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Technology Stocks : Applied Materials No-Politics Thread (AMAT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cary Salsberg who wrote (14280)	4/13/2005 1:49:47 PM
From: Big Bucks	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 25522

Cary, I appreciate your dedication and tenacity on following semi equipment companies and listening to their conference calls. As you probably have noticed, CEO's always paint the business and company propects with the best outlook that they can for these events, so take it with a grain of salt, IMO.

To: Cary Salsberg who wrote (14280)	4/13/2005 1:53:00 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 25522

Oil Prices Drop More Than $1 a Barrel Wednesday April 13, 11:54 am ET By Brad Foss, AP Business Writer Oil Prices Drop by More Than $1 a Barrel After Data Shows Growth in Oil, Gas Supplies Oil prices dropped by more than $1 a barrel Wednesday after the U.S. government released data that showed crude oil and gasoline supplies on the rise. Light, sweet crude for May delivery fell $1.11 to $50.75 a barrel in midday trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On the International Petroleum Exchange in London, Brent crude was down $1.15 to $50.83 a barrel. Nymex crude futures have fallen by nearly 14 percent since reaching an intraday high above $58 a barrel last Monday. Traders are hesitant to declare that oil prices have peaked for the year, though they say that supply increases and signs of shrinking demand growth could keep downward pressure on the market for the rest of the quarter. "There has certainly been a pause in the uptrend. But I'm not sure the long-term uptrend is over," said Tom Bentz, a broker at BNP Paribas Commodity Futures in New York. Bentz said that because demand is still growing and the global supply cushion remains thin, there's a lot of "psychological support" in the market for prices to hover around $50 a barrel. The U.S. Department of Energy said that the nation's supply of crude oil grew last week by 3.6 million barrels to 320.7 million barrels, or 8.7 percent above year ago levels. It was the ninth straight week in which U.S. oil inventories increased. Gasoline inventories increased by 800,000 barrels to 213.1 million barrels, or 5.8 percent above year ago levels, the agency said. The supply of distillate fuel, which includes heating oil and diesel, slipped by 100,000 barrels to 104.0 million barrels, less than 1 percent above year ago levels. Gasoline futures fell by 2.88 cents to $1.5050 per gallon on Nymex, where heating oil futures declined by 1.73 cent to $1.448 a gallon. Also weighing on the market was Tuesday's report by the International Energy Agency. "The IEA report raised doubts about demand expectations. The market was ready to bounce back up and the bulls were confident that demand would be strong," said analyst Phil Flynn at Chicago-based Alaron Trading Corp. on its Web site. "Now they are losing that confidence. The bulls are jumping ship." In its report, the Paris-based IEA suggested that rising U.S. interest rates and energy costs would reduce global demand growth for oil this year by 50,000 barrels a day to 1.77 million barrels a day. The global energy watchdog also said slowing Chinese oil demand growth might dampen crude prices further. "Fears of a surge in second-quarter Chinese demand are receding," the IEA said, as it noted that China's oil demand growth was significantly lower in the first two months of the year. Crude futures have been sliding since last week on a build in crude stocks in the United States and comments from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries on a possible production increase next month. In Venezuela, Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said the cartel's newly proposed production increase of 500,000 barrels daily may not be needed before summer, claiming the market is already well-supplied. Venezuela, like other price hawks, is opposed to raising output over fear it may drive down prices. Analysts said Saudi Arabia and fellow Middle East producers are keen to boost output now to encourage stock-building in the coming months, creating a buffer for strong demand later this year. Elsewhere, officials from Saudi Aramco, the world's biggest oil company by output, were also reported to have told key Asian buyers Tuesday it was boosting May supplies to full contractual volumes for the first time since December as it increases production. Associated Press Writer Wee Sui Lee in Singapore contributed to this report.

To: Cary Salsberg who wrote (14280)	4/13/2005 2:39:12 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

Broadband semiconductor market to beat $2 billion by 2009 By TechWeb News EE Times (04/13/2005 1:11 PM EDT) The growing demand for VoIP and high-definition video services is expected to drive the worldwide DSL, cable modem, and PON (passive optical networks) semiconductor markets to pass the $2 billion sales mark by 2009, according to a report released Wednesday. IDC's Semiconductor research group said the markets are being propelled by fierce competition among CLECs and cellular carriers as well as by VoIP and IP video service providers. "The ability to support faster speeds over 20 Mbps, improved quality of service features, and increased security will fuel demand for a new breed of chip products that will be at the heart of next-generation broadband designs," said Sean Lavey, an IDC program manager, in a statement. The market research firm said DSL deployment will be accelerated by adoption of higher-speed ADSL2+ technology and VDSL2 for shorter copper loops. Cable modem broadband providers are expected to aggressively add VoIP capability to compete with incumbent phone providers. IDC said PON deployment is primarily centered in Japan today, but the U.S., Korea, China and Taiwan are expected to accelerate their PON shipments soon. China and India should experience rapid broadband growth rates as well-established markets in other countries taper off.