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Technology Stocks : Semi Equipment Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Return to Sender who wrote (7870)	12/22/2002 6:24:20 PM
From: Return to Sender	Respond to of 95530

From Briefing.com: 7:00PM Weekly Wrap: This week's slim gains weren't what investors had in mind when anticipating the Santa Claus rally, but after two weeks of losses it was good to see the indices bounce back at all. Especially encouraging was the fact that the gains occurred despite generally negative news. Among the worrisome headlines were: Micron (MU) missed estimates; McDonald's (MCD) issued a Q4 profit warning; US noted that gaps in Iraq's weapons declaration report constituted a "material breach;" dollar fell to multi-year lows; and Target (TGT) announced that sales were rending below plan. Ability to climb wall of worry suggests that investors not ready to give up on recovery rally just yet. One reason might just be the favorable seasonals. Another might be that key support levels held. Whatever the rationale, it's obvious that bulls not ready to throw in the towel just yet. This week's winners led by Home Construction, Coal, Metals, Utility and Air Freight groups. Losers paced by Airline, Specialty Retail, Office Equipment, Semiconductor and Soft Drink stocks. No discernible pattern to the rotation. Looking ahead to the holiday shortened week, Briefing.com expects the market to remain positive given the seasonal bias. Should be little in the way of corporate or economic news to dissuade buyers. However, lingering uncertainty over Iraq likely to keep gains in check. YTD chart of major stock indexes Index Started Week Ended Week Change % Change YTD DJIA 8433.85 8511.32 77.47 0.9 % -15.1 % Nasdaq 1362.62 1363.05 0.43 0 % -30.1 % S&P 500 889.50 895.76 6.26 0.7 % -22.0 % Russell 2000 387.99 386.88 -1.11 -0.3 % -20.8 % 12:06PM Jabil Circuit (JBL) 18.46 +0.21: Investec downgrades Buy to HOLD. Target $21. Although JBL is one of best positioned companies in EMS industry, thinks shares are nearing full valuation relative to forward revenue/earnings assumptions. 11:26AM Photon Dynamics (PHTN) 21.85 -5.27: CIBC Wrld Mkts downgrades Sector Perform to SECTOR UNDERPERFORM . Cites disappointing operations execution as co. lowered Q1 guidance. 10:15AM Entegris (ENTG) 9.68 +0.86: Merrill Lynch upgrades Neutral to BUY. Cites yesterday's stronger-than-expected Q1 results. Micron (MU) 10.20 +0.01: RBC Capital Mkts initiated coverage with UNDERPERFORM . Target $9. Believes company is well positioned to benefit from strong PC upgrade cycle, projected to start in 2H03. Entegris (ENTG) 9.91 +1.09: Merrill Lynch upgraded to BUY from Neutral following Thursday night's upside surprise. Firm sets a 12-month target of $15. 10:52AM Sector Watch: Semiconductor : Group slipped off the best levels of the day in recent action with pressure noted from NSM -2.2% and TER -0.9%. However, from an intraday perspective the index (SOX at 300) has been able to hold at support (298/297). This floor remains intact and the index works back through the 302 level, the favorable intraday bias is expected to remain intact with the next resistance of interest at 307/308 (recent trading range floor). Stocks on the plus side include: AMD +2.7%, XLNX +3%, MOT +1.9% and KLAC +1.2%. 10:27AM Nasdaq tests 50-day simple moving avg : -- Technical -- Index holds towards its best levels of the session. Currently approaching a test of its 50-day simple moving avg at 1370. On a break higher, look for subsequent resistance in the range of 1378 to 1380 which approximates the Nasdaq's 20-week exponential moving avg. To the downside, watch for initial support at 1360 followed by additional support in the range of 1350 to 1354. For a more complete assessment of the current technical outlook, please click here. 9:54AM S&P 500 intraday levels : -- Technical -- Pops higher in opening trade and tests a short term resistance at 892 (38% of this week's slide) then slips slightly. Intraday supports are at 889/888 with no damage done during the current slide as long as 886/885 remains intact. Next resistance is at 895 with a stronger ceiling at 898/899 (50 day sma/ema, 62% retrace). 8:49AM Photon Dynamics: Lehman recommends taking advantage of weakness (PHTN) 27.05: -- Update -- Lehman says that with stock trading down to $21.00 in extended hours, it sees a buying opportunity, and therefore recommends purchase of the shares. Following last night's warning, firm reducing FY03 est to $0.20 from $0.62. finance.yahoo.com^SOXX+ALTR+AMAT+AMD+BRCM+ENTG+INTC+KLAC+LLTC+LSCC+LSI+MOT+MU+MXIM+NSM+NVLS+PHTN+TER+TXN+XLNX+^IXIC+^NDX+^SPX+^VIX+^VXN+SMH&d=t RtS