you must be a mind reader
I was just looking for new charting sites
can I warm you up a little this morning?
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Stocks are set to begin the new week the way they closed the old one: on a downbeat note.
The futures markets, in fact, point to modest selling pressure at the open Monday despite an upbeat analyst report on the chip equipment group.
Checking the actual numbers, March S&P 500 futures declined 5.00 points, or 0.4 percent, and were trading 4.20 points below fair value, according to HL Camp & Co. And Nasdaq futures slumped 15.50 points, or 1.0 percent and were trading 11.70 points below fair value.
Goldman Sachs upped its view on the semiconductor capital equipment segment to a "market overweight" from a "market weight" on belief that orders will rise over the next several quarters. But Goldman acknowledged that upside in the group will be less than in previous cycles due to current valuations.
The brokerage upgraded KLA-Tencor (NasdaqNM: KLAC - news) and Teradyne (NYSE: TER - news) to the "recommended list" from a "market outperformer," ATMI (NasdaqNM: ATMI - news) to the "recommended list" from a "market performer" and Novellus Systems (NasdaqNM: NVLS - news) to a "market outperformer" from a "market performer." Finally, ringleader Applied Materials (NasdaqNM: AMAT - news) was dubbed as the best "single best idea" in the segment.
Separately, the Semiconductor Industry Association announced that worldwide sales of semiconductors were flat in the fourth quarter from the third quarter, ending three quarters of double-digit declines. The Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific regions grew 3.7 percent in the fourth quarter on a sequential basis while Japan saw sales fall 11.8 percent in the quarter.
"Key demand drivers, wireless handsets and personal computers, bottomed out in the third quarter and recorded double-digit increases in the fourth quarter. In addition, U.S. companies were able to increase global market share to 51 percent from 50 percent," the SIA said in a statement. Going forward, the SIA expects flat to slightly higher sales for the first quarter of 2002 in a quarter that is typically a flat to down one.
Meanwhile, fund flow tracker Trim Tabs indicated that U.S. equity funds got inflows of $4.8 billion in the three days ending Jan. 31 for a monthly rate of $50 billion. And bond and hybrid funds saw $258 million in inflows. Trim Tabs said corporate liquidity remained markedly negative last week with few fresh cash takeovers and stock buybacks while new offerings topped $5 billion for a second straight week.
Trim Tabs notes that while sentiment indicators show Americans are increasingly optimistic about the future of the market, Corporate America continues to heavily sell shares.
"Several liquidity measures have not been this bearish since August 2000. Sell-side market strategists are saying that since the recession is over, investors should be buying stocks here. The only problem with that is corporate investors -- who have a better view of the U.S. economy than Wall Street -- are heavy sellers," president Charles Biderman said in a research note.
One long-time market watcher isn't very enthused with the economic recovery winds that are blowing.
"A removal of the inventory overhang is good news, but that will not lead to a sustained rising level of demand. Businesses and consumers are carrying a lot more debt than normal right now [and] unlike other recessions, consumers have continued to spend unabated during the current one, [courtesy of huge amounts] of re-financings. But consumers are now tapped, thereby offering little firepower going forward while businesses are flooded with excess capacity and little pricing power. This makes it extremely difficult for them to ramp up spending and as a result the economic recovery will likely be sluggish, not robust," opined Louis Navellier, portfolio manager of the Navellier Performance Funds.
Treasury focus
Government issues logged decent gains in early action on anticipated selling pressure in the stock market.
The 10-year Treasury note was up 9/32 to yield 4.935 percent while the 30-year government bond gained 11/32 to yield 5.37 percent.
This week will be a feather-light one in terms of economic news, with no reports on tap Monday and the main releases consisting of factory orders, weekly jobless claims and the quarterly productivity report -- data that probably won't stir markets much.
In the currency sector, the dollar edged up 0.1 percent to 133.20 yen while the euro added 0.3 percent to 86.37 cents.
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