13:00 ET Dow -117, Nasdaq -68, S&P -22.89: [BRIEFING.COM] Buyers preferring the comfort of the sidelines for the most part as the market has struggled to get anything going today... Although selling efforts have been broad-based, tech stocks are bearing the brunt of the profit taking activity and lead the overall declines... Presently, the Nasdaq Composite is down 3.1% and within a whisker of its lows for the session... Bear in mind, however, that the tech-havy index soared 37% from its low on April 4 so it stands to reason that the bulk of profit taking would be concentrated in the tech sector... PC, telecom equipment and semiconductor issues are leading the tech pullback... Latter stocks have drawn some additional selling interest following cautious comments at the Merrill Lynch conference from Novellus Systems (NVLS -3.56)CEO, Richard Hill... Reuters reported that Hill indicated he does not see a recovery in orders until Q4 at best, and admits that even that is perhaps optimistic... SOX -3.9%... NYSE Adv/Dec 1008/1935... Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1251/2297.
12:30 ET Dow -120, Nasdaq -62, S&P -21.98: [BRIEFING.COM] Modest buying efforts have helped trim today's losses as a number of stocks have moved off their worst levels of the session... Nevertheless, the interest in owning equities today seems to have been tempered by an underlying sense that fundamental developments don't support the strength of the recent move... Traders provided with a reminder today that the market may have run too far, too fast, as a batch of economic data have suggested a broadening of the economic downturn beyond the manufacturing sector and the potential that the consumer won't be as resilient in the months ahead due to the lagging impact of layoffs and increasing concerns about job security... NYSE Adv/Dec 975/1921... Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1231/2252. |
