10:28 ET FreeMarkets (FMKT) 10.52 +0.72 (+7.3%): Texas Instruments (TXN) to use FreeMarkets' B2B Global Marketplace for the
procurement of selected goods and services for its global operations.
10:21 ET Biogen (BGEN) 59.81 -4.29 (-6.7%): -- Update -- Strong results posted by Swiss drug company Serono also contributing to
weakness in BGEN shares. Company reported strong sales of its multiple sclerosis drug Rebif and announced that it will discuss trial data
comparing Avonex and Rebif on May 8. Serona is attempting to gain approval for Rebif in the U.S.
10:02 ET Economic Data : March Factory Orders rise 1.8%, compared to the 1.4% increase expected by economists.
10:00 ET Nasdaq Composite : -- Technical -- Still holding solid gains but has drifted back off the high. Failure to hold above 2200 would be
not be of significance from a chart view with no damage done while the 2170/2160 area is intact. Keep in mind, however, that such a move
coupled with the potential divergent posture of the daily indicators would argue for a more lengthy pullback. Next resistances are near 2240 and
between 2251/2255.
09:59 ET Gadzoox Ntwrks (ZOOX) 2.17 +0.41 (+23.3%): Announces that Compaq Computer is integrating the company's new 2Gb Fibre
Channel fabric technology into future Compaq entry level Storage Area Network (SAN) storage solutions... volume 302K.
09:50 ET Sector Watch: Energy : Major profit taking in the oilfield drilling/services sector after the American Petroleum Institute (API)
reported a larger than expected increase in U.S. gas and oil inventories, helping to ease concerns of summer shortages. Crude oil trades off 2%
on the news. Stocks impacted include SII -4.10, BJS -3.4, SLB -3, RIG -2.3... Also seeing weakness in the refiners after both CSFB and UBS
Warburg downgrade the sector.
09:45 ET Sector Watch : Tech sectors dominating on the upside with fiber optic, Internet, software, semiconductor and computer-hardware all
up more than 2.5%. Broader market is not doing as well with energy pacing the way on the downside. Other losing groups include: paper,
healthcare, gold, drug and biotech.
09:45 ET Biogen (BGEN) 60.05 -4.05 (-6.3%): Hit by Reuters report that the FDA have warned Biogen about misleading promotions
regarding multiple sclerosis drug Avonex. The agency stated that a Jan. 16 press release contained "representations that are false and
misleading." According to Reuters, company removed the press release from its Web site and had resolved the FDA's concerns.
09:39 ET Cisco Systems (CSCO) 19.40 +1.60 (+8.9%): -- Update -- Technical -- Early push lifts price to a solid resistance at 19.25/19.50
(50 day simple ma/April high). Momentum is strong with a breach here initially pointing to resistance at 20.15/20.50 with a secondary ceiling
near 22. The key for the day will be if CSCO is able to sustain a breach of the initial barrier.
09:37 ET Cephalon (CEPH) 61.76 -4.82 (-7.2%): Biopharmaceutical company shares gap down in reaction to news of a $300 mln placement
of Convertible Subordinated Notes.
09:29 ET Nokia (NOK) 34.96: -- Update -- As reported on Short Stories last night, Salomon Smith Barney says it has confirmed that
Verizon (VZ) has stopped ordering NOK's 2G CDMA phones and is likely to do a recall of all NOK CDMA phones currently in use by its
customers. Discouraging news for NOK, which could leverage its recent entry into CDMA to gain mkt share as part of its 40% mkt share goal,
CDMA handsets are less than 5% of NOK's shipments.
09:27 ET Brocade Comms (BRCD) 42.96: Stock jumps to 47.20 pre-market; hearing that in its presentation at the Merrill Lynch Techtopia
conference, Brocade said it saw a recovery in the storage market in Q2/Q3; CNBC reported that the company said it would meet or beat
estimates, but we have no confirmation of that. |
