MARKET TALK: Retailers Won't Rescue This Market
Edited by Thomas Granahan
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
(Call Us: 201 938-5299; All Times Eastern)
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3:13 (Dow Jones) Mixed bag of retail data earlier - chain-store sales soft,
Redbook looks OK. Group among weakest of session, Home Depot (HD)
third-worst performer on Dow. As for broadline names, look for above-plan
numbers from JC Penney (JCP) Thursday, and solid figures from Kohl's (KSS),
Bear Stearns says. And the rest? Lackluster. (TG)
3:03 (Dow Jones) All money fund classes combined saw net outflows of $28
billion to $2.059 trillion in the week ended on Tuesday, according the Money
Fund Report. (MSD)
2:54 (Dow Jones) Digene (DIGE) up 1%. Study out of UK may support company's
test as primary screen for cervical cancer. Currently, Digene's test is
FDA-approved as a secondary screen. Shares up 33c at $29.05. (TG)
2:42 (Dow Jones) Stock futures have come up from their lows, but Jim
Smitherman, president of Harvest Trading Group, says the best the contracts
can hope for this afternoon is a bit of consolidation. He says low consumer
confidence and tech sector problems keeping a lid on gains. (CMN)
2:28 (Dow Jones) While O'Neill's first comment today - no change to USD
policy - was welcome and helped push USD/JPY higher, he should have stopped
there, says John Cholakis, at Dai-Ichi Bank. In saying he doesn't want to
"whip up the seas about dollar policy," he is whipping up the markets,
Cholakis adds. "I think the markets are getting fairly tired of O'Neill."
USD/JPY had been heading for 121 during press conference, but has slipped
back. (GMM)
2:20 (Dow Jones) Dell Computer (DELL) Chairman and Chief Executive Michael
S. Dell acquired 4,160,000 shares of the company's common stock Tuesday by
exercising non-qualified stock options. Dell acquired 640,000 shares for
$1.45 a share, 1,920,000 shares for $1.81 a share and 1.6 million shares for
$4.63 a share. Dell reported direct beneficial ownership of 296,202,432
shares and indirect beneficial ownership of 49,125,659 shares. (GK)
2:12 (Dow Jones) Identity theft, occurring both online and off, cost the
financial services industry almost $2.5 billion in 2000, according to a
survey by Celent Communications. But a sharp rise in identity-theft cases
from more than 500,000 in 2000 to 1.5 million by the end of 2005, could lift
costs to well above $8 billion, the firm warned. Celent recommends financial
institutions tighten internal security, establish central fraud offices,
offer special training to customer service employees and educate their
customers. (RR)
1:59 (Dow Jones) The Nasdaq Stock Market has just released a report on the
first weeks of full-blown trading under its new stock-trading system. The
system, known as SuperSoes, was found to execute stock orders more quickly
and with higher "fill" rates. On the other hand, "spreads" on stock quotes,
which measure trading costs, widened slightly, Nasdaq found. (GFC)
1:55 (Dow Jones) Carter-Wallace (CAR) shareholders should vote against the
company's proposed sale of its business in two deals, according to financier
Mario J. Gabelli. Gabelli, who heads a group that owns 27.22% of
Carter-Wallace's common shares, said the personal and health care product
maker has had good earnings and shouldn't seek to be acquired. "The deals
make sense for management, the investment banker involved, and the family of
the founder but don't make sense for shareholders," Gabelli said. (RO)
1:45 (Dow Jones) Doesn't matter how many ATMs you have if they don't work.
Citigroup (C) has yet to right the glitch that caused its nationwide system
of 2,000 automated teller machines to crash. "We are working on it right
now," a Citi spokesman said, adding that some ATMs have begun working,
though he could not provide more details. Citi's ATM system initially went
kaput about 5 p.m. EDT Tuesday, was fixed several hours later, but began
faltering again Wednesday morning. Officials blamed a software problem
triggered by high cash demands following the Labor Day weekend. (TAS)
1:38 (Dow Jones) At the kickoff of its investor community meeting Tuesday
evening, U.S. Bancorp (USB) said it's off the acquisition trail, according
to Merrill analyst Sandra Flannigan. Instead, U.S. Bancorp - which was
acquired by the old Firstar in February but maintained the U.S. Bancorp name
- will keep its on-schedule integration its top priority. However, CEO Jerry
Grundhofer said he'd consider small deals that enhance distribution or its
high-growth businesses, Flannigan noted. "We think its vital that management
clearly demonstrates that it is successfully melding recently acquired
entities and revitalizing internal growth before undertaking further
meaningful acquisitions," Flannigan said. (TAS)
1:30 (Dow Jones) The Naz Composite is crowding a short-term band of support
from 1710.76 to 1698.21. Within that band 1706.10 and 1700.20 are
significant numbers. Don't expect much more than an intraday pop out of the
support, however. The bulls are more likely to make a stand near the bear
market lows, around 1640-1620, and a forlorn stand at best. The index is
pointed down to 1456.34-1370.61 target support, to be tested by late this
fall. (SC)
1:23 (Dow Jones) Quick technical update from Hilliard Lyon's Dick Dickson:
Close below 9900 and 1125 for Dow and S&P 500, respectively, means test of
9650 and 1090 for each. Nasdaq's reaction low Tuesday leads to no meaningful
support until April low near 1620. DJIA off 110 at 9887, Nasdaq down 54 at
1716, and S&P 500 falls 18 to 1114. (TG)
1:14 (Dow Jones) As tech stocks slip, some investors are scouring the
options market for bargains or spots where they might take up long
positions. In Oracle (ORCL), whose stock is trading just above a 52-week low
reached last week, at least one investor bought September 12.50 calls.
Because these calls will expire Sept. 21, they are cheaper than those
expiring later, yet allow investors to get in position for Oracle's earnings
report next Thursday. Oracle is down 11 cents to $11.97. At the CBOE, the
September 12.50 calls were down 5 cents to 70 cents on volume of 7,992
contracts, compared with open interest of 18,539. (KT)
12:59 (Dow Jones) More soothing thoughts from Bernie Schaeffer, who has been
correctly bearish on this market for some time: There are plenty of things
to worry about right now, but his biggest fear is complacency. His target
for low on Nasdaq Comp is 1300-1350, saying 1998 low of 1357 should help
with support. Also notes that many big tech names often find support at half
of their all-time highs, and then crater another 50%. Nasdaq found some
support at half of 5132 high earlier, which is now long gone, so next 50%
pullback would lead to about 1300. Hard to believe, but that, in his
opinion, might not even be ultimate low for Nasdaq. (TG)
12:49 (Dow Jones) On average, the 61 domestic initial public offerings have
gained just 2% over their offering prices, according to Dealogic CommScan.
But there are some bright spots in individual sectors. Health care IPOs, for
instance, have gained on average 14%, while technology stocks have gained
10%. (RJH)
(END) DOW JONES NEWS 09-05-01
03:14 PM
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