The Devil's In The Details For The Fed
Edited by Ray Hennessey
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
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2:45 (Dow Jones) Anxiety at the Fed about the risk of recession seems to
have grown since the March employment report, say Goldman Sachs analysts,
who advise marketeers to remain "highly sensitive to surveys and anecdotes
bearing on retail outlays and unemployment insurance claims." (JC)
2:35 (Dow Jones) Home Depot (HD) and Lowe's (LOW) don't report monthly sales
figures, but that hasn't insulated them from the Thursday retail sell-off.
Most other retailers suffered in March from harsh weather, and the
home-improvement giants haven't been weather-proofed, says Alan Rifkin, an
analyst at Lehman Brothers. He's sticking to his previous estimate that
March sales at Home Depot stores open at least a year were hammered down by
4%, while Lowe's were sawed off by 5%. (JMC)
2:24 (Dow Jones) Prudential analyst John Hall says he discounts talk John
Hancock Financial (JHF) is on the sales block. "While the buyers are
plentiful, we don't understand the rationale for a quick sale" so soon after
the company's 2000 IPO, he says. Hall is keeping his hold rating, saying the
shares "reflect an unwarranted takeover premium." (RJH)
2:12 (Dow Jones) In the continuing battle of the department store giants,
May (MAY) seemed to gain the upper hand over Federated (FD) on Thursday,
posting a 5.2% gain in its March same-store sales while Federated's fell
3.2%. But "all is not as it would appear," says Steven Kernkraut, an analyst
at Bear Stearns. "May and Federated operate on different promotional
calendars for March and April." May had planned its same-store sales to grow
5% to 7% in March, and to fall 3% to 5% in April, Kernkraut says. Federated
devised "a more balanced plan" of a 2% gain in March and a 2.5% to 3% gain
in April. "It would be unfair to say, hey, there's a seat change," Kernkraut
says. Still, he points out, Federated is about 5 points behind its plan so
far, with May lagging by only a couple. (JMC)
2:01 (Dow Jones) Murphy Oil (MUR) has gone about as far it should go, A.G.
Edwards says. The firm lowered the rating on Murphy to maintain from
accumulate, saying the stock's recent run-up has given it a "full"
valuation. The firm is still high on Murphy for the long-term. Shares are up
36 cents to $75.48. (RJH)
1:50 (Dow Jones) FAA just issued a rule requiring airlines to carry
anti-heart-attack and other emergency medical kits on all flights within
three years. The industrywide cost for defibrillators and other life-saving
devices, medications and crew training is estimated at $16 million for over
10 years. Nine carriers either already carry the heart devices or have made
a commitment to do so, according to the agency. (SON)
1:41 (Dow Jones) Stock futures are putting in a broad-based rally, with June
Nasdaq leading the gains. Contract just took out 1717, Wednesday's high.
Market now guns for March 28 high of 1752. Volume light. (DMC)
1:32 (Dow Jones) The grim statistics on March retail sales keep filing in.
Salomon Smith Barney's index of sales at stores open at least a year gained
a paltry 0.7% in March, falling short of February's tepid 1.9% increase.
Results from the index, which tracks 50 companies, come on the heels of a
Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi survey of 71 companies that advanced 1.7%, compared
to 3.1% in February and 2.1% in March of last year. And the Commerce
Department, whose survey also tracks automobile, gasoline, and restaurant
sales, fell 0.2%. (JMC)
1:20 (Dow Jones) Near-term economic issues could give Starbucks (SBUX)
shares a bad jolt, warns Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown analyst John Glass. He
worries about the coffee retailer's "high degree of exposure" on the West
Coast, where white-collar layoffs might curb traffic. Glass also questions
whether Starbucks can take a price increase this summer when it laps its
last one. "Without additional pricing, we believe comps could retreat to the
low single-digit level," he told clients Thursday. (RLG)
1:07 (Dow Jones) Traders say it's important for June DJIA to close above 10K
on Thursday. "If we don't close above there, it's going to give people a
reason to slam it next week," a floor trader says. So far that doesn't look
hard, June DJIA last up 40 pts at 10105. (DMC)
1:00 (Dow Jones) Merrill Lynch calls Yahoo's (YHOO) 1Q results mixed and its
future uncertain. "Yahoo! is clearly at a crossroads, and we believe it is
critical that the company hire a strong new CEO in the next month or two. We
continue to believe the company will either turn its business around - with
considerable long-term upside possible - or sell to a major media or
technology company at $10-$15 within a year." (GS)
12:48 (Dow Jones) National Association of Manufacturers says drop in
producer prices clears way for Fed to cut rates further to re-ignite
economy. (JC)
12:33 (Dow Jones) No bottom yet for semiconductor stocks, Merrill Lynch
analyst Joseph Osga says, despite the nearly 20% gain this week in the
Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. "We think a bottom to semiconductor
industry fundamentals is still at least a quarter away and would advise
against going overweight semiconductor stocks right now." The firm says
industry revenue is still declining at an accelerating rate, which suggests
further downside to stock prices. (GS)
12:22 (Dow Jones) Lehman Brothers Inc. analyst Stuart Linde urged investors
to buy Liberty Media Group (LMGA) shares ahead of its spin off from AT&T
Corp. (T). Without AT&T, Liberty can pursue strategies in television
programming and telecommunicaitons with much less Federal Communication
Commission scrutiny and fewer FCC limitions, he said in a research note
Thursday. (DDO)
12:11 (Dow Jones) Trading in the shares of struggling Internet consultant
MarchFirst (MRCH) have been halted, again. Nasdaq says news is pending, but
company unavailable to comment. MarchFirst shares gyrated yesterday on heavy
volume amid speculation it plans to sell its McKinney & Silver advertising
unit to Havas Advertising (HADV) of France. MRCH last trafficked at 31
cents. (MLP)
(END) DOW JONES NEWS 04-12-01
02:45 PM
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