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Strategies & Market Trends : Steve's Channelling Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bruce A. Thompson who wrote (11448)	2/21/2001 3:17:38 PM
From: Bruce A. Thompson	Respond to of 30051

Wednesday February 21, 1:55 pm Eastern Time U.S. blue chips slip as CPI throws water on rate-cut hopes (UPDATE: Updates to early afternoon) By Elizabeth Lazarowitz NEW YORK, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Blue-chip shares sagged in early afternoon trading on Wednesday after an unexpectedly sharp gain in a key U.S. consumer price gauge in January, but high-tech shares clung to a slim gain. The market ``is very noncommittal,'' said Martin Yokosawa, portfolio manager at Oberweis Asset Management. ``There's cash around, but there's nothing to make people buy. It's really a blase market.'' The rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) raised concerns that deep interest-rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve may not be coming any time soon, depressing interest-rate-sensitive stocks like financials and retailers. The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI - news) slipped 68 points, or 0.64 percent, to 10,662. Financial services companies fell like American Express Co. (NYSE:AXP - news), down $1.29 at $44.69. The broad Standard & Poor's 500 Index (^SPX - news) was down 4 points, or 0.34 percent, at 1,274. The tech-laced Nasdaq Composite Index??? was up 3 points, or 0.15 percent, at 2,321, struggling back after a serious beating in recent sessions Fi??? seems to be suggesting that maybe the Fed will not cut rates between now and its next scheduled ??? some that represents a disappointment." The Nasdaq's rebound was led by computer chip makers like Intel Corp. (NasdaqNM:INTC - news) and software companies including Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news). But the Nasdaq's advance was curbed by a big drop in the shares of Sun Microsystems (NasdaqNM:SUNW - news) after top brokerage house Merrill Lynch cut its rating on the computer networking firm. At one point earlier in the day, the Nasdaq almost hit its low for the year 2001. But bargain hunters were picking up select software and computer chip makers that have been beaten down recently. As a result, the S&P computer software index (^SPCMSF - news) rose 2.12 percent and the Philadelphia semiconductor index (^SOXX - news) gained 3.88 percent. Early on Wednesday, the U.S. government said the overall Consumer Price Index rose 0.6 percent in January, the biggest gain since last March. The core CPI, excluding volatile food and energy prices, advanced 0.3 percent last month. In December, the overall CPI was up 0.2 percent and the core CPI was up 0.1 percent. Forecasts called for overall CPI to rise 0.3 percent and the core CPI to gain 0.2 percent in January. The jump in the CPI followed last week's report of a surge in wholesale prices, measured by the Producer Price Index. Soaring energy prices got the blame for the big jumps in both the PPI and the CPI in January. Retailers Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT - news), off $2.98 to $50.42, and home improvements titan Home Depot (NYSE:HD - news), down $2.38 to $41.71, both dragged on the Dow average. Sun Microsystems fell $2-1/4 to $20 in heavy trade, after hitting a new 52-week low at $19-11/16. The jitters infected other key computing stocks, including those of International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM - news), down $1.81 at $109.69, also pressuring the Dow. But the blue-chip index got a lift from other tech issues. Software titan Microsoft, one of the 30 stocks in the Dow average and one of the most heavily weighted stocks listed on Nasdaq, rose $1-1/8 to $57