Uneventful Session Despite Big News
Edited by Thomas Granahan
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
(Call Us: 201 938-5299; All Times Eastern)
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4:04(Dow Jones) For a day that brought so much big news, trade was fairly
boring. The latest data say the Fed can go plenty more, though they don't
necessarily have to. While JDS gets hit hard, techs dont act too bad. The
mixed day was symbolic of a mixed week - major averages didn't do much of
anything. SOX gets 2% bounce Friday. DJIA slips 40 to 10416, Nasdaq adds 7
to 2029, and S&P 500 climbs 3 to 1205 (preliminary). (TG)
3:52 (Dow Jones) The big names may get most of the attention, but the little
guys also have had a rotten 2Q earnings season. According to Thomson
Financial/First Call, small-cap earnings are 20.3% lower than a year ago,
based on the 56% of the S&P SmallCap 600 that have reported so far. As you
might expect, techs are the worst performers, down a whopping 82% from the
year-ago 2Q. Energy and financials are performing the best, up 147% and 19%,
respectively, from a year ago. (GS)
3:47 (Dow Jones) Infonet Services (IN) attributed Friday's frenzied sell-off
of its shares to unfounded rumors that major stakeholder Royal Dutch KPN NV
is selling its shares. "KPN dumping shares on the market is not something
they would be able to do without prior notification and subsequent SEC
registration," says Amanda Bassett, director of investor relations with
Infonet. After plunging to a low of $5.25 earlier Friday, Infonet swapped
hands recently at $6.30, down $1.45, or 18.7%. Volume was heavy, with 1.7
million shares traded, more than five times average daily volume of 321,780
shares. (JAW)
3:42 (Dow Jones) The "SirCam" e-mail virus outbreak is still going strong,
and causing significant damage, 10 days after it first appeared. Most
"mass-mailer worms," like the "I Love You," "Anna Kournakova" and "Homepage"
viruses, peak in the first day or two and then die out, said British e-mail
filtering services firm MessageLabs. The firm is predicting SirCam will be
the single most prolific virus it has ever seen. (RR)
3:40 (Dow Jones) Stephen Suttmeier, analyst with MCM Moneywatch, says the
Sept. S&P contract has established some bullish divergences on weekly
charts, but to really confirm the bottom is in, the contract would have to
take out 1231.40 - a pivotal peak on July 19. (CMN)
3:34 (Dow Jones) Three reasons why Hasbro (HAS) and Mattel (MAT) can move
higher, courtesy of Arnhold & S. Bleichroeder's John Roque: 1) both stocks
are above upward sloping 50- and 200-day moving averages; 2) both stocks are
improving at the same time (i.e. working in group fashion); 3) both stocks
are seemingly not on the usual suspects list when investors look for new
ideas, so there's a measure of contrary opinion involved. Hasbro can go to
$20, Mattel to $23, he says. Hasbro up 0.7% at $16, Mattel off 1.3% at
$18.16. (TG)
3:22 (Dow Jones) "Has everyone become a momentum investor?" asks Goldman
Sach's Arjun Murti. He's urging investors to resist the "doom and gloom"
thinking that has been pressuring energy stocks, and use the selling to
build selective positions. The strong sell-off has reduced some stocks to
values that aren't too far from reflecting $10-a-barrel oil. (CCC)
3:11 (Dow Jones) A federal advisory panel rejected to recommend approval of
FluMist, the nasal flu vaccine developed by Aviron (AVIR) and to be
co-marketed with American Home Products (AHP). The FDA panel found the
vaccine was effective, but not safe. Thursday, Nasdaq halted trading in the
shares at $40.80 until the panel meeting ended. Shares still halted. (BMM)
3:00 (Dow Jones) U.S. Secret Service alerts financial institutions and
others who negotiate U.S. Treasury checks to the possibility of fraud
associated with tax relief checks. (JCC)
2:50 (Dow Jones) The FTC is likely to rule on PepsiCo's (PEP) pending
takeover of Quaker (OAT) within the next three weeks, but the ruling could
come as soon as three days, says an FTC spokeswoman. She declined to comment
further on the investigation. Quaker is trading at about $88 a share - a
whopping 19% discount to PepsiCo's offer - amid fears that the FTC will
block the deal. (JAW)
2:39 (Dow Jones) An order issued by a Rhode Island court earlier Friday is
being seen as a neutral event by investors. The order requests more
information from the state's attorney general before the judge will decide
how to proceed. The suit, which seeks to recover the public costs connected
to the health risks from exposure to lead paint, is in an early stage, and
no trial date has been set yet. (CCC)
2:29 (Dow Jones) Sharon Stone hasn't aimed any ice picks at
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Chairman and Chief Executive Alex Yemenijian said
the company wasn't sued by Stone after the sequel to "Basic Instinct" died
before it could get started. The film, touted by the company earlier this
year, was dropped from MGM's release scheduled in June. That same month,
Stone filed a $14 million lawsuit against two producers she claimed had an
oral contract with her to make the sequel. (DDO)
2:17 (Dow Jones) Standard & Poor's SA, an affiliate of McGraw-Hill (MHP),
was named as a defendant in a $2.34 billion action June 20 by a group of
holders of pre-Revolutionary Russian bonds. The bondholders claim that S&P
and another, unidentified ratings agency used "lack of diligence and
prudence" in their ratings of Russia and Russian debt. The action, filed in
Paris, claims that the ratings agencies didn't take into account the Soviet
government's denial of czarist debt when rating new issues of Russian debt
beginning in 1996, enabling the Russian Federation to issue the new debt
without paying obligations of the pre-Revolutionary czarist government. (KW)
1:59 (Dow Jones) Lehman Brothers economist Ethan Harris continues to expect
roughly a percentage point stimulus to second half GDP growth from tax cut -
an initial step in the road to recovery from U.S. economic downturn. Savings
behavior since January points to at least 50% of tax rebate checks being
used for consumption, he forecasts. (JNP)
1:52 (Dow Jones) Who says Kudlow isn't a visionary? "Think of this: in the
next 10 or 20 years, the greenback...could become the currency of choice
throughout Russia and China," says economist Larry Kudlow. "This kind of
dollarization would promote world peace and prosperity in ways never
envisioned by even the greatest practitioners of statecraft." (JCC)
1:43 (Dow Jones) Sen. Grassley, commenting on announcement Justice
Department will file suit to block United Airlines (UAL)-U.S. Airways (U)
merger, says: "The Bush Administration provided good news for air travelers
today. There is now no question that this Administration is serious about
preventing airline concentration." (JCC)
1:37 (Dow Jones) CrossWorlds Software (CWLD) jumped 17% Friday after the
company whipped earnings expectations for the 2Q by slashing costs earlier
than expected. "We did some smart things in the first quarter," said Greg
Jorgensen, vice president of worldwide marketing. During that time many of
competitors out there were saying the market was rosy, he explained, but
CrossWorlds cut 7% of its work force and reduced executive senior salaries
by 10%. (EGS)
1:29 (Dow Jones) "In policy circles, there's still an appetite for the quick
fix - the counter-cyclical stimulus that turns a bust back into a boom,"
says Morgan Stanley economist Stephen Roach. (JCC)
1:20 (Dow Jones) Wolverine Trading has been appointed the new lead market
maker of Intel (INTC) options at the Pacific Exchange. The move comes after
Susquehanna Investment Group agreed to buy Chicago firm Trade Mark
Financial, the specialist for Intel options at the CBOE. Because existing
rules prevent a firm from being the specialist of the same option in
different markets, Susquehanna was obliged to give up one of its Intel
specialist books. Intel options are among the most heavily traded, and the
Pacific Exchange had been a leading destination for Intel option investors.
(KT)
(END) DOW JONES NEWS 07-27-01
04:05 PM
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