Ted, not to beat a dead horse, but I still agree with this writer that it was the Dell news last night that sparked the market after hours and today. Cisco was a Noop.
U.S. stocks set for strong open after Dell news
By Haitham Haddadin
NEW YORK, April 5 (Reuters) - Wall Street is eyeing a strong open on Thursday after personal computer maker Dell Computer offered the bloodied market a ray of hope by reaffirming its first-quarter forecast.
The announcement, which came after Wednesday's regular trading session ended with another battering of technology stocks, was welcome news to investors hit by an avalanche of downbeat corporate news and profit forecasts.
"The Dell news seems very positive, reiterating their revenue number. The stock is up (pre-open) and that will help the entire technology complex," said Art Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co.
"The general sense is that we are oversold here and today is a day to get in and bargain-hunt."
Dell said it was maintaining its six-week-old forecast for its first fiscal quarter but would not comment on the remainder of the year due to economic and industry uncertainty.
Dell shares rose in afterhours trade to $23-7/8, and were up pre-open at $23-5/8, vs. their close on Wednesday at $22-3/16. Other marquee technology names were also firmer, including Cisco Systems Inc , the Web gear giant, and computer chip titan Intel Corp. as well as software company Oracle Corp. .
Hogan said the market should also be helped to bounce from its oversold condition by other factors. These included the decision by the Bank of England to cut Britain's interest rates, and by positive comment from Lehman Brothers, the Wall Street house, on Internet company Yahoo! Inc. . Yahoo! shares rose to $15-1/8 from a close at $12-7/16.
Suggesting a firm open across the board, June Nasdaq 100 index futures were trading 42 points higher at 1,421.50 while S&P index futures were up 20.80 points at 1,133.30 and Dow futures for June were up 137 points at 9,725.
"It looks like we will do better this morning and get a little pop, but from there on we'll see," said Tom Sparico, trader at Bengal Partners. But he said the general feeling was still that the indices have some work to do on the downside in the near-term.
The market was awaiting the release of the jobless claims data for the week of March 31, due to be issued at 8.30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT). The number of people filing for these claims is expected to rise to 372,000 from the previous week's 362,000, but the actual figures were likely to give clues to Friday's all-important U.S. jobs data, he said.
In overseas markets, Tokyo stocks rose, with the Nikkei average up 1.05 percent or 138.60 points, to 13,381.38, its third straight day of gains, as investors snapped up banks, securities and real estate shares amid hopes Friday's unveiling of an emergency economic package will keep the market rising.
In Europe, blue-chip tech issues rallied, boosting the broader market after the comforting comment from Dell and glowing prospects for Wall Street's opening.
Technology stocks fell on Wednesday amid relentless fears the economy will inflict more damage on the high-tech sector, but blue chips scraped out a gain as some investors braved the latest round of profit warnings in a hunt for good buys.
The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 34.20 points, or 2.04 percent, to 1,638.80, suffering its third straight losing session and hitting its lowest close since mid-October 1998. The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average gained 29.71 points, or 0.31 percent, to 9,515.42 after a helter-skelter session while the broad S&P 500 index shed 3.21 points, or 0.29 percent, to 1,103.251, touching its lowest close since the autumn of 1998.
In the news, software company Phoenix Technologies Ltd. said late Wednesday it expects its fiscal second-quarter revenues to miss expectations, citing delayed orders and contracts, particularly from Japanese PC makers. Phoenix shares closed at $11-14/16 before the announcement.
Interactive television company WorldGate Communications Inc. said it had cut about 60 employees, or 20 percent of its staff, in an effort to conserve cash amid uncertainty in the capital markets. It said it expected to save about $10 million per year as a result of the measure. WorldGate shares closed at $2-29/32, ahead of the announcement.
FedEx Corp. , the world's No. 1 air express package shipper, on Wednesday warned its fourth-quarter earnings are likely to be lower than it previously forecast as the economic downturn cuts further into demand for its freight services. FedEx shares closed at $39.60 ahead of the news.
Copyright 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
INTEL CORP - INTC
Price 24 7/8
Net Change +2 1/4
Volume (000) 21661
Day High 25 1/16
Day Low 24 3/32
LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES - LU
Price 7.44
Net Change +0.69
Volume (000) 10670
Day High 7.50
Day Low 7.26
ADVANCED MICRO DEV - AMD
Price 22.04
Net Change +1.30
Volume (000) 2685
Day High 22.20
Day Low 21.50
as of
04/05/01 10:31 AM EDT
More Info
INTC LU AMD CSCO
(Voluntary Disclosure: Position- Long; LT Rating- Strong Buy)
Raging Bull Advertisements Tomorrow, the market closed at:
No Minimum Balance at National Discount Brokers
Meet the top deal-makers. Visit Forbes.com.
BoardMark MemberMark Ignore Poster Report TOS Violation
INTC Update
Last 24 3/4
Chg. +2 1/8
% +9.39 %
Time 10:35:00
Detailed | Real-Time
Nasdaq delayed 15 minutes, 20 min. otherwise.
Previous | Next | Post New | Respond | View Replies E-Mail this post to a Friend!
Favorite Boardmarks
| No boardmarks have been placed
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Intel (INTC) - News
Before the Bell - U.S. futures up, big techs firm
Thursday, 5 Apr 2001, 10:11 AM EDT, Reuters Financial News
U.S. stocks rally at open; Dell news helps
Thursday, 5 Apr 2001, 9:40 AM EDT, Reuters Financial News
U.S. stocks set for strong open after Dell news
Thursday, 5 Apr 2001, 8:56 AM EDT, Reuters Financial News
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
