| 12:00 ET Dow +64, Nasdaq +4, S&P +4.64: [BRIEFING.COM] The cash market has had a number of factors working in its favor today, but despite an opening burst, it hasn't traded with much zest... The aforementioned factors include a surprise 25bp rate cut by the European Central Bank (ECB), Morgan Stanley's upgrade of the chip equipment group, a 41K drop in initial claims for the week of May 5, and some surprisingly good same-store sales results from several retailers, including Wal-Mart (WMT +1.91), Gap (GPS +3.02), American Eagle (AEOS +0.91) and Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF +3.23) to name a few... As you might expect, the retailers have attracted a healthy degree of buying interest today and have been the market's main source of support since the opening bell... Coupled with the move by the ECB, the solid results from the retailers, have sparked some added optimism with respect to an economic rebound in the latter half of the year, and in turn, has generated some buying interest in other economically-sensitive groups today, such as the basic materials, homebuilding and financial stocks... The tech sector had been much stronger in the early-going, but gains in that area have faded as the semiconductor stocks have struggled to sustain their earlier gains following some cautious comments from Goldman Sachs and CS First Boston that challenged Morgan Stanley's bullish view of the chip equipment group's near-term prospects... By and large, though, the chip-related stocks have held their own and have helped the Nasdaq keep its head in positive territory since the start of trading... Wal-Mart (WMT +1.91), DuPont (DD +1.81) and Home Depot (HD +1.66) have led the Dow's advance... DJTA +0.8%... SOX +2.3%... Nasdaq 100 unch... NYSE Adv/Dec 1743/1111... Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1984/1424. |
