Confidence Builds for Positive Friday Finish (how positive??)
New York, Jul 27, 2001 (123Jump via COMTEX) -- Upside momentum continues to
build with less than three hours for the normal day and for the week.
The Nasdaq Composite Index has a chance to close-out a shaky week with a slight
gain if the tech-heavy index can sustain the 9-point gain to 2031.
Who knows, maybe the traders will want to hold some positions in a few stocks
that have performed well this week on the idea that this three-day comeback has
legs.
A pair of tech software-management stocks that hit new lows earlier this week -
i2 Technologies (ITWO) and MicroMuse (MUSE) - have bounced for gains of more
than 10% as bargain-hungry traders look for short-squeeze opportunities.
Market Highlights notes the unusually heavy volume for speech-recognition
software company Nuance Communicatons (NUAN) on news of an alliance with Visual
Data (VDAT) of Pompano Beach, Fla., to develop markets for voice and audio
content through its FirstNews financial news service.
Nuance shares were up 1 to 14.10.
As money continues to flow away from JDS Uniphase (JDSU), some funds may be
heading for ONI Systems (ONIS), a maker of optical-networking products for
all-optical communications systems.
In other words, the transmission system from end-user to end-user is based
entirely upon wavelengths of light.
Currently, very few systems operate this way. At some point in the network,
light must be converted to electrical pulses, and that slows down the
transmission speed.
Meanwhile, confidence is building at 1:20 p.m. EST.
The composite index is up 15 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average is
on the verge of crossing over the flat line.
Community and regional banks continue to dominate the new-highs list. Among
large banks moving at or near a 52-week high: Bank of America (BAC).
We continue to be amazed by the resilience of the so-called "kiddie stocks" such
4Kids Entertainment (KDE), famous for its Pokemon toys and trading cards and
JAKKS Pacific (JAKK), a maker of figurines based on World Wide Wrestling (WWF)
stars.
The two former issues are trading at 52-week highs, while the latter continues
to undergo a slow bleed.
As most folks are aware, healthcare is a broad and diverse market. We're talking
about several hundred, if not a thousand publicly traded U.S. companies.
December is often a time when small-cap stocks experience a great deal of
tax-loss pressure and then rebound in January.
What's interesting about this year's market is that the stocks of many small
companies not only rebounded in January, but they also went on to record new
highs.
Making the new-highs list again today are Merit Medical Systems (MMSI), up 98
cents to 11.94 on eight times normal daily volume and NBTY Inc. (NBTY), formerly
know as a Nature's Bounty, up 66 cents to 14.72.
Both stocks traded under $10 a share in early January.
Merit makes disposable medical products for use in the diagnosis and treatment
of cardiovascular disease and NBTY makes and distributes a line of branded
vitamins and nutritional supplements.
Elsewhere in the market, biotechs continue to find traction after several weeks
of decline that threatened to return the 19-stock Biotech HOLDRs Trust (BBH) to
a new low.
Among the gainers: Chiron Corp. (CHIR), Genentech (DNA), Amgen (AMGN) and
Genzyme General (GENZ).
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