Market briefing --- Matt (medium)
Nasdaq --- June (slow)
Carly Fiorina --- Greg (slow)
>> i’m matt nesto. let’s talk about what happened on wall street. the. dow the s&p, and the nasdaq managing to squeak out small gains, .3% higher for the nasdaq. it rose, in fact, for the first time in three days. june grasso wraps it up with this report from the market site in times square.
>> the leading mover today was dell, the world’s largest personal computer maker with c.e.o. kevin rawlings saying he is bullish about dell’s third quarter tanled economy, a contrast of what we heard earlier in the week from the c.e.o.’s of hewlett packard. smith barney upgraded dell to buy. and the nasdaq computer index, one of the top-performing indexes on the nasdaq today, led, of course, by dell. and we saw microsoft, oracle, and intel performing well. cisco, after falling 13% in the last two days following that cautious outlook by the c.e.o. john chambers higher. morgan stanley upgraded cisco to overweight saying this week’s drop opens up the opportunity to buy the stock because the company is well positioned to capitalize on key trends and demands for cisco’s computer network, routers and switchers remain strong. another gainer, the israeli company is a best performer of the nasdaq. two days of declines, billings and ramsey came out with a report maintaining the outperform rating on the stock saying it’s 27% drop from the recent high of nearly 25 dollars represents a buying opportunity. there’s been no accounting issues as rumored. another mover, b.e.a. systems software runs web-based programs. the company said second quarter net income climbed 18% as the company signed larger license agreements and added more customers. the c.e.o. called it the best client growth in more than two years. net income was seven cents a share, meeting the average analyst estimates. that’s it for this week from the nasdaq.
>> hewlett packard’s profit shortfall raised again the issue of c.e.o. carly fiorina’s inability to deliver consistent results. greg miles has that story.
>> carly fiorina called the fiscal quarter results unacceptable and she blamed the shortfall on h.p.’s storage business. she fired three executives. some say it’s no surprise that they’ll miss the analyst forecast in the third and fourth quarter considering the company is facing rising competition from dell and i.b.m.
>> i don’t think carly’s done a poor job. i think she’s kind of a leaky boat and she’s pedaling as fast as she can. whoever you put in there, they can bail a little faster but over time you have a leaky boat. she’s done a reasonable job. the thought on wall street is the inconsistency.
>> the big surprise is how poorly the company performed. the earnings report comes from upbeat quarter where is it appeared fiorina steadied the company and was moving in the upward trend t. third time that h.p. has surprised investors in the last 13 months. h.p. missed february of 2003 and last august. technology analyst andy hopkins called fiorina’s handle of the quarter the first major, major disappointment. he put it this way―is one of those situations where you do begin to lose confidence in her. hopkins says fiorina has to start giving forecast that is the company cannot live up to. the future remains bright both operationally and stock appreciation.
>> it’s a buy at this level again just talking about the value of the printing business -- probably being $15, $16 a share. and the fact that if we are still looking for cyclical recovery that seems to be the position, that you still have the software and services business that you benefit as well. 50 and the question, of course, when h.p. shareholders will benefit. back to you?
>> well, h.p. shares down 2.6% today. 18% in three dais. and they’re now at a 15-month low. at $16.50. the massachusetts court has ruled that philip morris must face a class-action lawsuit. that, suit was filed by a group of smokers in that state and claimed that the company falsely advertised that light cigarettes were safer than other cigarettes. decision to grant class action status to reverse a lower court ruling. philip morris parent altria down about .7% today. exxon mobile says it plans to pump oil to the middle of next year from a field near russia’s sakhalin island. three well thrls are being tested now and accent owns 30% of a $12 billion venture in the area. it’s expected to produce almost 3% of russia’s oil and 1% of the natural gas. the field was discovered 25 years ago. but lay dormant until improvements in technology made it economically worthwhile to extract the oil as well as rising prices which now are at record levels has given the company the incentive they need to find and develop new sources. well, let’s check on the bonds here today t. treasuries were up. on a rash of economic news. producer prices inching higher. less than expected. a record trade deficit both giving confidence to bond buyers, buying up the bonds, sending down the yields. 2.45% for a two-year. the dollar was down today. bought less yen and the euro and the pound take ago toll against the dollar. the big move for both of those european currencies. well, we’re going get a preview of what may move markets in europe and asia next week, of course, that and more when we return.
