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Edited on Fri Dec-31-04 03:57 PM by 54anickel
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Dow 10,786.92 -13.38 (-0.12%) Nasdaq 2,174.78 -3.56 (-0.16%) S&P 500 1,211.93 -1.62 (-0.13%) 10-yr Bond 42.16 -0.47 (-1.10%) 30-yr Bond 48.22 -0.58 (-1.19%) NYSE Volume 670,877,000 Nasdaq Volume 1,219,629,000
3:30PM : Little change in the past half hour as the broader market averages remain resilient heading into the close of trading for 2004... After a long week of lackluster participation, investors can expect market activity to return to normal next week... Investors should get a better read on national manufacturing activity when the December ISM Index (consensus 58.5) is released at 10:00 ET on Monday while the Commerce Department will release November Construction Spending (consensus 0.5%) at 10:00 ET as well... The only earnings report of note will come from Walgreen (WAG 38.72 -0.07) as analysts expect the drug retailer to report Q1 (Nov) earnings of $0.29 per share... NYSE Adv/Dec 2091/1133, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1787/1303
3:00PM : Buyers remain in control of the action as the indices trade at improved levels and market internals become considerably more bullish... Advancers on the NYSE now outpace decliners by a convincing margin while advancing issues on the Nasdaq hold an 18 to 12 edge over declining issues... Up volumes on both the Big Board and Composite hold a more than 2 to 1 edge over down volumes...
Blue chips extending 2004 gains heading into the last hour of trading include Exxon Mobil (XOM 51.38 +0.35), which has been one of the top five gainers on the Dow this year, while buying interest has also returned to help push four (INTC +0.8%, KO +0.2%, GM +0.2%, MRK +0.1%) of the Dow's five biggest laggards in 2004 to the upside...NYSE Adv/Dec 2190/1023, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1832/1233
2:30PM : Market improves its stance and approaches its best levels, although gains remain moderate at best... Most of today's sector action has been relatively limited outside of steel (+2.7%), which has shown resilience following Thursday's 5.5% sell off and is on pace to close out 2004 up more than 60%... Other sector gainers have included housing (+0.8%), networking (+0.7%), broker/dealer (+0.5%), and semiconductor (+0.6%)... The latter has declined 15% in the SOX and 21% in the S&P Semiconductor Index, while modest pressure remains in airline (-0.4%), drug (-0.3%) and utility (-0.2%)...NYSE Adv/Dec 1974/1198, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1734/1301
2:00PM : While equities continue to trade sideways in afternoon trading, treasuries closed at their highs of the day... Late session trade, despite the validity of this week's light volume action being relatively untested until trading desks return to full capacity next week, helped push bonds higher... Thin volumes as year-end activity came to a close sent the 10-year note up 9 ticks to hit a 4.216% yield compared to the 4.247% yield that stood at the end of 2003...
Meanwhile, the euro sold off mid-session and relinquished all of the gains it made during the week, trading back to pre-Christmas levels, while action in the yen showed some resilience but failed to make any great moves...NYSE Adv/Dec 1841/1288, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1621/1382
1:35PM : Major indices recover somewhat but continue to bounce around the unchanged mark...Shares of Eli Lilly (LLY 56.73 -0.77) have been a focal point for investors after news surfaced that the drug maker possibly hid reports that its antidepressant Prozac posed a heightened risk of violence and suicide attempts... Drug stocks have been under pressure throughout 2004, with the Amex Pharmaceutical Index (DRG -0.4%) losing about 6% on the year...
Other laggards in the sector have been Merck (MRK 32.28 +0.06), Forest Labs (FRX 45.01 -0.49) and Pfizer (PFE 26.94 -0.07), which have lost 30%, 27% and 24%, respectively... Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 63.53 -0.01), however, a clear leader in 2004, has surged about 23% while Schering-Plough (SGP 20.92 +0.05) has climbed 18%...NYSE Adv/Dec 1754/1364, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1543/1451
1:00PM : Stocks lose their footing a bit as the indices fall below the flat line for the first time today... The Dow has briefly slipped to its lows of the session and continue to hover near yesterday's closing low of 10799 while the S&P has fallen to a session low near 1213... The Nasdaq, however, has yet to touch a session low but appears to be following suit as it heads towards yesterday's 2176 level... While selling interest has returned for the time being, stocks still look to end the year on positive note, with the Dow, S&P and Nasdaq gaining roughly 3.3%, 9.1% and 8.7%, respectively... NYSE Adv/Dec 1683/1399, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1467/1519
12:30PM : While analyst actions have been hard to come by in recent days, a few comments have prompted investor interest in a select few... Shares of Vimpel Communications (VIP 36.66 +0.88), which fell off a cliff earlier this month when news surfaced that it could owe up to $157 mln in back taxes, have surged more than 2.0% after JP Morgan upgraded the wireless provider to Overweight from Neutral and set a $48 price target following a positive decision by Russian tax authorities...
Sapient (SAPE 7.83 -0.15), however, despite Raymond James starting coverage with a Market Perform rating and Thomas Weisel saying SAPE appears well-positioned for continued market share gains, have succumbed to year-end year profit taking as shares the software maker have surged nearly 40% since bottoming out in mid-summer...NYSE Adv/Dec 1698/1346, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1491/1454
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