<font color=blue>MARKET SNAPSHOT--Dow, Nasdaq muscle-flexing
Financials climb
By Julie Rannazzisi, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 12:05 PM ET Sep 28, 2000
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) - The market staged a broad-based advance Thursday after a sloppy start as investors push earnings fears to the side and hunt for bargains.
"We're seeing some bargain hunting with restless rotation continuing. I can't read too much into this move, we need to demonstrate that we can keep these gains," said Bryan Piskorowski, market analyst at Prudential Securities.
"Hopefully, third-quarter earnings will be the market's upside catalyst as we wade through this seasonally soft period of the year," Piskorowski continued. "There's also a lot of cash sitting on the sidelines."
The market's recent swings and travails have been tied to uncertainty over the magnitude of the economic slowdown. This has created sometimes violent day-to-day sector shifts as investors look to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Inside the market, financials, biotech, utility, drug and retail stocks advanced nicely, with only oil and oil service shares slumping as crude prices eased. The November contract shed 41 cents to $31.05.
Within technology, networking shares managed to chisel out gains despite a downgrade in shares of Cisco Systems. Chip stocks paced the tech advance Thursday, migrating in the plus column for the second straight session.
The Dow Jones Industrials Average ($DJ) rallied 172 points, or 1.6 percent, to 10,800.
Pushing the Dow solidly into the plus column were shares of Citigroup, Procter & Gamble, Walt Disney and Wal-Mart. Moving lower were shares of Eastman Kodak, Coca-Cola and DuPont.
The Nasdaq Composite ($COMPQ) advanced 68 points, or 1.9 percent, to 3,725 while the Nasdaq 100 Index ($NDX) tacked on 98 points, or 2.7 percent, to 3,670.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index ($SPX) put on 1.7 percent while the Russell 2000 Index ($RUT) of small-capitalization stocks added 1.5 percent.
Separately, volume came in at 521 million on the NYSE and at 886 million on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Breadth was positive, with winners outpacing losers by 17 to 9 on the NYSE and by 20 to 16 on the Nasdaq.
Sector movers
A call from Sanford Bernstein initially put pressure on networking stocks Thursday, but the group managed a swift recovery with the Amex Networking Index ($NWX) up 0.3 percent.. The firm lowered its rating on Cisco Systems and Nortel Networks to a "market perform" from "market outperformer." Cisco (CSCO) slipped $1.75 to $55.56 while Canada's Nortel added $2 to $61.63, relinquishing losses suffered out of the gate. See
Merrill Lynch's Broadband Holdrs (BDH), which includes Nortel, Ciena, Corning, JDS Uniphase and Lucent Technologies, added 2.1 percent, erasing earlier gains. Lucent saw the steepest gains after falling to fresh 52-week lows on Wednesday, climbing 9 percent to $31.50.
Over in the chip arena, Intel shares edged up 50 cents to $44.38. The stock (INTC) also gained ground on Wednesday after four straight days of losses.
A climb in shares of LSI Logic (LSI) also helped the semis. The company said it's comfortable with previous estimates of 10 to 12 percent revenue growth for the third quarter. LSI said its guidance already reflects decreased shipments in North America of Sony's PlayStation2 systems -- which were announced on Wednesday.
Xilinx (XLNX), meanwhile, which is a component of the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ($SOX) alongside Intel and LSI Logic, got an upgrade from Chase H&Q to a "strong buy" from a "buy" rating." Shares rose 4.2 percent, or $3.31 to $83. The closely-watched SOX index gained 1.4 percent -- its second upside day in a row.
Merger news fueled the fire of financial shares Thursday, helping the S&P Bank Index ($BIX) score a 0.9 percent gain and the Amex Securities Broker/Dealer Index ($XBD) a 0.4 percent gain. Royal Bank of Canada announced it's buying regional securities firm Dain Rauscher (DRC) for about $1.46 billion in order to increase its presence in the U.S. market.
Individual movers
Exodus Communications (EXDS) fell $6.13 to $47.13. Ending recent speculation, the company confirmed it's purchasing the web hosting unit of Global Crossing (GBLX), named GlobalCenter, in a stock deal valued at around $6.5 billion. Global Crossing shares, meanwhile, climbed 88 cents to $30.75.
Marriott International (MAR) posted third-quarter earnings of 43 cents a share, ahead of the First Call estimate of 42 cents a share and the 36 cents earned in the year-ago quarter. The stock added 69 cents to $37.63 on Wednesday.
And Safeway (SWY) posted third-quarter earnings of 53 cents a share, surpassing the First Call estimate by a penny and ahead of the 44 cents made in the year-ago quarter. Shares shed 88 cents to $53.25.
Family Dollar Stores (FDO) said fourth-quarter earnings came in at 18 cents a share, matching the First Call estimate and beating the 16 cents earned in the same period last year. The stock added 13 cents to $19.
Treasury action
Government prices improved marginally, with long-dated issues witnessing most of the buying interest ahead of the morning's buyback operation.
Treasury purchased $1.0 billion in 30-year issues Thursday, paying $1.30 billion for issues with maturities ranging from Feb. 2010 to Nov. 2014.
The 10-year bond gained 1/32 to yield ($TNX) 5.82 percent while the 30-year Treasury bond put on 1/4 to yield ($TYX) 5.89 percent.
Thursday's economic agenda included the release of the final revision to second-quarter gross domestic product. The figure was upwardly revised to show a 5.6 percent growth rate - a touch higher than economists had expected - versus the previously reported 5.3 percent rate.
In other news, weekly initial claims fell 24,000 to 287,000. View Economic Preview, economic calendar and forecasts and historical economic data.
In the currency arena, dollar/yen edged up 0.3 percent to 107.60 while euro/dollar added 0.2 percent to 0.8851. The fledgling currency has remained on a stable trajectory since last Friday's concerted intervention effort on the part of the European Central Bank, Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan to buy euros.
Observers say the central banks will be on alert to intervene again should Denmark decide not to join the single currency in the national referendum to take place Thursday. A "no" vote, in fact, is seen undermining the already waning confidence in the currency. |
