Kis, your right again, but how long can this mania go on? Please tell me till the end of 1999. If all idiot's can do this well. Will idiots all end up $billionaires, and the people that didn't invest end up working for them???
>>NEW YORK, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Stocks staged a record-setting rally on Monday, just one day before a Federal Reserve meeting which is expected to result in a decision to raise short-term interest rates.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 199.15 points, or 1.79 percent, to 11,299.76. The previous record close for the Dow was 11,209.84, reached on July 16. The Dow closed at its high for the day, surpassing the intraday high of 11,252.27, which was set on July 19.
"When the Fed raises rates, people worry about how many times rates will be raised," said Marshall Acuff, equity strategist at Salomon Smith Barney. "What this rally is all about is the belief that the Fed will raise rates 25 basis points tomorrow and that's it for the year."
The Nasdaq Composite and the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index, however, failed to surpass records set in July.
The technology-driven Nasdaq rose 71.24 points, or 2.69 percent, to 2,719.57. And the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index rose 23.61 points, or 1.77 percent, to 1,360.22.
In the broader market, advances led declines 1,709 to 1,250 on volume of 673,762,220 shares.
The Fed last raised short-term rates on June 30, when it moved its fed funds target rate up 25 basis points to 5.0 percent from 4.75 percent. The fed funds rate is the rate that banks charge each other for overnight loans.
The 30-year U.S. Treasury bond ended flat Monday, up just 1/32, with the yield at 5.98 percent -- far enough below the psychologically important 6.0 percent yield level to show that markets' comfort with the expected rate increase.
Despite the record in the Dow, some analysts said the market's technical underpinnings were weak.
"In the past nine days, the Dow has gone from 10,500 to 11,100. And in this period, the advance/decline line was negative on five days and only on four, was it plus. The net positive is 283 advancers," said Ralph Bloch, the chief technical analyst at Raymond James and Associates in St. Petersburg, Fla.
"So the market has traveled 600 points with only 283 net advancers," Bloch said, referring to data through Friday. "That is so bad, I don't have an adjective to describe it. It is an absolute horror show."
Florida Progress Corp. rose 2-3/16 to 46-13/16. The company said over the weekend that it had agreed to be acquired by Carolina Power & Light Co. in a $5.3 billion cash and stock transaction. Carolina Power & Light declined 2-5/16 to 36-11/16.
United Water Resources Inc. jumped 2-7/16 to 33-1/2. United, which operates a water distribution business in the eastern United States, agreed to be acquired by French utilities giant Suez-Lyonnaise des Eaux in a $1.0 billion deal. Suez Lyonnaise would pay United Water shareholders $35 per share and throw in an extra dividend of $0.48 per share.
Omniquip International Inc. gained 7-1/2 to 20-5/8. The construction equipment maker agreed to be acquired by Textron Inc. in a deal in which Omniquip shareholders would receive $21 per share in cash for each of their shares. The transaction is worth $477 million, including assumption of debt. Textron rose 3-5/16 to 84-1/2.
Transaction Network Services Inc. soared 8-3/4 to 43-1/4. The company agreed to be acquired by PSINet Inc. in a $720 million cash and stock transaction. Transaction Network processes eCommerce transactions. PSINet rose 5/16 to 45-7/8.
Internet-related issues were generally higher with America Online Inc. rising 3 to 98-3/16 and Amazon.com Inc. advancing 4-15/16 to 118-3/8.
Financial stocks also turned in a strong performance, with American Express Co. rising 3-1/8 to 146-3/8, Chase Manhattan Corp. advancing 1-7/8 to 85-11/16 and J.P. Morgan & Co. Inc. gaining 6-13/16 to 139-3/4.
The NYSE composite index of all listed stocks rose 8.72 at 634.81. The average share was up 60 cents. The American Stock Exchange index was up 4.72, or 0.60 percent, at 792.51.
The Wilshire Associates Equities Index -- the market value of all NYSE, Nasdaq and American Stock Exchange issues -- closed at 12,367.13, up 197.06, or 1.62 percent.
(Wall Street desk, 212-859-1730))<< |
