Rally fails to spark Tech sector

123jump.com Staff
30 Nov, -0001
New York City

Fed Chairman's comments rallied stock and bond markets. Yield on 10-year fell below 3.89%. Several sectors rallied in the morning hours but only few sectors managed to hold on to gains. Retailers, home builders, and financials managed to close up. Oil dropped 73 cents to $53.76 per barrel. Weakness in the semi sector continued for the day.

Enthusiastic buying in the equities market drove the stock averages in the morning hour in the positive territory. Stocks in the auto, energy, and tech sectors were trading above average volume.

Tech stocks came under heavy selling as hardware sectors declined sharply. Shares of Apple and Dell fell for the day with Apple falling by 3.12%. Semiconductor stocks were under pressure in the afternoon trading. Maxim, Altera, Intel, Xilinx and Linear Tech sold-off.

Energy and metals markets are trading lower. Crude, gasoline, propane, heating oil are trading lower on the possible rise in OPEC supply. Copper, gold, silver, and platinum traded for the entire session.

China’s Cnooc said that it is still considering bidding for Unocal threatening the $16.4 billion merger between Unocal and Chevron.

Stocks of healthcare provider are trading higher after Apria Healthcare confirmed that it has received interest in purchasing outstanding stocks. The shares are up 15.6%.

GM Chairman and CEO announced that the company will cut at least 25,000 people staff at its assembly and component plants over the next three years, while addressing shareholders meeting. The stock closed up 1.37%.

In the current quarter ending April 30, Sears Holdings reported loss of 7 cents a share on revenue of $7.9 billion, including the inventory related accounting charge of $81 million or 65 cents per share. The results include K Mart’s 13 week performance and that of Sears’ five weeks. Sales at Sear grew one percent and at K Mart lost 2.3%.

Monsanto, maker of herbicide and pesticide, reported that it has increased its adjusted earnings outlook for the 3Q from $1 to $1.05 per share. The company forecasted net earnings for the quarter of 12 to 17 cents vs. 15 to 22 cents. The company left unchanged the annual forecast of $2 to $2.05. The stock closed up 5%.

ConAgra Foods reported that the company will miss the 4Q earnings by 10 cents on the weakness in packaged meat business. The company will also reduce staff in the unit to save costs by $100 million. The stock fell by 4.7%.

Albertson’s, supermarket chain, reported tripled 1Q net income, or 27 cents per share vs. 10 cents a year ago on acquisition and continued recovery. Analysts had expected earnings of 26 cents a share. Same-store sales increased 1.8%. The company backed its 2005 guidance. The stock fell by 3 cents.

School Specialty, school supplies distributor, posted 3Q bigger-than expected loss of 37 cents vs. 32 cents a year ago on one-time charges and weak business season. Analysts had estimated 14 cents loss per share. The company lowered its 2006 outlook. The stock closed up 2 cents.

Volt, telecommunications services provider, reported 2Q 68% income decline of 30 cents per share against 93 cents last year on rising costs. Revenue rose 14%. The stock closed down 3.8%.

Dave & Buster’s, restaurant chain, posted 1Q 27 % profit jump which translates to 30 cents a share vs. 25 cents a year ago on stronger revenue of food & beverages. The company missed analysts’ estimates by 1 cent only. The stock closed up one dollar.

Columbus McKinnon, lifting equipment maker, reported 4Q profit of 56 cents a share compared with last- year loss of 10 cents a share due to improved sales and building sales. The stock closed up 4.6%.


Bakers Footwear, specialty retailer, reported 1Q 120% increase in earnings, or 33 cents a share compared with 15 cent salt year. The stock closed up 17%.

Spartech, plastics maker, announced 2Q loss of break-even per share compared with 41 cents in the prior-year period including restructuring & inventory charges. Excluding them earnings would be 35 cents a share .The company lowered the outlook for the second half of 2005. Stocks were unchanged in morning trading, $19.72 on NYSE. The stock closed down 13.6%.

Stewart enterprises, funeral services provider, posted 2Q loss of 4 cents a share compared with profit of 14 cents a year ago on accounting changes and dept repayment. Excluding these items profit would jump 405 to 15 cents. Analysts had expected 13 cents a share. The stock closed up 1.88%.

Piedemont, utility company, posted 2Q decrease in earnings of 52 cents vs. 54 cents last year missing estimates of 57 cents a share on lower utility margin and higher payroll costs. The company backed its 2005 guidance. The stock closed down 0.98%.

Analogic, health & security equipment maker, reported 3Q profit rise to $2.07 from 8 cents last year period on sales increase. The company announced its plans to repurchase about $25 million in common stock with working capital. Shares rose 7.1% in morning trading. The stock closed up 6.3%.

American Woodmark, manufacturer of kitchen cabinets, posted 4Q lower net income of 44 cents per share compared with 50 cents in the prior- year same period. Net sales jumped 15%. The stock closed down 18.35%.

Most markets in Asia closed lower on weaker US dollar as investors worried that this will deflate value of exporters’ profit when repatriated into local currencies. Averages in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and the Philippines were trading down whereas the stocks in India traded higher by 0.34%, Malaysia 0.57% and Singapore 0.25%.

European markets finished higher at mid-day gaining on Siemens’s long-awaited deal to divest control of its unprofitable handset unit as well as on a move that lowers Pernod Ricard’s chances to buy Allied Domecq.

The stocks of the Japanese automakers Honda, Toyota and Mazda ended down. Advantest and Sony from the tech sector also lost ground. Honda dropped 1.9%, Sony fell 1.0%.

The euro rose against the US dollar reaching $1.23 level. The greenback fell against the Japanese yen to 106.60.

The flat-panel maker LG Philips LCD advanced 2.7% after announcing a three-year supply contract of $5 billion with Hewlett-Packard.

Siemens AG agreed on handing control to Ben Q of Taiwan over the company’s handset division putting a stop to the long search for a partner for this loss-making business. The transaction which is to complete in the quarter ending Sept. 30 will take a pretax charge of $429.7 million. Boosted by the deal Siemens shares gained 1.9%.