While IOM, MU's 1Q98 earning are both significantly
below the concensus estimates, the market today is
just unbelievable.
DOW up +116.33 (1.35%)
NASDAQ up +16.5 (0.9%)
S&P500 up +10.66 (1.0%)
Please read the article below to see how crazy the
market is:
biz.yahoo.com
Monday March 16, 1:15 pm Eastern Time
U.S. stocks rallying sharply at midday
By Jennifer Westhoven
NEW YORK, March 16 (Reuters) - Wall Street stocks were higher at
midday on Monday as investors, reassured by comments by
billionaire investor Warren Buffett, continued to pour money into
the stock market amid a continued positive outlook for the U.S.
economy.
''Today is unbelievable. We're seeing easily three buying orders
for every selling order,'' said Frank Calta, managing director of
institutional trading at Dain Bosworth.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 66 points to 8669 at
midday, a gain of 0.80 percent.
The Dow was pushed sharply higher by gains in J.P. Morgan & Co
Inc (JPM - news), with shares of the bank up 6-5/16 points to
131-5/16.
Traders said the stock was benefiting from yet another round of
takeover rumors as well as positive comments from influential UBS
banking analyst Thomas Hanley.
The Dow was up nearly 0.80 percent, beating the Nasdaq and
Standard & Poor's 500 Index on a percentage basis.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 6.80 to 1075.41, a gain of
0.64 percent, at midday Monday. The Nasdaq had risen 0.63
percent, gaining 11.25 points to 1782.91.
Advances led declines by 16 to 11 on steady volume of 281 million
shares on the New York Stock Exchange.
Small-cap stocks were also rallying, although the gains were
laggard. The Russell 2000 Index was up 2.28 points or 0.49
percent to 471.05 by midday Monday.
Traders said the bullishness was slightly overwhelming.
''It's a little frustrating because it's getting very hard to
find sellers -- so you can't get some of these stocks for your
customers,'' Calta said.
A raft of merger announcements helped stocks, but traders also
pointed to words from Warren Buffett, a widely influential
investor called ''The Oracle of Omaha.
In an annual letter to shareholders released Saturday, Buffett
said: ''There is no reason to think of stocks as generally
overvalued'' -- as long as interest rates hold steady or decline,
and corporate returns on equity remain high.
Wall Street is still closely watching to see how the first
quarter will shape up, with analysts divided over which
industries will be impacted most by interest rates, El Nino, and
the Asian fiscal crisis.
Shares of Micron Technology Inc (MU - news) rose 1 to 34-1/4 in
heavy trading Monday as traders anticipated the company's
second-quarter earnings report, due today. Analysts are
forecasting a loss of $0.18 a share on average.
But not all the news on the earnings front was good -- Iomega
Corp (IOM - news) shares fell 18 percent or 1-1/2 to 7-1/8 after
it warned of a quarterly loss due to slower sales and higher
marketing expenses.
In merger news, Alltel Corp (OTC BB:ALTEM - news; AT - news)
confirmed it would buy 360 Communications (XO - news) for more
than $6 billion.
Alltel fell 1-5/16 to 44-1/2 and shares of 360 Communications,
which had run up ahead of the official announcement, dropped
4-1/8 to 31-1/4 on the NYSE.
Abbott Laboratories Inc (ABT - news) said it would buy
International Murex Technologies Corp (MURXF - news) for $234
million or $13 a share. Abbott rose 3/16 to 78-1/16 and
International Murex rose 2-1/16 to 12-3/4.
The benchmark long bond was up 17/32 to yield 5.86 percent,
helped by a stronger dollar. |
