This article might give us some market prospective today. A lot of tec stocks are getting pounded after good earnings.
NW
US Equities Midday: Stocks mixed ahead of Greenspan speech
Dow up 45; Nasdaq down 38; S&P down 1 Financials up, chip stocks
down By Rebecca Byrne, Bridge News
New York--Jan 26--Blue chips held on to a tepid rally in midday trade
as generally positive earnings reports underpinned strength in some
cyclical stocks. But an impending speech by Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan
tempered the mood on Wall Street, and the tech-soaked Nasdaq continued
to languish.
The Dow was last up 45, or 0.42%, to 11,075. The Nasdaq composite was
down 38, or 0.9%, to 4129 and the S&P 500 index was down 1, or 0.07%,
to 1408.
* * *
The Dow rocketed forward on the open helped by momentum from Tuesday's
session and a rosy batch of earnings. But the market was unable to
sustain such steep gains ahead of Greenspan's testimony this afternoon.
Greenspan will be appearing before the Senate Banking Committee at
1400 ET, which is considering his nomination for another term as
chairman. Investors are particularly nervous about the
question-and-answer period afterward, in which members will quiz the
Fed chief on interest rates and the economy.
"Everyone knows Greenspan hates the market and that he's going to
raise rates; we've been discounting that all week," said Bill Painter,
trader at Federated Investors.
Despite the caution, blue chips still posted modest gains as bank and
basic material issues soared.
Minnesota, Mining & Manufacturing (MMM) rose about 5% to 95 3/4 after
reporting that fourth quarter earnings hit $1.10 per share, beating the
estimates by 8 cents. The company also said it expects sales to
increase 6-7% and earnings to grow 10% or more in 2000.
Also on the upside, were shares of DuPont (DD), JP Morgan (JPM) and
American Express (AXP). DuPont rose 2% to 62 1/2 after beating the
Street estimates and JP Morgan surged 4% to 120 7/8 as investors
rotated funds out of high-flying technology issues into areas that have
recently underperformed.
Stable bond prices also added support, with the 30-year treasury
rising 16/32, bid at 93 28/32, pushing its yield down to 6.588%.
Volume on the Big Board checked in at 631 million shares, with winners
beating losers by 1,575 to 1,275.
In the technology arena, Qualcomm (QCOM) was a big loser, falling 14%
to 127 1/2 after reporting first quarter earnings of 25 cents a share,
which beat the First Call estimate by a penny. However, the chip maker
warned of potentially lower sales of phone chips in the second quarter.
BMC Software (BMCS) and LSI Logic (LSI) were also lower after posting a
mixed bag of earnings.
Still, Internet bellwether eBay (EBAY) surged 9% to 150 7/16 after
posting generally good corporate profits.
Volume on the Nasdaq was heavy as 960.8 million shares traded.
Declining issues narrowly outpaced advancers by 1,892 to 1,862.
Elsewhere, transport stocks were mostly lower. The Dow Jones
transportation average fell 19 to 2634, even though oil prices fell.
Crude oil was last down 23 cents to $28.05 per barrel.
EARNINGS
Philip Morris (MO) fell about 4% to 21 1/8 after reporting a fourth
quarter profit of 77 cents per share, missing the estimates by a penny.
McDonald's (MCD) shed 6% to 37 3/8 after posting fourth quarter
earnings of 35 cents per share, missing the estimates by a penny.
DuPont reported fourth quarter earnings of 55 cents per share, which
beat the estimates by a penny.
Merck (MRK) added 1% to 71 11/16 after reporting a fourth quarter
profit of 66 cents per share, meeting First Call estimates.
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) fell 3% to 64 after saying it will cut 6,000 jobs,
or about 20% of its workforce, in a global restructuring designed to
cut costs. The firm also posted fourth quarter earnings of 31 cents per
share, beating the estimates by a penny.
EBay posted fourth-quarter earnings of 4 cents per share, exceeding
the estimates by 2 cents.
Compaq Computer (CPQ) reported fourth-quarter earnings of 19 cents
per share, which beat the estimates by 3 cents. Compaq fell 4% to 29 3/4.
LSI Logic reported a 2-for-1 stock split and posted fourth quarter
earnings of 47 cents per share, beating the estimates by 4 cents. LSI
was last down 5/16 to 87 11/16.
Nortel (NT) posted fourth quarter earnings of 55 cents per share,
beating the estimates by 10 cents. Nortel shed 3% to 105 11/16.
BMC Software slid 8% to 39 7/8 after reporting a third-quarter profit
of 41 cents per share, which missed the estimates by a penny.
Ford (F) fell 3% to 48 1/4 after reporting fourth quarter earnings of
$1.47, which beat the estimates by 2 cents.
CORPORATE NEWS
Cigna Corp. (CI) named H. Edward Hanway chief executive, succeeding
Wilson H. Taylor, who will remain chairman. Cigna rose 1% to 72 5/8.
Sprint (FON) will sell its entire stake in Global One to Deutsche
Telekom and France Telecom for $1.13 billion in cash and repayment of
$276 million in debt. Sprint fell 1/8 to 61 5/8.
Motorola (MOT) fell 2% to 138 1/4 after reporting that Hector Ruiz
has resigned as president of the firm's semiconductor products sector.
Fred Tucker will replace Ruiz.
ECONOMIC NEWS
The Labor Department said the fourth-quarter employment cost index
will be delayed to Friday at 0830 ET from its previously scheduled
Thursday morning release. The Commerce Department said gross domestic
product for the fourth quarter will be released as scheduled, though in
a shortened form, at 0830 ET Friday. End
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bridge News, Tel: (212) 372-7288 Send comments to equity@bridge.com
[symbols:US;DJI:US;COMP:US;SPX:US;KO:US;MCD:US;MRK:US;QCOM:US;DD:US;MMM:
US ;JPM:U S;AXP:US;EBAY:US;LSI:US;BMCS:US;MO:US;F:US;CPQ]
The Bridge ID for this story is 01300
*** end of story *** |
