Below is the commentary and watchlist for today:
November 29, 2001 (Watchlist Below)
Internet Sales were unchanged during the 3rd quarter at $7.5 billion, however, considering that overall retail sales were down 2.6% during the same period, it indicates the potential for good internet Christmas sales.
Crude oil inventory declined slightly, but gasoline inventory climbed for the second consecutive week. By these figures it is hard to see either a major climb or fall in oil prices. If this is the case, than the extremes are based on emotion which can easily reverse.
The Beige Book found little evidence of economic recovery, even consumer spending was slow according to this report.
Durable Goods Orders for October is released at 8:30 AM ET. Economists expect 2.0% growth.
Weekly Jobless Claims is released at 8:30 AM ET. The 4-week moving average stands at 454 thousand.
New Home Sales for October is released at 10:00 AM ET.
Baxter International (BAX) will participate with Acambis (ACAM) in the production of 155 million doses of smallpox vaccine, BAX traded up on the news after the close.
Smithfield Foods (SFD) will be added to the S&P MidCap 400 after the close of trading on December 6th.
Manhattan Associates (MANH) will replace SFD in the S&P SmallCap 600.
NVIDIA (NVDA) will be added to the S&P 500 after the close of trading today, Nov. 29th.
Internet Security Systems (ISSX) will replace NVDA in the S&P MidCap 400.
Electronic Arts (ERTS) reported no impact on their earnings as a result of the slow economy during a CSFB conference.
BRCD, CMOS, MIKE and MSCC all beat earnings by 1 cent. They traded in different directions after the close, MIKE up, the rest down.
H&R Block (HRB) beat earnings by 5 cents and guided higher.
There was little question that the market internals would have decayed more after watching the market yesterday. However, they still remain positive, just significantly weakened. The screened stock ratio dropped to being barely positive at 5.5 to 4.7 favoring buying. Risk remains moderate. However, the ratio may be so close to being negative that I would be very cautious about trading today.
Strong groups; biotechs, gaming, HMO's, computer software, health insurance, medical equipment, semiconductors and select retail.
Below is the watchlist for November 29, 2001. The alert price is approximately 20 cents above the previous days high, depending on the recent movements. This alerts us to the potential movement of the stock. For more information see the Strategies link. Double click on the symbol to view a current graph.
Symbol Alert Price Sector
APOL 44.2 Education Services
AJG 36.35 Insurance
ARG 15.85 Chemical Manufacturing
BSX 27.29 Medical Equipment & Supplies
BSYS 57.72 Computer Services
COTT 16.5 Beverages
DLX 39.15 Office Supplies
ENDO 19.14 Medical Equipment & Supplies
IFIN 65.71 Investment Services
GIS 48.9 Food Processing
JDEC 15.01 Software & Programming
GTK 44.2 Computer Services
LOW 44.01 Retail (Home Improvement)
HD 44.47 Retail (Home Improvement)
MDT 46.34 Medical Equipment & Supplies
MAT 18.79 Recreational Products
QSFT 23.64 Software & Programming
MIMS 12.55 Healthcare Facilities
RSTN 16.67 Computer Hardware
TGH 65.68 Insurance |
