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

To: Cactus Jack who wrote (45756)	1/2/2002 9:17:07 PM
From: RR	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 65232

jpgill, I think ya'll get a lot more rain at your place on the western front. Hey, you need just a little bit of cold! Ice on the pond now. Brrr..... RR

To: Cactus Jack who wrote (45756)	1/3/2002 3:03:03 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 65232

Stocks at Session Highs as Optimism Rules Thursday January 3, 2:02 pm Eastern Time By Elizabeth Lazarowitz NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose to session highs on Thursday afternoon as investors snapped up shares of technology firms like Intel Corp. (NasdaqNM:INTC - news) and EMC Corp. (NYSE:EMC - news), betting their business will rebound with the nation's economy this year. ``We're hearing anecdotal evidence that semiconductor sales are firming ... There were a lot of sales of PCs (at Christmas) and that's created a real positive tone in the semiconductor space,'' said Erik Gustafson, portfolio manager at Stein, Roe & Farnham. Wall Street expects the economy, now mired in recession, to resume growth in 2002. Investors' optimism has helped pull the stock market well off of three-year lows hit on Sept. 21 -- 10 days after the attacks on New York and the Washington area killed about 3,000 people. Underlying nervousness about the fate of ailing corporate profits, however, kept investors wary. Software maker Peregrine Systems Inc. (NasdaqNM:PRGN - news), for example, was hammered after warning of a quarterly loss due to the economic downturn. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) climbed 46.77 points, or 2.36 percent, to 2,026.02. Investors lifted the technology-loaded Nasdaq back above the psychologically key 2,000 mark, a level it last breached on a closing basis in mid-December. The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) rose 61.79 points, or 0.61 percent, to 10,135.19, while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) gained 4.72 points, or 0.41 percent, to 1,159.39. The gains added to a late-day tech-led rally a day ago as investors began the new year by adding promising names to their portfolios. ``It seems like there were not a lot of pre-announcements in technology this quarter -- that clearly helped people get more positive with company fundamentals,'' said Ahmet Okumus, president of Okumus Capital LLC, which manages $520 million. ''They are bidding up stocks because they figure if companies haven't pre-announced now, then chances are they are going to hit their numbers.'' Wall Street was unfazed by news that a threatening letter containing a powdery substance -- later found to be harmless -- was found in the office of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. ``I think the market has come to grips with the anthrax psycho out there,'' Gustafson said, referring to earlier cases of letters containing the deadly bacteria. Investors also shrugged off government data showing the number of Americans lining up to file for first-time unemployment benefits rose sharply during the week ended Dec. 29 in a sign that the labor market remains soft, a government report showed. In recent weeks, jobless claims held below 400,000 and had offered hope the labor market may be stabilizing. The weekly report is a precursor to Friday's employment report for December, expected to influence the Federal Reserve's decision on whether to cut interest rates one more time in its current easing cycle. ``Everybody wants to make sure they don't miss the bottom; they are still willing to look out across the gap,'' said Richard Babson, chairman and president of Babson-United Investment Advisors Inc. Babson warned there could be more downside risk over the next six months as corporate profits struggle to recover from the shrinking economy. Analysts are expecting corporate profits to pick up growth in the second quarter, but research firm Thomson Financial believes that return to growth could be pushed out further as time goes on. Semiconductor shares rose as investors bet chip stocks would be the first to recover in an economic rebound. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange semiconductor index (.SOXX) shot up 6.25 percent and has now surged more than 50 percent from Sept. 21 when the market slammed to three-year lows. Intel Corp. (NasdaqNM:INTC - news), the world's largest maker of computer chips, climbed $1.82 to $34.82 and ranked as one of the most active stocks on the Nasdaq. Wall Street house JP Morgan said Intel should see strength in its server business in the first quarter and maintained its long-term buy rating on the Dow member. Data storage company EMC Corp. (NYSE:EMC - news) jumped $1.67 to $16.47 and ranked as the most heavily traded share on the New York Stock Exchange. Wall Street house Salomon Smith Barney raised its rating on the data storage company to ``buy'' from ''outperform,'' saying EMC is a leader in its industry. Other data storage companies followed the upward trend. Network Appliance Inc. (NasdaqNM:NTAP - news) climbed $1.95 to $25.73. Brocade Communications Systems Inc. (NasdaqNM:BRCD - news) jumped $2.90 to $38.37. But software maker Peregrine tumbled more than 38 percent, or $5.14, to $9.37 after its warning of a quarterly loss.