Good evening Jim,
Here is your Money Mail for Wednesday, November 29.
THE BUZZ AT THE BELL
Today we faced with the most convincing evidence yet of economic
slowdown. And, as a result, an increasing number of Wall Streeters
are beginning to fret about the possibility of a "hard landing."
The Commerce Department reported that the nation's Gross Domestic
Product decelerated in the third quarter to an annual growth rate
of 2.4%, which is less than half the rate of the previous quarter
and the lowest rate since 1996. Investors immediately abandoned
tech stocks and scrambled for high ground in defensive sectors like
pharmaceuticals, consumer products and financials. Merck gained
2%, Citigroup gained 3% and Procter & Gamble gained 2%. The
Dow closed up 121 points. The NASDAQ lost 28 and is now at it's
lowest level since October 1999. Volume was heavy.
From our "Signs of the Times" file:
* Today Stephen King pulled the plug on his serialized, on-line
novel "The Plant." King was posting the novel on-line (one chapter
at a time) on the condition that 75% of the readers who downloaded
it would pay for the privilege. It turns out that less than 50% were
paying. So, King said he will post Chapter 6 for free, and then turn
his attention to other projects. Who can blame him? King's compensation
is one thing about his remarkable career that shouldn't be a figment
of his imagination.
* Starbucks' didn't know it was brewing a real flappacino when it
opened a coffee shop in Beijing's Forbidden City. Some offended
Chinese compare opening the shop (last September) with putting a
Chinese noodle stand in the White House. Starbucks' points out that,
unlike the hypothetical noodle paradise, their cafe is located in
an area filled with commercial souvenir stores. Still, it could turn
out that the coffee meisters pushed one bean too many in this case -
only to learn that Star's bucks stopped here.
* IBM today named Harriet Pearson, a lawyer and engineer, to be its
first Chief Privacy Officer. Other companies, such as Microsoft,
already have such positions, but when Big Blue does something, we
know its time has come. We applaud the effort here, but wonder if
Ms. Pearson will be defending our privacy or breaching it? Of course,
regardless of whether she defends or breaches, plenty of people will
accuse her of doing too much of one thing, or too little of the
other, or both, including us. Is that clear? Anyway, tough
assignmnent! And the worst of it is that acronym: CPO. It's too
easy to confuse the Navy's "Chief Petty Officer," or worse,
with "C3PO." Beep, beep.
Peter Nulty
Editor, Money Mail
moneymail@online.cnbc.com
MAJOR INDEXES AND VOLUMES
* Dow Jones Industrials: 10629.11, up 121.53 or 1.16%
* Dow Transports: 2799.42, up 3.01 or 0.11%
* Dow Utilities: 391.73, down 3.47 or 0.88%
* S&P 500: 1341.77, up 5.68 or 0.43%
* Nasdaq Composite Index: 2706.15, down 28.83 or 1.05%
* Russell 2000: 454.6, dwon 4.42 or 0.96%
* 30-Year Bond Yield: 5.67%
* NYSE volume (preliminary): 1,103 million shares
* Nasdaq volume (preliminary): 2,017 million shares
* To see our complete U.S. index list:
wwwrd.0mm.com
SCOUTING REPORT: THURSDAY
With the economic slowdown now visible to all (and maybe even a
little slower than some people find comfortable), Wall Street will
be watching Thursday's consumer data to punctuate the downturn.
Increasingly, Wall Street is hoping that the Fed will acknowledge
the slowdown, abandon the bias toward guarding against inflation,
and move instead to a neutral bias at its next meeting on Dec 19.
Economic Calendar
* Personal income, spending (October) at 8:30 am EST
STOCKS
* To View Intel, Try Bifocals *
Chip bellwether Intel has been battered. The Street has two views:
Intel's ready for a quick uptick, or another tumble - or both.
wwwrd.0mm.com
* Is LSI Logic Oversold? *
Inventory questions, capital spending and bears. Oh my! LSI's stock
has been hit hard. Luckily, LSI makes chips for PlayStation 2.
wwwrd.0mm.com
* Stocks to Watch *
Joe Kernen's stocks for Wednesday:
wwwrd.0mm.com
SPECIAL NOTE
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wwwrd.0mm.com |
