A quiet day here in the Far East.
HK up a touch, the Nikeii flat, S. Korea up a touch.
The utilities index was the big gainer here, properties were flat and financials off a bit, despite the decision by Alan not to raise interest rates. (Remember, the currency peg means that HK's interest rates move in lock step with US interest rates, and so nobody watches the movements of Uncle Al as much as the people here.)
According to Carl Johnson, there is no reason for semi stocks to be slaughtered like they have been, except that
(1) Analysts don't understand that falling DRAM prices aren't the end of the world, and (2) They don't understand the different dynamics between the front-end of the sector (actual chip manufacturers) and the back-end sector (equipment suppliers in the test, assembly and packaging end of the business) and (3) They get "jitters" and play upgrade/downgrade politics.
I would add one last thing on my own, and that is that i have heard several different "market mavins" in interviews warn investors away from any stock, and particularly tech stocks, with Asian exposure, and unfortunately, way over half of Cymer's sales go to Nikon and Canon.
Even though the stock is way off of the $33 price of DLJ and the $30 of MS, the analysts can wait to bestow their blessings.
There may be a rebound in tech stocks today, (Johnson indicates this opinion, but also says new lows may be soon again be tested) but the impact on cymi might well be muted somewhat. I'll take any positive close.
jess |
