Daily update (private source) not for resell.
*****Information in this letter is from sources considered reliable.
Accuracy/completeness not
guaranteed nor is the content to be deemed an offer/solicitation for a
sale/purchase of
securities.
Good Morning! It's (finally) Friday, August 31, 2001.
As this is the last day of the month and we're leading into a three-day
weekend, the markets are thin and many participants are out until next
week. That isn't to say there isn't a lot of action; I could have said the
same thing about yesterday and you saw what happened.
Today, the markets have seen some positive economic news that sent bonds
down sharply and stocks up. After yesterdays big move down in stocks, it
didn't take too much positive input to get the bottom fishers into the
market to take down issues that suddenly looked like bargains.
Treasuries fell after the Commerce Department said new orders placed at
manufacturers unexpectedly increased last month. Economists had expected
orders to fall 0.5%; instead, they rose 0.1%, after a revised 2.9% drop in
June.
The report could signal that the economy is starting to recover from its
worst 12 months of growth since the 1990-1991 recession. That suggests some
factories will boost production by the end of the year or early 2002 to
make up for the decline in inventories which finally look like they have
bled off.
Whether this will strongly influence the Feds decision on Oct. 2 remains to
be seen and between now and then we'll get a lot more information to
confirm (or not) toady's report.
In other news, the U. of Michigan Consumer Confidence indicator fell.
Expected to come in at an unchanged 93.5, the report dropped to 91.5,
undoubtedly a reflection of recently announced layoffs.
At the moment, the long bond is down 4/32s at 5.394%, the ten-year note is
down 8/32s at 4.846% and the two-year note is down 3/32s at 3.641.
The stock market may partially be to blame for the decline in Treasuries
as, in light trade, stocks are lifting and draining money away from fixed
income issues.
Stocks started out negatively after Novellus Systems said orders will meet
the low end of forecasts, disappointing investors looking for signs that
tech companies profits' could soon rebound. NVLS is down 2.12 at 44.61.
With encouragement from the Factory Orders number, stocks reversed course
and are heading up. At the moment, the Dow is up 75 at 9995, the Nasdaq is
up 13 at 1805 and the S&P 500 is up 7 at 1136.
TiVo Inc, the maker of a device that allows TV viewers to pause and replay
live broadcasts said its 2Q loss narrowed to 82 cents a share in the period
ended July 31. That was an improvement from a loss of 1.09 a year ago and
better than the loss of 94 cents expected by analysts. TIVO is up 0.54 at
6.48.
Proctor & Gamble, the household goods maker and Unilever NV are negotiating
a settlement regarding Proctor & Gambles use of corporate espionage tactics
to discover proprietary information about Unilever's hair care business.
And you thought shampoo was dull. The companies have until tomorrow to
settle the matter. PG is down 0.57 at 74.02, UN is up 1/07 at 61.28.
Starbucks Crop, the US specialty coffee chain said sales at stores open at
least 13 months rose 1% in August, at the lower end of analyst's forecasts.
Same store sales rose 10% a year earlier. SBUX is down 0.35 at 17.09.
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