The Dow Jones Industrial Average 
was pushing higher in afternoon trading, while the Nasdaq remained firmly in the red, though it has lately managed to buoy itself.
| Major Indices | | INDEX | CHANGE | % | VALUE | | Dow |   40.32 | 0.38% | 10,728.24 | | S&P 500 |  5.70 | -0.39% | 1445.64 | | Nasdaq | 49.26 | -1.26% | 3848.18 | | Russell 2000 | 3.90 | -0.75% | 517.53 | | TSC Internet | 10.46 | -1.33% | 778.96 | | NOTE | CHANGE | PRICE | YIELD | | 10-Year Treasury | 6/32 | 99 1/32 | 5.880% | |
The Dow had a mixed bag of helpers.
3M(MMM Quote - Cramer on MMM - Stock Picks) was the biggest booster, adding more than 30 points, after it announced aggressive growth targets for the next three years and said that it expected to meet its second-half earnings goals.
Financials were weighing down the Dow, with
Citigroup(C Quote - Cramer on C - Stock Picks) and
J.P. Morgan(JPM Quote - Cramer on JPM - Stock Picks) taking away more than 25 points from the index. They were suffering in conjunction with bad news from brokerage firm
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter(MWD Quote - Cramer on MWD - Stock Picks), which missed analyst estimates for its third quarter. The investment bank reported earnings of $1.09 a share, missing the 14-analyst estimate of $1.17, though these figures are up from year-ago earnings of 83 cents a share. Still, Morgan Stanley reported a 28% jump in third-quarter profits due to trading gains. In a separate story,
TheStreet.com took a look
behind the numbers.
The news that it missed the consensus estimate came as a bit of a surprise, since fellow brokerage firms
Goldman Sachs(GS Quote - Cramer on GS - Stock Picks) and
Lehman Brothers(LEH Quote - Cramer on LEH - Stock Picks) posted strong earnings results earlier this week. Morgan Stanley was lately tumbling 10%, to $86.94, while Lehman was down 4.1% to $140.07 and Goldman was 5.1% lower to $112.
Meanwhile, the Comp was still getting socked by yesterday's news that
Sprint(FON Quote - Cramer on FON - Stock Picks) and
Sprint PCS(PCS Quote - Cramer on PCS - Stock Picks) weren't going to make estimates.
They weren't the only tech stocks dragging. Comp heavyweights like
Apple(AAPL Quote - Cramer on AAPL - Stock Picks),
Cisco(CSCO Quote - Cramer on CSCO - Stock Picks),
Intel(INTC Quote - Cramer on INTC - Stock Picks),
Oracle(ORCL Quote - Cramer on ORCL - Stock Picks) and
Qualcomm(QCOM Quote - Cramer on QCOM - Stock Picks) were all on the downside. A
Credit Suisse First Boston downgrade of
eBay(EBAY Quote - Cramer on EBAY - Stock Picks) to buy from strong buy was pushing its shares down.
Back to top Sector Watch
Financial, semiconductor and airline stocks weren't having a very sunny day.
The
American Stock Exchange Broker/Dealer Index was down 3.8%, after component Morgan Stanley announced that it missed its third-quarter earnings.
PaineWebber(PWJ Quote - Cramer on PWJ - Stock Picks) was the sector's lone component in positive territory. It was lately 0.7% higher to $69.75.
The
Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index sank 3.6%. Nearly every component was down, but
Teradyne(TER Quote - Cramer on TER - Stock Picks) was the biggest loser in the sector. It was down 15.7% after
Prudential Securities cut the stock's price target to $65 from $94. Prudential said the company's third-quarter orders could fall short of forecasts.
The
American Stock Exchange Airline Index was off 2.6%.
Back to top Bonds/Economy
Bonds are posting modest gains on little news. Oil, which has been the main influence on bond prices in the last several sessions, is sharply weaker.
Congressional
testimony by Fed
Chairman Alan Greenspan
did not address the economy or monetary policy, and the only major economic report, the
Philadelphia Fed Index (
definition |
chart |
source ) for September, was more or less in line with expectations. It fell to 8.2 in September from 14.1 in August, indicating slower growth in the manufacturing sector.
Also, the Treasury Department conducted its latest buyback
, targeting $1.5 billion of 30-year bonds issued between 1987 and 1991.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury note lately was up 6/32 at 99 1/32, yielding at 5.880%.
Back to top
Betsy Riley
RSS
