Stocks Poised for More Bloodletting at Open
Futures at 8:55 AM: Dow -326, Nasdaq -65, S&P 500 -32.
Stocks Poised for More Bloodletting at Open
By Elizabeth Lazarowitz
Reuters
NEW YORK (March 14) - Stocks are expected to tumble at Wednesday's open as investors' queasiness about the sluggish economy and weak corporate profits resurfaced, putting the market on track to resume Monday's stomach-churning decline.
Wall Street staged a modest comeback on Tuesday, pushing the technology share-packed Nasdaq Composite Index, back above the key 2,000 mark, but it was not enough to instill confidence among market participants, analysts said.
"You would have expected a healthy rally or bounce in stocks yesterday and even though we did get a rally, it was extraordinarily uninspiring," said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer at First Albany Corp.
"It suggested to everybody the market's got to go lower before it starts to attract buyers and rebuild confidence," Johnson added.
With more than an hour to go before the opening bell, Nasdaq 100 index futures for June were limit down 65.00 points at 1,741.50, pointing to a drop of 3.6 percent in the Nasdaq's 100 biggest stocks.
June Standard & Poor's 500 index futures were down 31.90 points at 1,177.60.
Stocks had bounced back Tuesday as investors prowled the market for bargains, one day after a gut-wrenching sell-off.
The comeback did little to wipe away persistent concerns about the nation's softening economy and dwindling corporate earnings, however, and analysts said the market appeared poised to resume Monday's slide.
"It's more than a slow death," said Lance Zipper, managing director of equity trading at Brean Murray & Co. "Somewhere, it's going to have to stop, we just don't know where. Every time that we feel like it's getting close, it keeps continuing."
The Nasdaq slid below 2,000 on Monday, when a 6.3 percent loss drove it almost 62 percent from its March 10, 2000 record high of 5,048.62. That plunge exceeded Nasdaq's previous biggest drop, 59.9 percent in the long 1973-74 bear market.
On Tuesday, the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 91.42 points, or 4.75 percent, to end at 2,014.80 helped by gains in recently bloodied high-tech heavyweights like Internet gear giant Cisco Systems Inc.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 82.55 points, or 0.81 percent, to 10,290.80.
The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 17.50 points, or 1.48 percent, to finish at 1,197.66. The S&P 500 remains in bear market territory -- down 20 percent or more from last year's high.
About $4.3 trillion worth of equity value has evaporated since the S&P 500 hit its record high on March 24, 2000.
In overseas markets, Tokyo stocks stocks managed to edge upward, as Tuesday's rebound in U.S. stocks helped overshadow Japan's political turmoil. The benchmark Nikkei average ended Wednesday's session up 0.2 percent after sliding below the key 12,000 level on Tuesday for the first time in 16 years.
European stocks, however, headed south as investors anticipated a bloody session on Wall Street and the selling spread from the high-tech sector to include "Old Economy" stocks, as well. The pan-European Eurotop 300 index was down 3.3 percent.
In other news, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. on Tuesday after the close reconfirmed previous earnings per share estimates of $1.27 for 2001 and $1.56 for 2002, both excluding items.
The New York-based company, provider of anti-cholesterol drug Lipitor, arthritis treatment Celebrex and anti-impotence pill Viagra, also reiterated plans to spend $5 billion on research and development for 2001.
08:04 03-14-01 |
