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To: t2 who wrote (10696)	4/26/2001 11:30:48 AM
From: hobo	Respond to of 10876

April 26, 7:00 AM: EUR/$..0.8965 $/JPY..122.59 GBP/$..1.4390 $/CHF..1.7089 Euro Steady Ahead of ECB Meeting by Jes Black At 8:30:00 AM US Jobless Claims (exp 387k, prev 385k) US Q1 Employ Cost index (exp 1.1%, prev 0.8%) The euro held steady against the dollar ahead of today's European Central Bank monetary policy meeting. The ECB is widely expected to keep its key lending rate at 4.75% due to concerns over price stability, despite further signs of an economic slowdown in the euro zone. Euro/dollar is hovering above support around $0.8960, unable to break out of its trading range between $0.8945 and $0.89 ahead of the meeting. Today's German producer price inflation rose more than expected, to 4.9% in March, the highest year-on-year rate since July 1982. Given this week's rising inflation data from Germany, and the constant reminders by ECB officials that Eurozone price risks have not disappeared, the ECB is not expected to lower rates at today's meeting. Therefore, as markets have come to accept the ECB's "steady hand" policy over the past weeks, today's decision is unlikely to produce a large reaction like it did after the last two decisions to keep interest rates on hold. In fact, due to today's high inflation numbers a rate cut could hurt the euro if markets interpreted it as the ECB giving in to outside pressures amid internal price instability. However, weighing on the euro today was further evidence of an economic slowdown in the euro zone's second largest economy. French business confidence dropped again in April amid a slowdown in output, with the composite index falling to levels not seen since September 1999. The data added to the growing evidence that French firms are feeling the burden of the US slowdown, even if the French economy has proved more resilient than Germany's over the past few months. Sterling rose to a day's high of $1.4418 before paring some of those gains as the euro/dollar dipped below support at $0.8960 to a low of $0.8946. Cable briefly broke below key support at $1.4380, which is the 66% retracement of the move from the April 9th high around $1.45 to last week's low of $1.4180, but quickly recovered to around $1.4390. The yen recovered from an earlier one-week low against the dollar at 122.82 and a two-day low of 110.08 against the euro after initially falling as markets became more skeptical that Koizumi would carry through reforms as fast as expected. Earlier today, the yen fell across the board following the announcement that Japan's newly-elected Prime Minister Koizumi appointed Masajuro Shiokawa as Finance Minister, not Koichi Kato, as some had expected. Mr. Shiokawa, 79, is the former Transport and Education Minister as well as a party veteran and dealers say such an appointment would reflect the limitations of the prime minister, who lacks the solid backing of the ruling party's largest faction. Shiokawa is currently a member of the Lower House budget committee, therefore the new minister will have to adjust quickly to the new position, as well as prepare for a meeting of finance ministers from the G7 nations in Washington this weekend. Dollar/yen resistance is seen around 122.80 followed by 123.20. Support is seen at 122.00 followed by 121.60. European bourses traded in negative territory this morning as investors awaited the ECB's latest policy statement. The biggest losers were telecom stocks, as investors mulled over lower earnings estimates. Meanwhile, the Dow and Nasdaq futures trading down 25 and 15 points respectively. Today in the US, Initial jobless claims are expected to rise to 387k from 385k one week earlier. This adds to the trend of more job losses and the labor market is likely to worsen before getting better. Meanwhile, Q1 2001 employee cost index is expected to rise to 1.1% from last month's moderate 0.8% increase. A reading of 1.1% would be the highest in one year, but is not likely to produce inflationary concerns for the Fed.

To: t2 who wrote (10696)	4/26/2001 12:28:18 PM
From: t2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10876

QCOM looks solid while JNPR is stalling. Makes sense as short covering is much more important to JNPR to keep it at current levels while short covering is going only help QCOM to close positive for today and start making a run upward. JNPR could gain with a rising Nasdaq but the risk/reward is much more in favor of QCOM. JNPR's sector is just getting wiped out and one can conclude that if it stays that way, JNPR is overpriced unless its technology sets it apart from Cisco....which I doubt is sustainable. Not any expert on QCOM but just my gut feeling from what I am seeing. QCOM looks really good as we get closer and closer to the next generation of wireless services..and that is what is different in QCOM compared to last year.