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Strategies & Market Trends : Booms, Busts, and Recoveries -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: calgal who wrote (25400)	11/13/2002 1:04:03 PM
From: calgal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

All Eyes on Greenspan Testimony, Iraq Developments URL: foxnews.com Wednesday, November 13, 2002 Stocks erased early losses and rose Wednesday after diplomats said Iraq would accept a U.N. resolution on disarmament and as Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said there was no evidence that an economic decline is accelerating. In late morning trading Wednesday, the blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average was up 67 points at 8,453 while the technology-packed Nasdaq Composite Index was up 14 points at 1,364. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 5 points at 887. "The Iraqis accepted U.N. resolution -- that's why" stocks rose, said Nick Angilletta, head of Nasdaq retail sales and trading at Salomon Smith Barney. Stocks had tumbled earlier after Greenspan said in testimony before Congress that the economy has hit a "soft patch." But later comments during his question-and-answer period, that there is no evidence that an economic decline is accelerating, helped the rally. "Greenspan is saying that the economy is stable and that is probably heartening for people," said Steve Massocca, head of trading for Pacific Growth Equities. A federal probe into drugmaker Schering-Plough (SPG) deepened, fanning market fears about possible corporate malfeasance. Schering-Plough said it had received two additional grand jury subpoenas from federal authorities regarding its sales and marketing practices as part of a probe into its relationship with insurers and doctors. Financial services company Citigroup Inc. (C) weighed on sentiment after a Wall Street Journal report said a series of e-mails written in 1999 by star analyst Jack Grubman indicated that Citigroup Chief Executive Sanford Weill pushed him to review his AT&T stock rating to gain the support of AT&T CEO C. Michael Armstrong and help discredit Citigroup's former co-chairman. Citigroup Wednesday called the e-mails "pure fantasy." Grubman called the e-mail contents "completely baseless." Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) reported a 23 percent jump in quarterly profits, but its shares slipped in pre-market trading as it gave what some analysts viewed as a cautious outlook for fourth-quarter earnings. The world's biggest retailer said it was confident of a "successful and record" fourth quarter, which includes the critical holiday shopping season. However, some analysts were concerned that Wal-Mart forecast fourth-quarter earnings at the low end of Wall Street expectations. The giant discounter said it expected earnings of 53 cents to 55 cents a share. Analysts on average were expecting 55 cents, and their estimates reached as high as 57 cents, according to Thomson First Call. No U.S. economic data are due on Wednesday, though Thursday's retail sales and the producer prices, industrial production and University of Michigan consumer sentiment indicators on Friday are keenly awaited. Declining issues outnumbered advancers 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume came to 149.37 million shares, compared with 145.21 million at the same point Tuesday. The Russell 2000 index, the barometer of smaller company stocks, fell 3.23, or 0.9 percent, to 371.46. Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average lost 0.3 percent Wednesday and fell to a 19-year low. In afternoon trading in Europe, France's CAC-40 dropped 2 percent, Britain's FTSE 100 declined 1.8 percent and Germany's DAX index fell 3.2 percent. Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report