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Strategies & Market Trends : VOLTAIRE'S PORCH-MODERATED -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Voltaire who wrote (5424)	10/4/2000 9:15:23 AM
From: Dealer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 65232

<FONT COLOR=BLUE>MARKET SNAPSHOT--Can Nasdaq find some stability? Futures turn lower, pointing to more weakness By Julie Rannazzisi, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 9:06 AM ET Oct 4, 2000 NEW YORK (CBS.MW) - The broad market is girding for an open on the soft side Wednesday following three grueling days for technology stocks. Decemebr S&P 500 futures edged down 0.40 point and were trading roughly 2.80 points below fair value, according to HL Camp & Co. Nasdaq futures, meanwhile, fell 8.50 points, or 0.3 percent. The Nasdaq's three-day losing streak --with triple-digit losses during each session -- has shaved 8.5 percent from the index's value. And for the past couple of trading sessions, early strength has given way to unrelenting selling pressure in afternoon action, underscoring investors' frazzled nerves and fears over slower profit growth. The wanton liquidation of many Nasdaq stocks has taken with it big-name stocks, removing leadership from the market. Select tech behemoths witnessed modest buying interest in the pre-market, with Cisco Systems (CSCO) up 75 cents to $57 and Intel (INTC) rising 44 cents to $40.75. But Oracle (ORCL), badly bruised on Tuesday, fell $1.50 to $68 over the Island ECN and IBM (IBM) fell another $1.25 to $109.31 after being stung by a 6.2 percent loss on Tuesday. In merger news, Firstar Corp. (FSR) said it's purchasing US Bancorp (USB) in an agreement valued at $21.2 billion, creating the 8th largest bank holding company in the U.S. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2001. US Bancorp added 94 cents to 24.13 in Instinet while Firstar slipped $1.25 to $21. Both stocks are components of Merrill Lynch's Regional Bank Holdrs (RKH), which ended up 0.2 percent on Tuesday. Meanwhile, profit warnings continue to pour in. Knight Trading Group (NITE) dropped $9.06 to $23.12 in Instinet after warning that third-quarter earnings will be lower-than-expected due to a difficult environment in late summer - punctuated by low volatility and Nasdaq declines - as well as expenses in building its international operations. Knight now sees earnings-per-share in the range of 13 to 16 cents versus the First Call estimate of 31 cents a share. And late Tuesday, Computer Associates (CA) warned that second-quarter earnings are expected to come in between 50 to 54 cents a share, missing the First Call estimate of 56 cents a share. The stock, a component of the Goldman Sachs Computer Software Index ($GSO), fell $1.44 to $23 in Instinet. In the Treasury arena, prices traded a sliver higher in the aftermath of the Fed's policy-setting meeting Tuesday. The 10-year Treasury note added 3/32 to yield ($TNX) 5.85 percent while the 30-year bond gained 7/32 to yield ($TYX) 5.93 percent. In economic news, Wednesday will see the release of August factory orders, expected to rise by 1.7 percent. View Economic Preview, economic calendar and forecasts and historical economic data. In currency markets, dollar/yen edged up 0.1 percent to 108.87 while euro/dollar shed 0.1 percent to 0.8746. The European Central Bank will meet to decide on monetary policy Thursday, with market participants anticipating a small nudge up in rates. Julie Rannazzisi is markets editor for CBS.MarketWatch.com.