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

To: etchmeister who wrote (14916)	5/11/2005 8:18:19 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 25522

OT Anyone notice lately how oil prices drop whenever there is hard data being released, but rise when there is an absence of info, based upon rumors etc.? Oil Prices Fall Ahead of Inventories Report Wednesday May 11, 6:34 am ET By George Jahn, Associated Press Writer Oil Prices Fall on Expectations of Increase in U.S. Petroleum Inventories VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Crude futures sagged Wednesday as traders digested a mixed oil report from the international energy watchdog organization and bet that U.S. figures later in the day would show another increase in inventories. OPEC's pledge to increase daily production by 600,000 barrels from next month to meet increasing demand also appeared to drag down prices. Light, sweet crude for June delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 58 cents to $51.49 a barrel by afternoon in Europe. Unleaded gas fell more than a cent to $1.4990 a gallon. Heating oil was down nearly a cent at $1.44405 a gallon. On London's International Petroleum Exchange, June Brent futures eased 58 cents to $50.85 a barrel. The decline Wednesday came after increases on the New York Mercantile Exchange on speculation that rising gasoline use during the Northern Hemisphere summer and anticipated surges in demands for heating oil the following winter would leave supplies tight. Mixed news Wednesday from the Paris-based International Energy Agency appeared to provide little market guidance. The energy monitoring organization forecast that production would meet peak winter demand but forecast thin spare capacity and a possible tightening of stocks in the United States as oil supplies diminish. The report also said Chinese oil demand -- which helped pressure the market last year -- grew only 4.5 percent in the first quarter of this year. That's less than a third of the 19.3 percent spike over the same period last year. "The numbers in the report still point to an easier market ahead ... but in the text they're talking about spare capacity not entering the comfort zone any time in the future," said Kevin Norrish, head of commodities research at Barclays Capital in London. Wednesday's drop in prices appeared linked in part to the announcement by OPEC president Sheik Ahmed Fahd Al Ahmed Al Sabah that the cartel would raise production by 600,000 barrels from 29.7 million daily to 30.3 million daily from June. The hike would last until the third quarter of the year to stabilize prices, the official Kuwait News Agency said. The U.S. Energy Department report released every Wednesday has shown consistent builds in oil and gasoline stockpiles for the past three months and has been crucial in lowering Nymex prices since their all-time high of $58.28 early April. But traders brushed aside the report last week, instead focusing on possible refinery outages, supply disruptions and fears that OPEC may not be able to keep up with an anticipated surge in demand later this year. PVM Oil Associates in Vienna suggested that -- if interpreted as bearish by traders -- the IEA and U.S. data could cause prices "to dive below the $50-per-barrel threshold." But analysts suggested that despite anticipated new stock builds, supply increases were close to peaking, meaning that -- over the longer term -- prices would reverse and head upward again. "The trend in U.S. statistics over the last couple of weeks has been one where the steady upward trend in import and crude and inventories appears to be leveling out," said Norrish, of Barclays Capital. Daniel Hynes, an energy analyst from ANZ Bank in Melbourne, Australia, also predicted a bullish trend in the future. "While the increase in stocks may put some downward pressure on prices, the market tends to focus on the demand side of the equation," he said. "This strong demand will wipe out any of the strong stockpiles we've had." Associated Press Writer Wee Sui Lee in Singapore contributed to this report.

To: etchmeister who wrote (14916)	5/11/2005 3:16:09 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 25522

Sources: SMIC to raise SDRAM quotes Hans Wu, Taipei; Carrie Yu, DigiTimes.com [Wednesday 11 May 2005] China-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) has told its clients that it will be raising its SDRAM quotes, according to sources. Sources indicated that SMIC has decided to raise the quotes, as it believes the SDRAM has bottomed out. In addition, SMIC is also reallocating capacity to produce more logic ICs. SMIC was unavailable for comment at the time of publication Samsung Electronics has also stopped lowering prices for its 64Mbit SDRAMs, according to DRAM distributors. SMIC currently has over 20% of the global 64Mbit SDRAM market, according to IC design houses.

To: etchmeister who wrote (14916)	5/12/2005 8:03:07 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

LCD panel supplies could tighten short-term, says iSuppli Spencer Chin EE Times (05/11/2005 2:56 PM EDT) MANHASSET, N.Y. — In a turnaround from the recent buyer's market, the large-size global liquid crystal display market is expected to see tightening supplies and possible price increases during the current quarter, according to market research firm iSuppli Corp. On a unit basis, supplies of large-size panels exceeded demand by 3.1 percent the first quarter, said iSuppli. This margin will narrow to 2.4 percent the current quarter, though increase again to 4.8 percent the third quarter and 6.1 percent the fourth quarter, the firm predicts. The short-term tightening of supply, which iSuppli attributes to increasing demand from the desktop PC monitor and LCD-TV markets, is likely to trigger price increases for 17-in. panels and some shortages for 15-in. LCD monitor panels. LCD panel supplies are tightening despite a glut of capacity now coming online from next-generation fabs from companies such as AU Optronics and the S-LCD Corp. joint venture of Sony and Samsung. That's because the new fabs take time to ramp up production, thus tightening supply. The firm added that much of the additional LCD fab capacity coming online the second half of the year will be devoted to the LCD-TV market, thus leaving short supplies for mainstream mobile PCs and desktop monitors the next few years. iSuppli's prediction appears to be borne out in next-generation plans of many LCD suppliers, which focus on building panels for over 30-in. TVs. LG.Philips LCD, Sharp Corp., and AU Optronics all plan to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to build LCD TV fabs over the next few years, although overall LCD capital spending is projected to slow long term.