10000 A Key Closing Level For June DJIA
Edited by Ray Hennessey
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
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1:07 (Dow Jones) Traders say it's important for June DJIA to close above 10K
on Thursday. "If we don't close above there, it's going to give people a
reason to slam it next week," a floor trader says. So far that doesn't look
hard, June DJIA last up 40 pts at 10105. (DMC)
1:00 (Dow Jones) Merrill Lynch calls Yahoo's (YHOO) 1Q results mixed and its
future uncertain. "Yahoo! is clearly at a crossroads, and we believe it is
critical that the company hire a strong new CEO in the next month or two. We
continue to believe the company will either turn its business around - with
considerable long-term upside possible - or sell to a major media or
technology company at $10-$15 within a year." (GS)
12:48 (Dow Jones) National Association of Manufacturers says drop in
producer prices clears way for Fed to cut rates further to re-ignite
economy. (JC)
12:33 (Dow Jones) No bottom yet for semiconductor stocks, Merrill Lynch
analyst Joseph Osga says, despite the nearly 20% gain this week in the
Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. "We think a bottom to semiconductor
industry fundamentals is still at least a quarter away and would advise
against going overweight semiconductor stocks right now." The firm says
industry revenue is still declining at an accelerating rate, which suggests
further downside to stock prices. (GS)
12:22 (Dow Jones) Lehman Brothers Inc. analyst Stuart Linde urged investors
to buy Liberty Media Group (LMGA) shares ahead of its spin off from AT&T
Corp. (T). Without AT&T, Liberty can pursue strategies in television
programming and telecommunicaitons with much less Federal Communication
Commission scrutiny and fewer FCC limitions, he said in a research note
Thursday. (DDO)
12:11 (Dow Jones) Trading in the shares of struggling Internet consultant
MarchFirst (MRCH) have been halted, again. Nasdaq says news is pending, but
company unavailable to comment. MarchFirst shares gyrated yesterday on heavy
volume amid speculation it plans to sell its McKinney & Silver advertising
unit to Havas Advertising (HADV) of France. MRCH last trafficked at 31
cents. (MLP)
12:02 (Dow Jones) Based on more conservative yield and operating margin
assumptions, Bear Stearns analyst Jason Ader cut his 2001 earnings estimate
for Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) Thursday to $2.23 a share from $2.28 and
his 2002 view to $2.43 from $2.58. (DDO)
11:51 (Dow Jones) June Nasdaq and S&Ps pare losses as Nasdaq looks to test
session high of 1668. Traders say there's a chance of seeing the markets end
on an up note. "So far we're actually up on the week and that give a lot of
incentive to give the markets a higher close," one trader says. (DMC)
11:47 (Dow Jones) The Nasdaq Composite has straddled the red and green for
much of the morning, and the DJIA, after being down about 80 points, is now
off roughly 21. Retailers Wal-Mart (WMT) and Home Depot (HD) are weighing on
the Dow, as is Coke (KO), offsetting a 2.1% rise from Microsoft (MSFT). S&P
is now slightly positive.
11:38 (Dow Jones) Citing continued advertising weakness, Lehman Brothers
analyst William Myers cut his 2001 radio industry revenue growth projection
to 3% from a range of 4% to 5%. Myers sees growth of 7% to 8% in 2002, with
Radio One Inc. (ROIA) and Cox Radio Inc. (CRX) making the greatest gains.
(DDO)
11:27 (Dow Jones) Workers of the world, get wired! In a sign of the
broadening reach of the Internet, home Web access for blue-collar workers
grew 52% over the past year - faster than it did for any other occupational
group - according to Nielsen/NetRatings. Overall Internet access grew only
25% in the same period. Blue-collar workers accounted for 9.5 million of the
people who went online last month. Homemakers were the second-fastest
growing group. (RS)
11:18 (Dow Jones) Robertson Stephens analyst Harry Curtis raised his 2001
earnings estimate for Pinnacle Entertainment (PNK) to 58 cents a share from
50 cents. The analyst, who kept his market perfromer rating on the casino
company, said earnings should benefit from the approval of dockside gaming
in Louisiana, which began April 1. (DDO)
11:10 (Dow Jones) Since when is 2% revenue growth worthy of applause? When
its reported by the venerable General Electric (GE) and when it's
accompanied by 15% first-quarter EPS growth. In this weak economic
environment, those results, reported earlier Thursday, are pretty good, say
analysts, and show the diversified strength of GE. With the results
generally in line with expectations, analysts say investors would be anxious
to hear what kind of outlook GE provides with the results. In the earnings
release, GE said what it's been saying for awhile: It expects another record
performance in 2001. Not much. But sweet words when other major companies
are running for cover. (CCW)
11:04 (Dow Jones) Variable annuities won't be a bright spot for life
insurers in the first half of 2001, according to Morgan Stanley. Morgan said
Thursday it expects variable annuity sales to decline 14% in the first
quarter, followed by a 10% decline in the second quarter and a recovery in
the second half of the year. The prediction is based on the securities
firm's new variable annuity sales model. (CUB)
10:56 (Dow Jones) Lehman Brothers analyst Joyce Minor said she has lower
confidence in Hilton Hotels Corp. (HLT) meeting earnings expectations,
compared with its peers, because of its spotty track record. In a research
note Thursday, she shaved her 2001 projection to 74 cents a share from 77
cents. (DDO)
10:49 (Dow Jones) UBS Warburg economist Maury Harris says weak spending and
confidence data "keep alive the risk of an inter-meeting Fed move." He puts
odds at just over 50%, and says next week would be likliest time for such
move. (BB)
10:43 (Dow Jones) Biotech earnings are off to a good start - they didn't
warn and they didn't miss. Biogen Inc. (BGEN) posted earnings of 46 cents a
share, in line with Street views, on revenues of $237 million, higher than
the $232 million-consensus estimate. Sales of multiple sclerosis treatment
Avonex fueled results as more patients and physicians are convinced by
clinical evidence supporting the use of this treatment over other multiple
sclerosis medicines. Executives anticipate Avonex to drive sales in the
second quarter and beyond. Shares rose 4.5%. (BMM)
10:36 (Dow Jones) Shares of computer data-storage company Network Appliance
Inc. (NTAP) fell 10% in trading Thursday after the company issued a profit
warning for its fiscal fourth quarter late Wednesday. The warning comes on
the heels of EMC Corp.'s (EMC) earnings preannouncement earlier Wednesday.
So much for storage being recession proof. (DLF)
10:30 (Dow Jones) Traders say day session weakness could be related to
last-minute tax selling. "Anyone who hasn't done so yet really only has
today left to do it," a floor trader says. But he adds after the big run up
this week, there's still a little nervousness out there. "There's still some
apprehension getting long at the higher levels," a trader says. (DMC)
(END) DOW JONES NEWS 04-12-01
01:07 PM
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