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

To: Sully- who wrote (37485)	6/5/2001 12:06:20 PM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 65232

Stocks Rise on Signs of Firming Profits By Christopher O'Connor June 5, 2001 STOCKS TRADED mostly higher on a day that offered tentative signs the profit slowdown this quarter may not be as severe as some investors feared. Sluggish economic indicators kept a lid on buying sentiment, however. Struggling telecommunications-equipment maker Lucent Technologies (LU) and specialty chip company Xilinx (XLNX) reaffirmed they expect to hit their modest sales and earnings targets for the quarter. The news lifted their sectors and helped market players ease new money into the rest of technology as well. "There's a lot of money on the sidelines right now," said Barry Berman, managing director of equity trading for Robert W. Baird & Co. "Little by little, people are going to start to want to put that money to work, unless they see something really negative." Still, economic numbers that showed a continuing decline in the services sector and in worker productivity limited the gains outside of techs. At 11:30 a.m. ET, the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 60 points, or 2.8%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 35 points, or 0.4%, and the S&P 500 rose nine points, or 0.7%. Computer-hardware and biotech stocks also rose among techs. Energy stocks gave back some of yesterday's spike as concerns waned about Iraq's decision to stop exporting oil. Worker productivity fell by an annual rate of 1.2%, the Labor Department reported this morning, topping estimates for a contraction of just 0.8%. Such a drop might worry some investors about inflation. It indicates companies may have too many workers and will try to boost their prices to make up for excess wages. However, the decline isn't expected to make the Federal Reserve curb its recession-fighting program to cut interest rates. In addition, the National Association of Purchasing Management's services index fell to 46.6 in May from 47.1 in April, indicating continued contraction in that sector. April factory orders fell 3% — about in line with expectations. The reaction to the numbers was muted, however, as good news on Xilinx and others offered traders a sigh of relief. Xilinx's stock rose about 6% to $44.13 after it said order cancellations and delays have slowed considerably. And, unlike rumblings last week from some tech companies, Xilinx said international sales may actually exceed those from North America in the second quarter. Lucent told analysts at an Atlanta trade show it expects to slightly exceed last quarter's sales total of $5.91 billion and its per-share loss would be narrower than the 37-cent loss it reported last quarter. The company, which has been buffeted by operational miscues, executive shake-ups and a broken merger with France's Alcatel (ALA), has seen its stock decline steadily over the past year. Shares of Lucent leapt 7% to $8.54. Also brightening spirits was a note by Merrill Lynch on wireless technology gear maker RF Micro Devices (RFMD). The stock fell 10% yesterday on a warning from AXT (AXTI), a supplier of RF Micro's chips, but Merrill said RF Micro is on track to meet or exceed its June and September quarter estimates thanks partly to strong orders from phone maker Nokia (NOK). RF Micro rose 6% to $26.34. Nonetheless, investors remain on guard for more earnings warnings as the second quarter comes to a close. "With the preannouncements coming out, there's still concern that the second quarter might not be the bottom for the economy," said Baird's Berman. The mood on the market has improved enough so that Merrill Lynch tech analyst Steve Milunovich today felt comfortable releasing a list of 23 stocks the firm feels will be long-term winners. The list included big-cap names such as optical-networker Ciena (CIEN), interactive-programming guide developer Gemstar-TV Guide International (GMST) and chip names like Applied Micro Circuits (AMCC) and Triquint Semiconductor (TQNT). Those stocks rose between 3% and 8%. Bond prices were higher, taking yields lower. The 10-year note yielded 5.28% vs. 5.34% late yesterday. The 30-year bond was at 5.65% vs. 5.69% yesterday. yahoo.smartmoney.com Ö¿Ö

To: Sully- who wrote (37485)	6/5/2001 12:20:06 PM
From: RR	Respond to of 65232

Hi Tim: I was just answering a PM and making similar comments. Hey, nobody knows what this ole Naz will do! Scratching my head as well. TA arguments are all over the radar screen. I wasn't kidding last night when I said that I could argue bull or bear from the charts. See basis for arguments equally either way. Wild! That's part of the reason I'm sitting on my hands right now. The bull in me likes the recent range, or channel, which has proven itself well for the Naz. In fact, if one had timed their entry/exit on the upper/lower channel lines for the past 40 days, then some nice returns could have been made for the swing traders. On the bear side, you know what I'm going to say. No sense in repeating it. Now add to that some fear about INTC comments Thursday. I'm still leaning to buy QQQ puts somewhere in here. I'd like to see the Naz run a bit more before doing so. If it hits 2250 today, then I'll probably buy the puts today. RR