De sterke sessie in Europa en op Wall Street stuurt de indices boven hun eerste weerstand. De genoemde targets uit de nieuwsbrief van donderdag 25 maart blijven haalbaar op korte termijn. Via deze rubriek ziet u wat er tijdens de sessie van donderdag gebeurde.
Vandaag 26 maart:
Economische data voor vandaag zijn o.a. de PPI over februari en het personal income and spending voorbeurs. Het Michigan Consumer Sentiment over maart komt brond de klok van 4.
Close Dow +170.59 at 10,218.82, Nasdaq +57.69 at 1,967.17, S&P +17.95 at 1,109.28: It was a very impressive day for the stock market...sentiment swept the indices down the first three days this week, but today, the indices more than recouped the losses...the Nasdaq and Dow are for the week, and the S&P 500 is down about 1 point...there wasn't any specific news to account for the gains...rather, confidence simply seemed to be restored when the indices did not break down after an up open, and demand remained strong through the day...the early economic data was not bad, but was mostly as expected: new claims were little changed at 339,000, GDP was unrevised and as expected at 4.1% for the fourth quarter, and existing home sales rose 2%, right in line with forecasts...earnings reports weren't the catalyst either, as there weren't many...A.G. Edwards (AGE 36.66 +1.99) was notable for a strong report...oil prices declined significantly, and that certainly was a help...but overall, the market remains subject to volatile swings based on short-term sentiment...today's action is generally seen as a reaction to an oversold market rather than the start of something big...gains were extremely broad based...energy was the only weak sector...volume was moderate in today's bounce-back action... NYSE Adv/Dec 2351/922... Nasdaq Adv/Dec 2316/808.
- 17:51 ET Thursday After Hours : prices levels vs. 4 pm ET: Today's buying frenzy has cooled in the after hours, where the S&P futures, at 1107, are 1 point below fair value, and the Nasdaq 100 futures, at 1427, are 2 points below fair value. Tonight's announcements have not necessarily been negative, with them spanning from earnings to court rulings to index changes.
- E-Trade (ET) +5%: Financial services company replaces FleetBoston Financial (FBF) - which is being acquired by Bank of America (BAC) - in the S&P 500; Actual switch will take place Mar 31, when the BAC/FBF deal is expected to close; Briefing.com has been positive on ET in Story Stocks since June 12, and the stock has advanced 50%.
- Intel (INTC) : World's largest chip maker announces an alliance with French telecommunications equipment maker Alcatel (ALA) to jointly develop and promote products for an emerging wireless communications technology called WiMAX; The alliance should deliver products by 2H05
- Cognos (COGN) +3%: Business intelligence software provider surpasses the Q4 (Feb) Reuters Research consensus EPS estimate by $0.04 on better than expected revenues; Company guides Q1 (May) in line and FY05 above consensus estimates; Judging from COGN's earnings price history (detailed on Briefing.com's In-Play page this afternoon), the stock's large move is not surprising
- 15:27 ET Treasuries lower on inflation worries : Treasuries spent the session lower on a minimal decrease in initial claims and the remote potential of increased inflationary pressures. Yields on the 10-year continue to compress the trading range, bouncing in a lean 5 basis point range today, 10 basis points for the week. EuroZone treasuries continue to price in the heightened possibility of a potential rate cut by the European Central Bank. Tomorrow offers little in the way of market moving economic releases with
spending released at 8:30 ET and a final reading on - 08:56 ET Gold Oil and Dollar Summary : The Euro (1.2124) on speculation the ECB will lower interest rates. The Yen (106.21) is relatively flat against the Dollar, but hit a 5-week high of
105.75 in earlier trade on reports showing Japan's trade surplus widened in February...Oil is trading near 36.40 under its March 17 high of 38.18. Talk of OPEC delaying its decision to cut output at its March 31 meeting has been circulating, as demand remains strong among geopolitical unrest. - 07:42 ET WSJ column discusses the housing market : The WSJ's "Ahead of the Tape" column discusses the housing market as new home sales have jumped to their highest level in six months and beat expectations of a slight decline, according to a Commerce Department report released yesterday. Existing-home sales coming out today also are expected to rise to 6.2 mln on an annual basis, from 6.04 mln in Jan. Some argue that the ugly jobs picture and terrorism fears that cause investors to flock to bonds, instead of stocks, push down yields and therefore make the housing market more attractive. This is a double-edged sword if rates could go back up. Still, "we're all concerned about a bubble," in housing, says Michael Cheah, a fund manager at AIG SunAmerica Asset Management. "We all like bubbles, but we are all fearful about when it will end." Meanwhile, though, homeowners' income often isn't growing as fast as the value of their homes. Larry Kantor, head of market strategy at Barclays Capital, is less concerned. Rising rates might eventually cause a slight drop in some home prices, but he says rates falling so far has helped consumers from becoming overextended in debt. He sees more growth for housing, in part because rates have fallen even further since last month and because a cold winter in many regions of the
U.S.
Guy Boscart,