Dow falls through Sept. lows
Nasdaq ends at lowest level since April 1997
By Julie Rannazzisi, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 4:06 PM ET July 19, 2002
<<...NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- The Dow suffered a devastating 4.8 percent loss on Friday, tumbling below its post Sept. 11 intraday low to levels not seen since September 1998 in its ninth down day over the past ten. The blue-chip barometer has fallen almost 14 percent since the start of the month.
All of the Dow's 30 stocks ended deep in the red while the Nasdaq crumbled 2.8 percent to its lowest finish since April 1997.
"The market is very emotional and there's lots of panic selling. We're now seeing irrational depression," remarked Peter Cardillo, chief investment strategist with Global Partners Securities.
Shoddy outlooks from the likes of Ericsson and Sun Microsystems dogged the tech sector while the drug group was knocked by a criminal investigation into one of Johnson & Johnson's factories.
Amid a sea of red ink, the defensive gold sector rose to the occasion, rallying as gold futures for August delivery raced up almost $7.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU: news, chart, profile) tumbled 400 points, or 4.8 percent, to 8,009, bogged down by J&J, Exxon Mobil, Walt Disney, Procter & Gamble, 3M, Coca-Cola and DuPont.
Investors overlooked another favorable economic stat revealing tame inflation on the retail side while the latest trade data unveiled a budding deficit.
Merrill Lynch economists lowered their second-quarter GDP estimates to 2.5 percent from 3.5 percent, noting that the burgeoning trade deficit alone takes off about 1.5 percent from quarterly economic growth. While the brokerage maintained its full-year forecasts, it acknowledged it'll have to take into account how the negative wealth effect could impact the economy.
The Nasdaq Composite ($COMPQ: news, chart, profile) skidded 37 points, or 2.8 percent, to 1,319 and the Nasdaq 100 Index ($NDX: news, chart, profile) slid 29 points, or 2.9 percent, to 965.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index ($SPX: news, chart, profile) wavered 3.9 percent while the Russell 2000 Index ($RUT: news, chart, profile) of small-capitalization stocks slumped 2.7 percent.
Checking the pulse of the market's sectors, an upswing in the chip sector emerged to contain at least some of the Nasdaq's losses while Internet and hardware shares tumbled.
Microsoft headed lower despite unfurling better-than-expected quarterly results as investors keyed in on the company's cautious outlook. And AOL Time Warner followed on the downside after announcing a high-profile management reshuffling.
In the broader market, only gold issues eked out gains while drug, bank, utility, airline and oil service stocks logged the most devastating losses. Check market stats and latest sector performance.
Volume was heavy at 2.15 billion on the NYSE and at 2.31 billion on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Market breadth was horrific, with decliners trampling on advancers by 25 to 7 on the NYSE and by 25 to 10 on the Nasdaq.
On the fund flow front, Trim Tabs estimated that all equity funds had outflows of $19.3 billion over the week ending July 17 compared with outflows of $6.3 billion during the prior week.
And equity funds that invest primarily in U.S. stocks had outflows of $18.4 billion vs. outflows of $5.9 billion during the prior week. Finally, bond funds had inflows of $3.9 billion compared with inflows of $1.6 billion during the previous week.
No help from earnings season
Though the second-quarter earnings season has been better-than-expected, investors are discouraged by the cloudy and at times outright negative pictures offered by many companies.
Thomson Financial/First Call notes that of the 205 S&P 500 companies that reported through Thursday evening, 59 percent beat Wall Street's earnings expectations, 28 percent matched projections and only 12 percent fell short of consensus targets.
Goldman Sachs said an early read on the earnings season is revealing a more subdued second-half for technology companies. Goldman points out that third-quarter outlooks have been almost uniformly cautious, indicating that tech providers are not seeing an improvement in corporate spending while the consumer remains a wildcard.
Robert Dickey, technical strategist at RBC Dain Rauscher, said the reporting season at hand is creating extra short-term risk for stockholders.
"Although more companies are reporting upside surprises in their reports, the price reactions on these stocks have been minor. However, the negative reaction to earnings misses has been dramatic."...>>
marketwatch.com |
