Nasdaq---Anthony (slow)
Index
Interview: Credit Suisse Asset Mgmt.---Wiegand, Eric---Equity Strategist
>> parmalat’s founder, calisto tanzi, was arrested in milan saturday. published reports say a former executive of the company testified that tanzi ordered the falsification of documents to cover-up the company’s losses and is responsible for the destruction of documents and computer files at the beginning of december. a spokesman for parmalat declined to comment on the matter. the nasdaq rallied in the last 20 minutes of trading to close above 2000 for the first time since january of 2002. let’s go to anthony massucci at the nasdaq marketsite for more on today’s trade.
>> the nasdaq did close above 2000. interesting to note that it crossed 2000 in early december, reached 1996 in early november and each time it fell off 100 to 120 points. i talked to traders today if they expected the nasdaq, if it closed above 2000, if it would revert back to 1900 but traders think it goes higher from here. despite the move of 50% already on the nasdaq in 2003, they like it to go higher in 2004 and they say a lot of folks need this move to jump into the market. they don’t want to miss the boat and you get momentum moving tech stocks and they’re saying not to bet against the momentum. interesting to note the feedback, that the nasdaq, with its close, at a 23-month closing high. semiconductor stocks boosting the nasdaq, including linear technology, maxim integrated, intel up today. internet stocks like yahoo and ebay continued gains as big performers in 2003. amazon was flat today but has moved up 12% over the past two weeks as retail sales were better than expected. sharper image up 5% today after moving 8% on friday, boosting their profit forecast after also saying holiday sales better than expected. brookstone up 3% and four retail names from different areas of the economy, like petsmart, staples, bed bath & beyond and and j. jill, those stocks up, showing the strength of the economy and retail and the nasdaq up today, 2006 the final tal.
>> our next guest invests in large and midcap growth and value stocks but is leaning more toward growth today, is bullish on industrials and media stocks . eric wiegand, director of the private client group at credit suisse asset management is joining me. the s&p retail index since the beginning of november is down 2.8% while the s&p 500 is up 5% so good call.
>> we were very fortunate and reduced our overall exposure to retailers, specifically, particularly in the apparel side, maintained some of the big box exposure. but felt that there was more cyclical leverage or juice left in more of the industrial-type names, industrial as well as media, particularly looking towards 2004.
>> that’s a gutsy call ahead of christmas to sell your retailers. you must have seen something that others didn’t with the economy and tax cuts and all the things in the forecast, go, go, go, but it was already in the stocks ?
>> that was our belief. we’re not calling for any imminent demise of the u.s. consumer. they’ll continue to surprise people with their resolve and surprise investors. but one thing we didn’t think was correctly appreciated was the likely transition in what we believe is the transition to more of a corporate investment, or capital investment-driven economy as opposed to the growth being borne by the consumer and as such we wanted to position our portfolios in front of that.
>> let me ask you about where we’re headed. we’ve seen the dow month-to-date alone take a leadership role. will it continue?
>> we’ll continue to see rotation between the major indices. i would suspect that a portion of the dow’s leadership, it beingly over the last month, has been as professional money managers and pension funds have been anxious to get out of 2003, declare victory and move on and as such i think there has been more of an orientation to get closer to your benchmark as opposed to having meaningful bets away from it and as we look into the new year, i think we’ll likely see a rotation back out of some of the dow type names into more midcap type opportunities and i think the broadening we have seen in late trading today into the nasdaq certainly reflects some of that anticipation on the part of investors.
>> excellently-timed wrap, eric wiegand, we’re running out of time. the director of private client group at credit suisse asset management. still ahead, eli lilly wins f.d.a. approval for a breakthrough treatment of bipolar disorder. lilly didn’t have to go too far to find the ingredients for the new drug.
