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Strategies & Market Trends : Galapagos Islands -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: AugustWest who wrote (14734)	12/2/2002 8:22:35 AM
From: AugustWest	Respond to of 57110

(REUTERS) U.S. stocks seen kicking off December with a rally By Denise Duclaux NEW YORK, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Stocks are seen kicking off a fresh month on a robust note on Monday as strong holiday sales at retailers like giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. <WMT.N> and a bullish call on chip leader Intel Corp. <INTC.O> feed optimism after a stellar November. "We are looking for a solid opening," said Peter Cardillo, chief strategist and director of research at Global Partners Securities. "The retail sales numbers are fueling this renewed confidence in the marketplace, and we also have technology stocks moving higher here. We have a lot of good things going on this morning." Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, on Saturday reported record one-day sales for the day after Thanksgiving, and an independent poll by ShopperTrak found sales at all retailers are up more than 12 percent over last year. Consumer spending is a closely watched barometer of economic health because it accounts for roughly two-thirds of U.S. economic activity. Wal-Mart, a Dow component, rose to $55 before the bell from Friday's close of $54.16. Lehman Brothers offered another shot of adrenaline to the market. The investment house hiked Intel to "overweight" from "equal weight" and upgraded chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. <AMD.N> to "equal weight" from "underweight," explaining "we are in the early stages of a slowly improving IT demand environment." Intel jumped to $21.85 from a $20.88 close, while Advanced Micro climbed to $9.42 from an $8.50 finish. Equity futures pointed to a strong open. Standard & Poor's 500 futures jumped 11.30 points to 947.30. Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 22.50 points to 1,139.50, while Dow Jones Industrial futures rallied 125 points to 8,995. Investors will get more clues on the health of the economy at 10 a.m. (1500 GMT) with the Institute for Supply Management's November report on the U.S. manufacturing sector. The ISM report is expected to come in at 51.3, up from October's reading of 48.5. A reading north of 50 indicates expansion in the manufacturing sector. A reading below 50 points to contraction. "If that comes in on target or a little bit better, that could also help fuel the rally this morning," Cardillo said. European blue chips climbed toward three-month highs by midsession on Monday amid signs manufacturing conditions in the region were improving, while Deutsche Telekom <DTEGn.DE> starred as the group took another step to cut debt. The Reuters Eurozone Purchasing Managers' Index rose for the second month running and was slightly above consensus estimates. The FTSE Eurotop 300 index <.FTEU3> was up 1.57 percent, while the narrower DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index <.STOXX50E> rose 2.14 percent. A strong start to the holiday shopping season and a brightening outlook in the U.S. economy cheered Asian equity investors, who nonetheless pocketed some profits on Monday after recent stock rallies. Tokyo shares finished lower after hitting a two-month high on Friday. The Nikkei 225 average <.N225> fell 0.45 percent. In other corporate news, United Airlines, a unit of UAL Corp. <UAL.N>, was in marathon negotiations on Sunday with a key mechanics' union that had rejected pay cuts, as the No. 2 U.S. carrier scrambled to win enough concessions from workers to stave off a bankruptcy filing. UAL closed at $2.51. Massachusetts on Friday after the close appealed the settlement in the Microsoft Corp. <MSFT.O> antitrust case, splitting from a group of nine states that had been seeking tougher sanctions against the software giant. Microsoft shares closed at $57.68. JP Morgan Securities on Monday before the open cut its ratings on computer services companies Electronic Data Systems Corp. <EDS.N> and Computer Sciences Corp. <CSC.N> to "underweight" from "neutral," saying their business risk outweighed that of their peers. EDS closed at $18.54, while Computer Sciences at $34.89. The major U.S. market gauges gained last week and have climbed for two straight months as confidence grows that a strengthening U.S. economy will help boost corporate profits. The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> wrapped up its eighth-straight week of gains -- its longest winning streak since March 1998. For the month of November, the S&P 500 climbed 5.6 percent, the Dow rallied 5.9 percent, and the Nasdaq surged 11.2 percent, according to Reuters data. For the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite, it was the longest monthly winning streak since a three-month rally ended in December of last year. On Friday, the Dow average closed down 35.59 points, or 0.40 percent, at 8,896.09. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was down 2.56 points, or 0.27 percent, at 936.31. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was down 9.06 points, or 0.61 percent, at 1,478.78. ((Wall Street Desk, 646-223-6112)) ((Xtra clients: Click on topnews.session.rservices.com to see Top News pages in multimedia Web format. If you cannot access the pages, ask your IT department to check your Internet firewall settings. For a technical advisory, click on <C9991>)) REUTERS * end of story *