To: polarisnh who wrote (12518 ) 8/12/1999 8:15:00 AM From: polarisnh Respond to of 19700
Speaking of Acampora...... Rebound? Forsooth, the Stars Tell It Otherwise By Aaron L. Task Senior Writer 8/11/99 8:31 PM ET Contrarian's Delight SAN FRANCISCO -- With the markets in rally mode today, a source noted the following: Arch Crawford, a newsletter writer whose market calls are based on astrology, told CNBC he's looking for a 1000-point drop within two weeks. Second, put/call ratios showed the heaviest put buying in six months. Third, USA Today's front page featured a story entitled "Stock Wealth Slipping Away: With This Setback, Bull Market Might Have Met its Match." Finally, Ralph Acampora, chief technical analyst at Prudential Securities, has gone neutral. "Perfect time to stop going down," the source quipped. Although CNBC dotes on Acampora, his short-term track record has been spotty and he's become something of a contrarian indicator to market players, as our source implied. For the record, "Uncle Ralphie" actually went neutral Friday on Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street Week. "I was asked where I thought the market would be in three months," Acampora wrote in a research report published Monday (which for some inexplicable reason I didn't get until today). "When asked this, I changed my market stance to neutral without changing any of my estimates. I did this only because in three months we will be in November and confronting Y2K. I believe that we will experience a rally or two before then but at that time I would have a neutral opinion on the market as I feel it will be a choppy market in November, December and January." The technician maintains his projection of "12,000-plus" for the Dow but with a "huge caveat." Specifically, "the Dow has to maintain 10,334 and the S&P 500 must stay above 1,292." So if the Dow and/or S&P fall below those levels, look for Acampora to get bearish. Oh yeah? Well Thanks for Nothing Speaking of being better later than never, much hype and humidity today about Mary Meeker's lovefest with America Online (AOL:NYSE). Kind words from the Morgan Stanley Dean Witter analyst helped AOL jump 8.7% and gave the entire Net sector a lift. Additionally, Lehman Brothers issued a report today entitled Believe it or Not, It Looks Cheap and reiterated its buy rating on AOL and $200 price target (vs. "raising" it to $200 as CNBC's Martha MacCallum said repeatedly in her best effort to supplant Maria Bartiromo as the network's chief cheerleader). That's all well and good. But a source who has -- gasp -- shorted Internet stocks and AOL in the past wonders where Meeker, Lehman's Brian Oakes, Merrill Lynch's Henry Blodget, et al. were when the recent Internet stock cataclysm unfurled on unsuspecting investors. "The gall and the audacity of the biggest Internet analysts in the business working at the biggest firms to watch stocks go from zero to 250 with never a hint of taking gains," he said. "And then having the additional gall to look us in the eye and see these stocks 75% off the highs to tell the guy who bought at 250 to buy it again at 85? It's outrageous."