdaq.

By sector, biotechnology, semiconductors, networkers, Internet, hardware and biotechnology were among the best performers. Utilities, real estate and banks fell.

Technology shares have been on the rebound after a sluggish summer, triggered by an improved outlook from mobile handset maker Nokia (NYSE:NOK - News) and renewed hopes of an Oracle-PeopleSoft deal after a federal court ruling late last week.

Even shares of Broadcom were higher Monday despite a warning, as analysts said the company continued to experience relative strength in several wireless data-networking markets.

Broadcom (NasdaqNM:BRCM - News) said it now expects revenue to be flat to slightly higher than the sequential second quarter's $641 million, vs. prior forecasts of a rise to $673 million to $680 million, as certain customers requested that their orders be delayed due to excess inventory.

The company maintained its gross margin forecast. Its stock rose 9.5 percent.

"With a little bit more optimism out there right now, I think the market can handle some of these setbacks just as long as they don't become overwhelming," said Paul Mendelsohn chief investment strategist at Windham Financial Services.

Other strategists, meanwhile, saw investors beginning to look further to the future.

"We're finally hearing investors point to valuations based on 2005 estimates," Cantor Fitzgerald U.S. market strategist Marc Pado told clients. "That means they've basically written off the results for the remainder of this year and are starting to look past the current inventory problems."

Smith Barney increased its recommended equity allocation to "overweight" and lowered its cash weighting, citing a more constructive view for 2005.

The firm now suggests a portfolio weighting of 60 percent equities (up from 55 percent), 35 percent bonds and 5 percent cash (down from 10 percent), vs. the benchmark weightings of 55 percent equities, 40 percent bonds and 5 percent cash. Read more.

Also, J.P. Morgan Securities strategists raised their S&P 500 target for the end of 2004 to 1,200, from 1,150, as they lifted their S&P 500 operating earnings forecast to $67 a share for 2004 and $70.50 for 2005. The broker cited the positive surprise of second-quarter results and its expectation that margins will not deteriorate in the second half.

"We had originally penciled in the third quarter as the first quarter of disappointment to consensus earnings expectations," strategists said. "We no longer believe earnings will disappoint for the rest of the year."

MKS Instruments (NasdaqNM:MKSI - News) leapt 14 percent. The maker of equipment used by chip equipment companies was the subject of a positive story in Barron's over the weekend. See Screamers.

Lucent Technologies (NYSE:LU - News) rallied 5.2 percent on NYSE-leading volume of 60 million shares, after UBS raised its 2005 earnings and revenue estimates on the belief that the company will win part of a contract from Cingular.

A couple of mergers were also in focus.

British advertising agency WPP Group (NYSE:WPP - News) confirmed it had the backing of Grey Global (NasdaqNM:GREY - News) in a takeover valued at $1,005 per Grey share. Including Grey's $172 million in cash, the deal is valued at $1.52 billion.

Sony (NYSE:SNE - News) and its group of investors, meanwhile, raised their bid for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (NYSE:MGM - News) to $5 billion in an effort to beat Time Warner's (NYSE:TWX - News) offer, according the Wall Street Journal. On Monday, Time Warner withdrew its bid, clearing the way for Sony to buy the film studio Read more.

Elsewhere, US Airways Group (NasdaqNM:UAIR - News) , as expected, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Shares tumbled 31 percent.

Krispy Kreme (NYSE:KKD - News) flirted with four-year lows after the doughnut maker's auditor refused to approve the company's results until an outside law firm completed "additional procedures" related to an unspecified acquisition. The stock closed down 3.5 percent.

Crude futures climbed Monday as Hurricane Ivan threatened the Gulf of Mexico -- home to 25 percent of total U.S. production. October crude closed up $1.06 at $43.87 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. See Futures Movers.

In the commodities market, December gold futures closed up $2.20 at $406 an ounce in New York -- a more than one-week high. See Metals Stocks.

U.S. Treasury prices rose ahead of data due out later in the week. The benchmark 10-year note was up 9/32 at 100 25/32 to yield (CBOE:^TNX - News) 4.15 percent.

The U.S. dollar remained confined to recent ranges. The greenback slipped 0.1 percent against Europe's shared currency, with one euro fetching $1.2254. The buck rose 0.4 percent at 110.05 yen. See Currencies.

Among the data set for release this week are retail sales and current account reports Tuesday and factory reports Wednesday. The consumer price index report is scheduled for release Thursday. See Economic Calendar.

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market summary


Close Dow +23.97 at 10313.07, S&P +5.54 at 1123.92, Nasdaq +24.66 at 1894.31: It was a slow start for the market - that lasted six hours in fact - when a rally swept the indices and translated into a close near session highs... The catalyst for the uptick was - in the absence of other influential news items - the sudden reversal in the price of crude oil... The commodity had begun the day with gains, but then quickly reversed course after hitting a two-week high...
Traders used the strength as an opportunity to take profits, particularly in the presence of Hurricane Ivan (that was approaching the Gulf of Mexico, where 25% of US oil production takes place) and the anniversary of the September 11 attacks on Saturday... This led buyers to place more money in the sectors that had outperformed all day - namely tech... Indeed, the group was the standout name of the session thanks to a ruling against the Department of Justice in the Oracle/PeopleSoft matter... Oracle (ORCL 10.46 +0.53) can now proceed with its proposed $7.7 bln acquisition of PeopleSoft (PSFT 19.89 +1.94), and will likely raise the offer price to sweeten the deal for PeopleSoft shareholders...

As for the blue chips, they managed a positive finish but were held back most of the day by losses in energy (off the aforementioned oil plunge) and basic material...The latter trailed following Alcoa's (AA 30.70 -2.59) reduced Q3 (Sept) guidance on softness in the automotive, packaging, and European end markets... Economically-sensitive issues (like retail and transportation), though, generally outperformed the broader market thanks to bullish economic data... The July Trade Balance shrank to -$50.1 bln (consensus of -$51.5 bln) and the August PPI index dropped 0.1% (consensus of +0.1%) - effectively easing worries about a surge in inflation...SOX +3.4, NYSE Adv/Dec 1992/1286, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1853/1204

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market action

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tasr put in a bearish engulfing candle. volume was the same as yesterday. the cci is overbrought. i suspect that tasr will drifted towards the 50 sma. 9/9/4

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market summary


Close Dow -24.26 at 10289.10, S&P +2.11 at 1118.38, Nasdaq +19.01 at 1869.65: Chances are that if you own stock in the telecom equipment, steel, oil, and semiconductor groups, you would characterize Thursday's trade as being a good day... Otherwise, you may look upon it as being no more than a neutral day since the bulk of the buying interest was concentrated in the aforementioned areas... The factors behind that concentration revolved largely around earnings guidance...
To that end, the telecom equipment group rallied after Nokia (NOK 13.77, +1.06) raised its Q3 outlook; the steel group advanced on the heels of Nucor (NUE 88.43, +6.13) raising its Q3 guidance; the oil stocks surged after crude futures spiked (+$1.84 to $44.61/bbl) following a weekly inventory report from the Dept. of Energy that showed a larger than expected drawdown of oil inventories; and semiconductor stocks soared in the wake of what can be called cautious sounding guidance from the likes of Texas Instruments (TXN 20.77, +1.94) and National Semiconductor (NSM 13.48, +1.48)...

That point notwithstanding, the resilience of the beaten-down semiconductor issues following that guidance precipitated a short-covering rally built on the belief that recent selling attributed to industry slowdown concerns had been overdone... Whatever the case might have been, it was clear, with the SOX Index up 5.4%, that there was great demand for the semiconductor stocks... Their leadership contributed to the Nasdaq's outperformance, which was a constant throughout the session... The broader market, meanwhile, never made much headway as weakness in the transportation, retail, and REIT shares acted as a counterweight to the pockets of leadership noted above...

Some disappointing sales guidance from Chico's FAS (CHS 33.91, -2.85) and Charlotte Russe (CHIC 11.20, -3.43), as well as the spike in oil prices, undercut the retailers as both stoked concerns about the pace of consumer spending... REIT stocks, meanwhile, were on the defensive thanks to Smith Barney Citigroup, which downgraded and/or cut price targets on a host of names on the basis of valuation... As to be expected, the weakness in the transportation stocks was paced by the airlines, which slipped on the move in oil prices and festering concerns about potential bankruptcies among major carriers...

Initial claims for the week ended Sept. 4 fell 44K to 319K (consensus 345K), yet that positive data point was regarded as somewhat aberrant due to the effects of the hurricanes that hit Florida and socked the Atlantic Coast with rain... NYSE Adv/Dec 1976/1306, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1994/1089

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market summary


Close Dow -29.43 at 10,313.36, S&P -5.03 at 1,116.27, Nasdaq -7.92 at 1,850.64: Today, the market gave back a portion of yesterday's gains, with a late sell-off taking the indices to near their lows of the day...the main events were a morning speech by Greenspan in which he said the economy was "gaining traction"...his upbeat comments were partly offset by the release of the Fed's Beige Book in the afternoon, which said that economic conditions were mixed and even softer in some parts of the country...it noted slower consumer spending, but a stronger manufacturing sector...
the result of all this was that the market is still concerned about economic growth, yet quite certain that the Fed will raise rates at the September 21 policy meeting...this wasn't near enough to keep yesterday's rally going...oil prices were of some support, as the October crude futures contract fell another $0.54 to end at $42.77 and continue the recent downtrend...the corporate news was generally bearish...McKesson (MCK 26.98 -4.85), Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE 19.48 -1.11), and Dow Jones (DJ 40.42 -1.38) were a few of the companies issuing earnings warnings...on top of that, Motorola (MOT ) was downgraded by Merrill Lynch...

but the tone was never decidedly bearish and the losses today are reasonable considering the recent gains...volume remained very light...NYSE Adv/Dec 1341/1953, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1164/1914

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psrc yompicator v1.0



www.wealth-lab.com/cgi-bin/WealthLab.DLL/chart?chartname=Chart70&rand=66634

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nasdaq 100 linear reg channel


http://www.wealth-lab.com/cgi-bin/WealthLab.DLL/chart?chartname=Chart42&rand=6887

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nasdaq 100 linear regession channel


http://www.wealth-lab.com/cgi-bin/WealthLab.DLL/testsystem

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psrc heikin-ashi chart

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keep spls on watch for a move around mid october. spls seems to pop around that time.

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market summary Close Dow +80.96 at 10341.16, S&P +7.67 at 1121.30, Nasdaq +14.08 at 1858.56: The market had trouble holding to one true course today, but the end result was still solid gains across the averages... A decline in the price of crude oil and a number of upside earnings announcements set the stage for today's upswing, and kept stocks well bid despite a few afternoon pullbacks on the session's light volume...
Circuit City (CC 13.69 +0.05), Hovnanian Enterprises (HOV 38.48 +3.25), Seagate Technology (STX 12.30 +0.43), and Yellow Roadway (YELL 43.77 +1.38) either turned in strong earnings reports or issued better than expected guidance - the end result having a calming effect on worries about the upcoming earnings season... Trucking, storage, homebuilding, and consumer electronics emerged as some of the strongest groups, and were joined by networking, software, internet, financial (especially brokerage, consumer finance, and life insurance), airline, cyclical, and casino... The only areas, in fact, that were hit by selling were semiconductor and energy...

The latter stumbled off the 2% dip in crude oil to $43.31/bbl (OPEC's President was out earlier today saying that politics were the reason for high oil prices, not supply - which he estimates exceeds demand by 1.5 mln barrels a day), whereas the former slumped off a Lehman Brothers downgrade to Negative from Neutral... The firm said it believes that the semi downturn began in Q3 (Sept) with slow bookings in July/August, which brought to mind Intel's (INTC 19.89 -0.16) Q3 warning last Thursday...SOX -1.1, NYSE Adv/Dec 2392/931, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1918/1185

3:25PM : Indices edge a bit higher in the afternoon's choppy trade... Although the market has come nowhere close to drifting into negative territory, the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 have vacillated in a range of 50, 13, and 6 points, respectively... Volume has simply been light for the day, and left the indices vulnerable to wide swings... Still, a positive bias has prevailed (as demonstrated by the bullish breadth figures) as buyers have been resilient in their efforts...

Crude oil that is still lower for the day, and a number of encouraging earnings pronouncements (CC, HOV, STX, and YELL), have paved the way for the up day...NYSE Adv/Dec 2257/1011, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1757/1320

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SNDA[/B]