To: Gottfried who wrote (1785 ) 1/30/2002 8:15:36 PM From: Return to Sender Read Replies (1) | Respond to From Briefing.com: Close Dow +144.62 at 9762.86, S&P +12.59 at 1113.23, Nasdaq +20.45 at 1913.44: A very volatile morning with the market and particularly the tech dominated Nasdaq generally on the defensive into midday. The market got little mileage out of the surprising strength in the early Q4 Advance GDP report despite the fact that the number (+0.2%) was well above the consensus estimate of -1.1%. Much of the unexpected strength was the result of heavy government spending and gains in durable orders (auto financing deals) and this may have kept investors from becoming overly enthusiastic about the data. Also continuing to cast a pall over the market, at least in the morning, were accounting worries. Speculation/reports that additional companies were under scrutiny for accounting problems were noted about Anadarko Petro (APC -1%)-- will be restating Q3 EPS and taking a $1.57 bln after tax charge, and Elan (ELN -16.9%)-- WSJ article questioned accounting practices. The afternoon saw a significant improvement in the semiconductor sector which seemed to coincide with a comment out of the BofA Technology conference from Applied Materials (AMAT +4.4%). The company's CFO said that capital spending will lag the semi mkt recovery, but spending growth should accelerate in 2H02 (noted that wafer fab revs should grow 53% in 2H02 over 1H02). While this news may not be new, it added to the growing chorus within the semi industry saying that the cycle bottomed around September 2001. A larger than expected drawdown in inventory levels also sparked a sharp turnaround in energy. The rally continued after the as expected Fed announcement (no policy change and a bias toward easing) with the bullish momentum lifting the market broadly higher into the close. Market internals turned favorable during the late run with volume on the heavier side. In a bit of an unusual development, the NYSE volume kept pace with the Nasdaq throughout the day (186 mln shares of TYC changed hands vs the 65 day average of 19 mln).DOT -2.2%, SOX +4%, XOI +0.7%, NYSE Adv/Dec 1895/1214, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1936/1623finance.yahoo.com ^SOXX+^IXIC&d=c&k=c3&a=r14&p=b,v&t=3m&l=on&z=m&q=cAD, in the two cycles past the stock never looked back after two consecutive increases in SEMI orders were reported. We have one to go. suite101.com
