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An abridged version,updated three times daily (9:15, 12:10, 4:15), of Briefing.com's Stock Ticker Page:
For Briefing.com subscribers, the comments below are posted at the times listed.
---- 12:00 ET ----Moving the MarketMarket Snapshot
30-yr bond -29/32 at 5.86% Japan +0.9%, Korea -4.2%, Hong Kong +14.3%, Indonesia +14.0%, European markets strongly SmithKline may buy Glaxo
NYSE:Nasdaq: Advancers
Decliners
Volume2054
703
330 mlnAdvancers
Decliners
Volume2378
1449
330 mlnSector WatchTech Indications
Strong: Drugs, PC's, banks, brokerage, chemicals, s&l Weak: oil drilling
CPQ
DELL
IBM
SUNW
AOL+5/8
+4 3/4
+2 1/8
+5/8
+3 13/16MSFT
NSCP
ORCL
INTC
MU +5 3/16
+1/2
+1 3/8
+2
+1AMAT
CSCO
WDC
LU
+1 9/16
+1 3/8
+1/4
+1 1/2
12:00 ET Dow +153, Nasdaq +30, S&P +18.49: Stocks opened sharply higher as latent bullishness erupted...14% gains in the Hong Kong and Indonesian stock markets were enough to add to the growing conviction that "Asia is behind us" even though Japan was only up a little, and Korean stocks fell...there is in fact little hard news to account for the bullish move today...view it as an important psychological move as the S&P reaches new highs, breaking the 1000 barrier and hitting 1001.40 at one point...drug stocks are a key factor in the S&P move, as SmithKline Beecham (SMB) now appears to be looking at buying Glaxo (GLX) rather than American Home Products (AHP)...AHP hasn't gone down as much as it went up on takeover talk, as overall drug industry consolidation speculation is helping the entire sector...big cap leaders are major movers in tech stocks, as Microsoft (MSFT), Intel (INTC), and Dell (DELL) are up big...but the gains are widespread with advancers leading decliners by 3 to 1 on the NYSE and 2 to 1 on the Nasdaq...market has had few dips as selling pressures have been virtually non-existent.
10:00 ET Dow +152, Nasdaq +26, S&P +17.89: Market holds its opening gains well...talk is all of optimism...everything up in the Dow 30, with Merck (MRK) +2 5/8, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) +1 3/4...Glaxo (GLX) +12 5/8 on takeover talk, helping drug sector...breadth very impressive on Nasdaq, with advancers outpacing decliners by over 3 to 1, even though big caps are biggest winners.
09:45 ET Dow +121, Nasdaq +25, S&P +13.59: Very strong as expected, with big cap leaders taking the market higher...Microsoft (MSFT) and Intel (INTC) leading the way for techs again, while drug stocks are leading the S&P, after SmithKline (SMB) now says they want Glaxo (GLX) instead of American Home (AHP)...breadth figures start very strong...Dow Transports +36.
09:15 ET: S&P futures still +13...see comments below.
08:45 ET: Wow...the bull appears to be back, helped by the start off the year of the tiger in Asia...S&P futures +13 after Hong Kong and Indonesia rose 14%...Tokyo and Korea didn't participate, but what the heck...European markets up strongly...Dow could open +100 or more...S&P could set record high today even with P/E currently over 24...post earnings rally, fears of Asia receding, or just the bull breaking loose again?...not clear, but heading higher...drug stocks bid sharply higher (except AHP) as SmithKline Beecham now courting Glaxo instead of American Home Products.
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Close Friday: Dow -66.52 at 7906.07, Nasdaq -0.14 at 1619.35, S&P -5.21 at 980.28: Bulls scored a victory this week as the market made a convincing move to the upside, marked by broad-based participation, heavy volume, and solid leadership... Bolstered by the market's resilience in the wake of latent concerns over Asia, earnings growth, and President Clinton's situation, investors bid stock prices higher on the heels of better than expected earnings reports from several blue chip companies, and welcome testimony from Alan Greenspan that left traders conviced that the Fed would not be raising rates anytime soon despite the tight labor markets... In sum, it was a bull run this week... Although the market finished lower in today's session, the decline was more a function of normal profit taking following healthy gains than nervous selling on the part of investors... Tech-laden Nasdaq was virtually unchanged while the Dow and S&P ended with only modest losses... Tech performance was guided by strength in the software stocks and the disk drive sector with the latter rallying in response to Western Digital's (WDC +1 5/8) better than expected earnings news... In the broader market, losses were most evident in some of this week's best performers as drug, financial, oil, and airline stocks ended mostly lower... 30-yr bond +16/32 to yield 5.80% despite much stronger than expected Q4 GDP (+4.3%)... Bond participants comforted by notion that GDP price deflator was up a scant 1.5% and the belief that the Asian crisis will slow growth sufficiently enough in the months ahead to keep the Fed on hold... Might as well be since Mr. Greenspan himself basically told them that's what would happen.... DJTA -28.18... SOX +1.43... XOI -4.33.
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