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

To: TREND1 who wrote (20890)	7/19/2001 7:19:22 AM
From: Rich1	Respond to of 30051

No...not I.. The Big Picture Thursday, July 19, 2001 Printer-Ready Version Nasdaq Sheds 2.5% As Techs Bleed More Investor's Business Daily Alan Greenspan gave the market a momentary boost Wednesday morning. But he was no match for the tech-led selling. The Fed chief didn’t offer any surprises in his congressional testimony. Economic weakness remains a greater threat than inflation. “I think that we’re not out of the woods,” he said. “There are clearly risks that a number of things could go wrong, could very well go wrong.” The specter of more interest rate cuts sparked a rally in the bond market. The yields on 10- and 30-year Treasuries, which move in the opposite direction of price, undercut recent lows. The futures market also gained confidence the Fed will cut rates again when it meets next month. But traders are still looking for a quarter-point reduction in the fed funds rate, not another half-point move. Stocks didn’t get the same charge out of Greenspan as the bond market. Dour earnings from the likes of Veritas Software (VRTS) and EMC Corp. (EMC) fed the selling pressure. The Nasdaq suffered the most. The tech-heavy index gave back all of Tuesday’s gain and then some, finishing down 2.5%. The other major indexes trimmed their losses late in the day, but still closed lower. The Dow industrial average slipped 0.3%, ending a shade below its 200-day moving average. The S&P 500 dropped 0.6%. Higher volume fueled the declines on both the NYSE and Nasdaq. It was the first day of distribution, or professional selling, since the market kicked off its latest rally last week. You’d prefer to see the down days come in lighter trading and the up days in heavier volume. But true to its recent form, the market delivered another session of indecisive choppiness. Yet behind the major averages and the headline stocks lurked some surprisingly strong action. More than a few stocks broke out of price bases. And other names already on the move gained additional ground. In the medical sector, Barr Laboratories (BRL) shot out of a 11-month base, jumping 5.75 to 79.50 in almost three times average volume. An appeals court refused to rehear a suit from rival drug maker Eli Lilly (LLY), which wants to block Barr’s generic version of the anti-depressant Prozac from reaching the market. St. Jude Medical (STJ) beat estimates by a penny as second-quarter profit rose 20% to 55 cents a share. Shares of the cardiac device maker, which broke out last week, gained 2.94 to a new high of 69.94. Forest Laboratories (FRX) followed through on Tuesday’s breakout, adding another 3.10 to 81.30. Volume remained double its normal level. Home builders reflexed their leadership. The group led the market out of the April bottom, but soon ran into selling. Still, many of the stronger housing stocks from three months ago are breaking out of bases again to new highs. Centex (CTX) bolted 3.19 to a new high of 46.69. The nation’s biggest home builder demolished estimates as profit increased 51% to $1.22 per share. In all, nine building stocks gained more than 4%.