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

To: Gottfried who wrote (13300)	2/9/2004 11:41:11 PM
From: StanX Long	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 95385

Now we can relax, Stan. Bush predicts rapid economy, jobs boom in 2004 Tuesday February 10, 6:08 AM US President George W. Bush issued an optimistic economic report predicting a 2.6-million-strong jobs boom in 2004 but received a sceptical reaction from Democrats. "As 2004 begins, America's economy is strong and getting stronger," Bush told Congress in a message accompanying the annual Economic Report of the President. Employers were expected to take on 2.6 million extra people in 2004, the report said. Latest Department of Labor figures show the economy shed 53,000 jobs last year. "How can we trust President Bush to create 2.6 million jobs when he has the worst record since Herbert Hoover when it comes to the nation's economy?" asked Senator John Kerry, frontrunner in a contest for the right to take on Bush for the White House in the November election. "Last year, the Bush administration promised Americans they would create 5.5 million jobs by the end of 2004. With their rate of return, this administration would be considered a bad investment," he said. Bush's annual report was bullish, however. "The economy now appears to have moved into a full-fledged recovery," said the report compiled by the White House's Council of Economic Advisors chairman, Gregory Mankiew. "The administration's forecast calls for the economic recovery to strengthen further this year, with real GDP running well above its historical average and the unemployment rate falling," it said. "Looking further ahead, the economy is expected to continue on a path of strong, sustainable growth." According to the report: -- The world's biggest economy is expected to grow at a 4.0-percent pace in the last quarter of this year. That would match the 4.0-percent annual rate measured in the last quarter of 2003. -- The unemployment rate is expected to dip to 5.5 percent in the last quarter of 2004, down from the 5.6-percent rate recorded in January. "We've seen the unemployment rate go from 6.3 (percent) at its peak down to 5.6 most recently. I think that's progress," Mankiew told a news conference. "But we expect more jobs coming forward and there's every indication that the economy will do well in 2004 and that jobs will be created." US businesses hired 112,000 extra people in January -- fewer than expected but still a three-year record -- as the unemployment rate dipped to 5.6 percent, data showed Friday, a sign the economy was only grudgingly emerging from a three-year jobs rut. "Optimists point to the fact that the economy is at least creating jobs but in the 26th month of an expansion, a 'typical' nonfarm payroll gain is 297,000, not 112,000," said Merrill Lynch chief US economist David Rosenberg. If the figures included "discouraged workers" -- people who have given up looking and are therefore no longer part of the workforce -- the unemployment rate would be 8.6 percent in January, he said. In his annual report, Bush repeated a promise to slash the budget deficit in half within five years. The president outlined spending plans last week that would lead to an unprecedented 521-billion-dollar deficit for fiscal 2004 ending September 30 and a deficit of 364 billion dollars in fiscal 2005. The 2005 shortfall excludes the cost of the US military presence in Afghanistan and Iraq. In the latest report, Bush said government finances were in deficit "foremost because of the economic slowdown and the recession that began in 2000 and the additional costs of fighting the war on terror and protecting the homeland." Critics also blame the deficit on the administration's failure seriously to pare spending and on a list of temporary tax cuts amounting to 1.7 trillion dollars over 10 years, some of which begin to expire this year.

To: Gottfried who wrote (13300)	2/10/2004 10:12:12 AM
From: willcousa	Respond to of 95385

OT - Gottfried - Your VIX list is truly brilliant! Will

To: Gottfried who wrote (13300)	2/10/2004 10:45:19 AM
From: Return to Sender	Respond to of 95385

Better than any Letterman top ten! Your reasons to trade VIX options that is... From Briefing.com: 9:50AM WFR initiated with a Buy and $14 target at AG Edwards 9.73 -0.58: AG Edwards initiates MEMC Electronic Materials at a Buy and $14 target based on: 1) Sentiment is positive and business will continue to improve next year; 2) With revenue closely tied to the growth in volume of semiconductors, the co offers a less cyclical way to play the improving semiconductor business than buying shares of a company that specializes in equipment; 3) The co is well positioned to capitalize on the growth of advanced 300mm wafers; 4) The balance sheet and operations are improving; and 5) Valuation appears attractive. The $14 target is 16x the firm's 2005 EPS estimate of $0.88. The 16x multiple represents the long-term revenue growth rate. 9:07AM NVIDIA joins Palm OS Ready Program as a Peripheral Partner (NVDA) 22.60: 7:57AM KVH Industries prices 2.75 mln share offering at $18.75 (KVHI) 19.13: 7:44AM BRCM: Broadcom announces two new Internet protocol phone engine chips 38.81: Digitimes reports that Broadcom today launched two new Internet protocol phone engine chips, which include the BCM1113R and BCM1115R, targeting the residential, small office home office , and small to medium-sized business markets. The BCM1113R enables the office PC and IP phone to share a single LAN connection and supports IEEE 802.1p packet prioritization and 802.1q VLAN identification. The BCM1115R is a single Ethernet port version of the BCM1113R. 7:30AM JNPR upgraded at Prudential 26.18: Prudential upgrades Juniper Networks to Overweight from Neutral and raises their target to $32 from $26; even though the $3-$4 bln price appears high for NSCN, firm believes the deal strengthens JNPR's mkt position against Cisco, and that NSCN's security portfolio complements JNPR's carrier routing line and should allow JNPR to better address carriers' demands for a more integrated and comprehensive network security product; firm also believes JNPR can leverage NSCN's portfolio to drive incremental contract opportunities, particularly with carriers looking to deploy IP-VPN and integrated network security services, and NSCN also offers new channel opportunities into the enterprise. finance.yahoo.com