13:10 ET Dow -72, Nasdaq +4, S&P -6.45: [BRIEFING.COM] The Dow and the Nasdaq continue to trade sideways as conviction is
lacking to the upside or downside...Ciena (CIEN 59.75 +4.47) continues to gain on a mid-day call from CSFB saying that deal with TCM is
a market share gain as checks indicate that LU and NT were incumbents at the account....Seeing buying sweep into some chip stocks over
last 30 minutes including BRCM, PMCS, VTSS....Telecom service stocks have been sliding all day long, especially WorldCom (WCOM
17.93 -0.37) amid reports that company is raising the size of its planned bond offering by several billion dollars...Retailers and drug stocks
continue to languish today....Hotel stocks have been weak all day on negative analyst comments on Marriott (MAR 44.13 -1.42). Also
weak are Prime Hospitality (PDQ -6%) and Four Seasons (FS -4%). NYSE Adv/Dec 1409/1505... Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1773/1777.
12:35 ET Dow -86, Nasdaq +1, S&P -7.77: [BRIEFING.COM] The Dow and the Nasdaq remain at session lows. Traders appear
content to wait for Cisco to report tonight as the Nasdaq hugs the flat line. Intraday, without sustained action above 2187, Nasdaq will
vulnerable to a penetration of the 2170 floor. Next supports are at 2155/2152 and 2140/2135....Techs continue to trade sideways since last
update. Of note, VeriSign (VRSN 59.93 +4.41) has made an aggressive move up recently to a new 3-month high....Vice President Dick
Cheney interviewed today says there is still the possibility that the U.S. economy may slide into a recession....Overall, financials remain weak,
but some full service brokerages are climbing back into positive territory....Hitting new 52-wk highs today from a variety of industries include
American Eagle Outfitters (AEOS 40.20 +1.25), Caterpillar (CAT 52.16 +0.66), Nvidia (NVDA 90.91 -2.94), Wm Wrigley (WWY
48.93 +0.04). NYSE Adv/Dec 1361/1533... Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1747/1752.
12:00 ET Dow -104, Nasdaq -5, S&P -9.53: [BRIEFING.COM] All the excitement so far has been in the pre-market, and the most
important news will likely be after the bell. The Nasdaq gapped up on positive news on the tech front before the bell. First, Cisco (CSCO
19.97 +0.72) was upgraded by Morgan Stanley heading into its earnings release after the bell today. Also, Ciena (CIEN 59.19 +3.91) had
the networking space rocking on its announcing of a deal with TyCom (TCM 16.30 +0.04) to deploy Ciena's equipment in its Global
Network. The 2-yr agreement includes initial orders valued at more than $150 mln. However, traders used the gap up at the open to unload
positions. With Cisco having traded up 33% over the past week or so, it appears a decent quarter with no downward revision for JulQ has
been priced in....Dell Computer (DELL 24.85 -1.06) remains under pressure after the company said after the bell it expects Q1 to
meet guidance, but will cut 3,000-4,000 positions over the next two qtrs. UBS Warburg lowered estimates as it does not believe we are at
the bottom of this intense price competition. PC stocks are weak today as a result....Outside of tech, the financials are very weak today on a
downgrade of Dow component, American Express (AXP 41.50 -1.73). Retailers are being weighed down by April industry data released
showing higher sales, but they have declined from highs earlier in the month with most retailers missing sales targets in the latest week. A
bunch of same store sales releases are slated for Thursday....Oil services, which had been weak most of the day, are rallying over the past
few 20 minutes or so due to an interview with Dick Cheney on CNN asking for more drilling. SOX +0.3%... NYSE Adv/Dec 1351/1480...
Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1735/1692. |
