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16:43 ET NVLS Novellus reiterates Q1 guidance (29.40 +0.89) -- Update --
Sees Q1 earnings of $0.07 on revs of $234 mln -- -- Multex consensus estimates are $0.07 per share and $234.2 mln respectively. Sees bookings $240 mln, shipments $210 mln both in line with prior guidance.
Calif. Edging Toward Internet Sales Tax
By JIM WASSERMAN, Associated Press Writer
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - With a state budget deficit that could hit $35 billion, California Gov. Gray Davis (news - web sites) is rethinking his long-standing objection to imposing sales taxes on Internet commerce — a reversal that could ignite similar steps around the nation.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030226/ap_on_hi_te/internet_sales_taxes_2
Crude Oil Soars to 12-Year High After U.S. Inventories Decline
By Rajat Bhattacharya
Tokyo, Feb. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose as much as 2.5 percent to its highest price since Iraq occupied Kuwait in 1990, after the U.S. Energy Department said the nation's inventories last week fell to their third-lowest level in at least 19 years.
Prices have jumped as much as 7.2 percent in two days and 81 percent in a year. U.S. supplies are falling as it prepares for a possible attack against Iraq, saying the oil exporter still hasn't rid itself of weapons of mass destruction as it promised to do in the 1991 cease fire that ended the Persian Gulf War. A strike in Venezuela also cut oil supplies.
http://quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi.cgi?ptitle=Top%20Financial%20News&s1=blk&tp=ad_topright_top...
14:09 ET Crude oil hits new high of $37.90
US CRUDE FUTURES HIT NEW 29-MONTH HIGH AT $37.6O AS REFINED
(Reuters 02/26 11:43:38)
PRODUCT STOCKS SLUMP
REUTERS
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U.S. activates 16,000 more troops in Iraq buildup
(Reuters 02/26 10:29:28)
WASHINGTON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. military, preparing
for a possible war with Iraq, said on Wednesday it had
activated more than 16,000 additional Reserve troops, bringing
the total number of reservists on active duty to more than
168,000.
The United States is building a large military force,
including ground troops, warplanes and numerous warships, in
the Gulf region for use in a possible invasion of Iraq.
The Pentagon began calling up part-time Reserve troops
after the Sept. 11 2001 attacks on the United States to help
provide protection at home, but has greatly escalated the
activations in recent weeks to support regular units.
The Defense Department said an addition 16,735 reservists
had been called to active duty in the past week, bringing the
total Reserve and National Guard troops on active duty to
168,083. Many of the mobilized reservists are heading to the
Gulf region.
The weekly Pentagon announcement on Reserve and National
Guard troops on duty included the following totals: Army
National Guard and Army Reserve, 123,448; Air National Guard
and Air Force Reserve, 19,906; Marine Corps Reserve, 14,727;
Naval Reserve, 6,933; and Coast Guard Reserve, 3,069.
The current activation of reserve troops already was the
largest since the 1991 Gulf War. The United States mobilized
about 265,000 reservists during that conflict, with about
110,000 sent to the Gulf region, according to the Pentagon.
((Reporting by Will Dunham, editing by David Storey; Reuters
Messaging: will.dunham.reuters.com@reuters.net;
will.dunham@reuters.com; +1 202 898 8300, fax +1 703 979-7220))
REUTERS
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11:38 ET TXN Texas Instruments: Wachovia reiterates Outperform (15.92 -0.11)
Wachovia reiterates their Outperform rating on TXN based on expectations for flat sequential revs in the March qtr (vs seasonally down for many other semi co's) as well as expectations for a ramp in wireless in the the June qtr/2H03. Separately, we're hearing TXN reiterated guidance at the Goldman Sachs conference today.
UPDATE 3-U.S. oil races to $37 as fuel inventories fall
(Reuters 02/26 09:20:14)
(updates throughout)
By Richard Mably
LONDON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Oil prices spiked on Wednesday
after the U.S. government reported a big dip in national winter
heating fuel stocks just as Washington presses its case for war
against Iraq.
The Department of Energy said stocks of heating oil at U.S.
refineries in the week to February 21 fell 3.9 million barrels
to 36.1 million.
U.S. light crude <CLc1> rose 99 cents to $37.05 a barrel,
just short of a two-year high. London Brent blend gained 63
cents to $32.95 a barrel.
"For short-term trading targets there's really not much
holding this market back from $40 a barrel," said Paul Horsnell,
oil analyst at JP Morgan.
The U.S. inventory slump has reinforced the impact on oil
prices of a bout of colder-than-normal winter weather in the
world's biggest energy consuming nation.
U.S. importers are missing large volumes of refined products
from Venezuela where a strike has kept big refineries idled
since early December.
U.S. heating oil stocks now are 17.4 million barrels, 33
percent, lower than a year ago.
"These latest inventory figures are scary," said Horsnell.
Oil is already priced at a premium for fear a U.S. attack on
Iraq, the world's eighth largest oil exporter, could slash oil
shipments from the Middle East, which supplies about 40 percent
of the global crude trade.
"The market expects a war sooner rather than later," said
John Hirjee, senior energy analyst at Deutsche Bank in
Melbourne.
Wednesday's data on commercial U.S. stockpiles countered
comments from Washington on Tuesday that it was ready to quickly
release government strategic oil reserves if it judges that a
war in Iraq is causing a severe supply disruption.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham said he would
release crude from the 600-million-barrel national reserve if
supplies suffer a heavy cut from war.
But Washington has yet to make clear whether it thinks a
stoppage of Iraq's 1.7 million barrels a day of exports would be
sufficient to warrant a release.
OPEC has said it has enough spare capacity to cover any
Iraqi outage.
((richard.mably@reuters.com; reuters messaging:
richard.mably.reuters.com@reuters.net; +44 207 542 6280))
REUTERS
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BLIX: FULL COOPERATION BY IRAQ NOT YET EVIDENT
(Reuters 02/26 09:26:03)
REUTERS
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U.S. CRUDE OIL FUTURES JUMP $1 TO ABOVE $37 AS REFINED PRODUCTS
(Reuters 02/26 09:13:32)
STOCKS SLUMP
REUTERS
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Iraq's Hussein Rules Out Exile, Says He Won't Destroy Oilfields
http://quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi.cgi?ptitle=Top%20World%20News&s1=blk,&s2=ad_right1_windex&a...
UPDATE 2-EDS CFO sees risk will not meet FY 2003 target
(Reuters 02/25 15:31:05)
(Adds byline, analyst comments, closing stock price,
background)
By Jon Herskovitz and Siobhan Kennedy
NEW YORK, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Electronic Data Systems Corp.
<EDS.N> said on Tuesday it risks not meeting its earnings
target in 2003 because of a rash of problem contracts, exposure
to troubled customers and diminished access to debt markets.
Still, the No. 2 computer services company stood by its
forecast for 2003 profit in a range of $1.80 to $2.00 a share.
EDS first announced that guidance earlier this month.
"There are more risks than opportunities," the company's
newly appointed Chief Financial Officer Bob Swan told analysts
at an investors meeting in Dallas, referring to the company's
chances of meeting its full-year outlook.
The news came the same day that French heavy engineering
firm Alstom <ALSO.PA> said it ended talks to contract out its
technology operations to EDS, saying the two companies were
unable to agree on terms.
But EDS sought to temper that news by saying it received
clearance to expand work on its potentially lucrative contract
with the U.S. Navy.
Shares of EDS closed down 67 cents, or more than 4 percent,
at $15.75 on the New York Stock Exchange, having earlier fallen
as low as $15.41.
EDS, second only to International Business Machines Corp.
<IBM.N> in the market for technical services and consulting,
has been hit hard by the slowdown in corporate technology
spending.
NO MORE SAFE HAVEN
While services companies had long been considered safe
havens, EDS stunned Wall Street last year when it warned its
third-quarter profits would be 80 percent below its
expectations. It also warned it would generate far less cash
than originally anticipated.
That tipped off a domino effect of bad news including a
stock hedging strategy that went awry and the opening of a
formal Securities and Exchange Commission probe into the profit
warning.
But Swan said the company would continue to pay dividends
and it hoped to recover some of the losses from problem
contracts -- including those with bankrupt telecommunications
company WorldCom <WCOEQ.PK> and United Airlines <UAL.N> -- in
2003.
Those contracts hurt earnings by 84 cents per share in
total for 2002. Swan said the aim was to recover at least 64
cents of that during the course of the year.
But those gains would be offset by losses from additional
pension and health-care costs, slower technology spending,
increased price competition and other factors, such as currency
fluctuations, Swan said.
In addition, he said, a recent downgrade by debt ratings
agency Moody's Investors Service late last week would likely
cut EDS's access to the short-term commercial paper markets.
Moody's cut its rating on EDS for the second time in three
months on concern that cash flow might fall due to lowered
demand for its services as key customers scale back spending.
"We would contemplate we would be out of the commercial
paper market," he said.
RESTORING CREDIBILITY
For most analysts, the meeting offered the first chance to
meet Swan, the former CFO of defense company TRW, who replaced
Jim Daley as CFO of EDS in January.
"I don't think that there were any big surprises. I think
the big factor was Bob Swan and how he presented,' said Adam
Frisch, an analyst with UBS Warburg.
"Our impressions were positive, initially," he said.
In the past, investors have criticized EDS for being too
bullish on its financial outlook. Just weeks before it issued
its shock profit warning last September, for example,
executives had been on a roadshow bragging about the company's
ability to weather the downturn.
After hearing Swan speak on Tuesday, however, analysts in
general said they thought his arrival could herald a new era of
openness for EDS.
"I was encouraged with seeing him being honest with the
things he knows and the things he doesn't know," said Rod
Bourgeois, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein.
Frisch said investors would be waiting to see if Swan could
come to grips with the company's financial guidance, fully
evaluate the risks and potential problems and "come out with
something that is potentially more accurate."
(Additional reporting by Franklin Paul)
((Reporting by Siobhan Kennedy, editing by Mike Miller;
Reuters Messaging siobhan.kennedy.reuters.com@reuters.net; 646
223 6194))
REUTERS
S.RT EDS ALSO-PA IBM WCOEQ-PK UAL DPR.R ENT.R US.R BUS.R FR.R WEU.R GB.R AIR.R TEL.R RESF.R DBT.R USC.R IBM-T IBM-L IBMC-L IBM-R IBMC-T IBM-Z IBM-F
16:45 ET HPQ falls 4.2% in after hours trading
HP <HPQ.N> CFO SAYS VISIBILITY IS "OBVIOUSLY POOR" FOR TECH
(Reuters 02/25 14:21:40)
SPENDING
REUTERS
S.RT HPQ US.R
16:02 ET HPQ Hewlett-Packard headline number $0.29; consensus $0.28 -- light on revs $17.9 bln vs $ 18.5 bln (18.11 +0.36) -- Update --
US gasoline price to hit record high-EIA economist
(Reuters 02/24 13:55:24)
WASHINGTON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Rising crude oil costs will
likely push American retail gasoline prices to an all-time
high, a U.S. government energy economist predicted on Monday.
The national pump price for regular unleaded gasoline
reached $1.66 last week, just five cents short of the record
$1.71 a gallon hit in mid-May 2001.
"We think we're going to break the record," Dave Costello,
an economist with the Energy information Administration, told
Reuters in an interview.
U.S. crude oil prices topped $36 a barrel on Monday on
market fears of a U.S. attack on Iraq, low petroleum
inventories and strong oil demand. Crude oil costs account for
about 40 percent of the price of a gallon of gasoline.
Costello said even if crude oil prices do not further rise
dramatically, gasoline costs will continue their upward trend.
"There's still momentum in the gasoline prices," he said.
((Reporting by Tom Doggett; editing by Eric Walsh;
Reuters Messaging: tom.doggett.reuters.com@reuters.net;
202-898-8320))
REUTERS
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in the tanning booth.
U.S. gasoline pump prices top $2 a gallon mark
(Reuters 02/19 13:16:59)
NEW YORK, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Retail gasoline prices in the
United States have breached $2 a gallon in some major cities as
domestic fuel supplies drop sharply and fears abound over
potential war on oil supplier Iraq.
The average retail price for regular gasoline in San
Francisco was $2.044 a gallon on Wednesday, while premium
grades in cities like Los Angeles and Oakland were also above
$2, according to the American Automobile Association.
The high fuel costs recall the sharp retail gasoline spike
of the spring of 2001, when pump prices hit a nationwide
record-high of $1.72 a gallon, and cities all over the West
Coast and Midwest surged over $2 a gallon.
Prices for gasoline are expected to continue to rise as
spring approaches, potentially breaking new records, as driving
demand traditionally picks up steam with more pleasant weather
and pressures inventories.
The fuel crunch, which is dealing a blow to consumers'
pocketbooks and threatening the nation's economic recovery,
highlights a need for the U.S. to become more independent from
unreliable foreign oil supplies, the American Petroleum
Institute (API) said on Wednesday.
"We're in the same fix we were in two years ago, and
nothing's been done to fix the problems that existed then."
said John Felmy, director of policy analysis and statistics at
the API, which represents members of the oil industry.
The national average price U.S. drivers paid for gasoline
increased 5.3 cents a gallon over the last week to $1.66 a
gallon, the seventh highest on record, according to a separate
survey by the Department of Energy.
Pump prices have risen along with higher crude oil costs,
but some groups believe that fuel prices have risen higher than
can be justified, setting off demands for an investigation by
Federal Trade Commission.
Crude oil prices, which account for 40 percent of the price
of gasoline, are up near two-year highs around $37 a barrel as
U.S. inventories dropped to 27-year lows following supply
disruptions from Venezuela and fears that a U.S.-led war with
Iraq would disrupt Mideast supplies.
However, Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York on
Sunday accused oil companies of gouging consumers at the pump,
arguing that gasoline prices have risen faster than crude
costs. The lawmaker asked the Federal Trade Commission to
investigate the matter.
The American Automobile Association said last week that the
huge jump in pump prices was not justified and the group also
wanted the government to investigate rising gasoline prices.
As usual, the West Coast had the most expensive fuel, with
the average price in the region up 10.7 cents to $1.786 a
gallon, the DOE's statistical wing said Wednesday.
The Gulf Coast states had the cheapest gasoline, although
the average price was up 2.5 cents to $1.581 a gallon.
In addition to gasoline, the nationwide price for diesel
fuel increased 4.2 cents to a record $1.704 a gallon, up 55
cents from last year.
(Additional reporting by Tom Doggett)
((Reporting by Richard Valdmanis; editing by Eric Walsh;
Reuters Messaging: richard.valdmanis.reuters.com@reuters.net;
+1 646 223 6056))
((Xtra clients: Click on http://topnews.session.rservices.com
to see Top News pages in multimedia Web format. If you cannot
access the pages, ask your IT department to check your Internet
firewall settings. For a technical advisory, click on <C9991>.))
REUTERS
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PASSENGER PLANE WITH OVER 250 PEOPLE ABOARD CRASHES IN
(Reuters 02/19 12:52:53)
SOUTHEASTERN IRAN-TV
REUTERS
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UPDATE 1-Iran plane with 290 aboard loses radio contact
(Reuters 02/19 12:47:14)
(Adds detail from state TV paragraph 4)
TEHRAN, Feb 19 (Reuters) - An Iranian passenger plane
carrying about 290 people has lost contact with air traffic
control while travelling between two cities in southeastern
Iran, a government official told Reuters on Wednesday.
The official said it was not yet clear whether the aircraft
had crashed.
State television said the passenger plane was travelling
from the city of Zahedan to Kerman.
It said air traffic control authorities lost contact with
the plane at around 5:30 p.m. local time (1400 GMT).
No further details were immediately available.
((Reporting by Parisa Hafezi; +98 21 850 0085))
REUTERS
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SOX down 5, these pump jobs aren't working:
UPDATE 1-RESEARCH ALERT-Morgan Stanley upgrades chip industry
(Reuters 02/19 12:18:07)
(Adds details)
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley said
semiconductor analyst Mark Edelstone raised his ratings on the
shares of Intel Corp. <INTC.O>, Texas Instruments Inc. <TXN.N>
and Xilinx Inc. <XLNX.O> on Wednesday, citing favorable
valuations on those stocks and in the chip industry overall.
Edelstone raised his view on the semiconductor industry to
"attractive" from "in-line," while raising his rating on Intel,
TI and Xilinx to "overweight" from "equal weight."
"While there are still numerous issues that we are
concerned about, we believe that reward to risk parameters have
become more attractive during the last few months," Edelstone
wrote in a note to clients on Wednesday.
"Consequently, we expect our universe of semiconductor
stocks to outperform the overall market during the next 12 to
18 months," he wrote.
Edelstone wrote that he believed new processor products
from the world's largest semiconductor manufacturer, Intel,
including the Centrino mobile chip and next-generation Itanium
2 chip, would drive earnings higher in the next two years.
Lower unit costs and pricing power derived from being the
largest chipmaker should also help boost earnings. The lower
production costs would come from moving chip production from
the 130 nanometer process to a 90 nanometer process on larger
silicon wafers that are 300 millimeters across.
Intel on Tuesday said that it planned to spend $2 billion
to upgrade one of its chipmaking plants in Chandler, Arizona,
with equipment that can process the larger wafers. More chips
can be carved from each larger wafer, cutting costs and
boosting efficiency.
Texas Instruments, based in Dallas, should benefit in the
first quarter from its confidence in revenues and per-share
results in the current period, and from inventories being, in
Edelstone's belief, at "an all-time low."
Last week, TI, the top maker of chips for cellular phones,
backed its earlier forecast for first-quarter earnings of 6
cents a share, expecting revenue to remain about even with that
of the fourth quarter.
Edelstone wrote that Xilinx should benefit from strong
products -- including its Virtex product line, with which it
has been able to replace application specific integrated
circuit, or ASIC, chips at customers.
Xilinx, based in San Jose, California, makes programmable
logic device, or PLD, chips, that can be reconfigured by
customers.
Both Xilinx and its chief rival Altera Corp. <ALTR.O> have
been working to lower the cost of PLD chips so that they can
compete with lower-priced ASIC chips in telecommunications
markets, with large corporate customers and in other
industries.
"We believe that a strong product cycle and a significant
margin expansion potential should enable Xilinx to enjoy strong
earnings growth during the next several years," Edelstone
wrote.
Shares of Intel were unchanged at $16.71; shares of TI were
off 6 cents, or less than 1 percent, to $16.18; and shares of
Xilinx were unchanged at $22.09.
((Reporting by Duncan Martell, editing by Gerald E. McCormick;
duncan.martell@reuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
duncan.martell.reuters.com@reuters.net; +1 415 677-2536))
REUTERS
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09:40 ET NVLS -1.9% weaker on book-to-bill data, concerns about outlook
North American Semiconductor Equipment Industry Posts January 2003 Book-to-Bill
(PR Newswire 02/18 16:04:44)
Ratio of 0.92
http://www.semi.org/web/wpress.nsf/33fa5c225257afa5882565e3006d9c77/0d314fbb7b416bd888256cd1007a4fa9...
16:21 ET TXU TXU Corp: Warren Buffett reports 5.6% stake in TXU (15.90 +0.70)
per CNBC: Warren Buffet takes stake in TXU.
CHINA TELLS SECURITY COUNCIL UN INSPECTIONS IN IRAQ SHOULD
(Reuters 02/14 08:51:51)
CONTINUE
MORE
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11:23 ET Market backing off highs amid fears report isolates U.S. even further
11:14 ET More on the Mohammed ElBaradei presentation
Following Blix's presentation, IAEA chief inspector Mohammed ElBaradei gave a report that strongly implied he wanted to continue inspections. The gist of his report was that the IAEA has found no evidence of prohibited nuclear activites in Iraq, but still had a number of unanswered questions, so no final conclusion has been reached; in addition, he said that prompt, full, active cooperation on the part of the Iraqis will speed up process of verification.
09:33 ET Michigan sentiment expected at 81.9
The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index will be reported at about 9:45 ET; the market expects a slight downtick to 81.9 for early February from 82.4 for January. Sentiment has been directionless since a late summer fall, and today's number is unlikely to change that trend.
is INVN going to guide lower?
15:07 ET Hearing that Reuters reporting that Iraqi missile exceeding UN limit has been found
U.S. RETAIL GASOLINE PRICES HIGHEST SINCE JUNE '01, AT $1.607
(Reuters 02/12 10:10:45)
PER GALLON -- EIA
REUTERS
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10:32 ET IAEA rules that N. Korea in breach of treaty obligations --MSNBC
Although this was the finding expected by the International Atomic Energy Agency, we are hearing that this report is contributing to the sudden downtick in the market. According to MSNBC, the IAEA's move is likely to be viewed as a provocative act by North Korea. In the past, it stated that any U.N. sanctions against the regime would be seen as an act of war.
APPLIED MATERIALS SAYS DOES NOT SEE SIGNIFICANT UPTURN IN
(Reuters 02/11 13:07:23)
NEAR-TERM CAPEX
MORE
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16:04 ET AMAT Applied Materials misses by $0.02 (11.91 -0.14)
Reports Q1 (Jan) net of breakeven, $0.02 worse than the Multex consensus of $0.02; revenues rose 5.4% year/year to $1.05 bln vs the $1.15 bln consensus.
APPLIED MATERIALS <AMAT.O> Q1 SHR LOSS $0.04
(Reuters 02/11 13:01:50)
MORE
S.RT AMAT-O ELI.R US.R RES.R AMAT
U.S. INTELLIGENCE ANALYSTS BELIEVE LATEST TAPE WAS BIN LADEN'S
(Reuters 02/11 12:46:54)
VOICE-US OFFICIAL
MORE
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BIN LADEN CALLS FOR SUICIDE ATTACKS AGAINST ENEMIES - JAZEERA
(Reuters 02/11 12:20:06)
REUTERS
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the PPT.
AL-JAZEERA TV SAYS BIN LADEN URGES MUSLIMS TO SHOW SOLIDARITY
(Reuters 02/11 11:18:25)
WITH IRAQ
REUTERS
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