Market briefing---Lane (medium)
NYSE---Deb (fast)
Peoplesoft & Oracle---Su (fast)
>> welcome back to “world financial report.” i’m lane bajardi. we want to take a look at what’s happening with the markets. the dow jones industrial average closing out the day down 66 points. at 9156. nasdaq composite the only one rising on the session better by just a point at 1747 and eking out that gain at the very end of trading during the day. now we want to take a look at the new york stock exchange most actives, and among them on the list we can see, perhaps -- perhaps not. let’s just go to the big board. stocks falling for the first day in three. deborah kostroun has been talking to traders down at the big board all day. she joins us now with a check on the mood of the market.
>> john zimmerman, head of growth strategy at bank of america capital management in st. louis talking about the fact that not only do we have stocks performing quite well, even though today was a down day but he says technology shares still leading market gains with the nasdaq up 13% year to date and the hope and desire to catch this wave, and he says a lot of tech stocks have been beaten up for three solid years. investors finally know what break-even is for a lot of these companies, they’ve cut a lot of costs and people have gotten their arms around the fundamentals and are more comfortable with them. tech companies should be the beneficiaries. semiconductors were higher once again today in a down market -- in fact, some of the few gainers that we saw in the s&p 500, zimmerman also says that valuations are at least fair if not a bit beyond fair because we also need a little bit of evidence of economic growth for the next leg to go up. also, as we were talking about the semiconductors performing quite well, the telecom, they were some of the biggest drags in the s&p 500, telecoms, remember, they have since the march 11 low names like verizon, bellsouth and s.b.c. have put in impressive gains. s.b.c. and bellsouth up 35% since the march low. the biggest drag was out of the tobacco area and that, of course, coming from altria. that contributed the biggest decline in the dow jones industrial average on concern that an illinois court may reverse a decision that allowed the company to leave a smaller deposit, that while appealing that $10 billion judgment for misleading smokers in the light cigarette case. also, r.j. reynolds and british american tobacco reported in the “wall street journal” that the two may be interested in combining their cigarette divisions. a lot of regulatory hurdles they would have to cross before they could do that. pharmaceuticals another drag on the s&p 500. also abbott labs report their earnings tomorrow during the trading session. back to you in the studio, lane.
>> deborah kostroun at the new york stock exchange. oracle, the world’s second largest software company said this hour it will not raise its offer to buy peoplesoft today. a major question going into today’s analyst meeting at headquarters was whether the company would raise its 6.3 billion bid as it tries to win support for its hostile takeover attempt. su keenan is here with the latest.
>> oracle executive vice president tells bloomberg news oracle won’t raise its offer today for peoplesoft. the analyst meeting began earlier today and was the focus of oracle’s latest products but this is the hour many were waiting for. we’ve heard from top executives and now c.e.o. larry ellison is about to begin his presentation on the big topic, peoplesoft. chad piper, u.s. bancorp/piper jaffray analyst is one of many analysts who thought going into the meeting that word of a higher bid was unlikely. michael sensaterra who holds both peoplesoft and oracle shares says the ball remains in oracle’s court.
>> letkey thing for oc--
>> the key thing for oracle is how they will grow the business, acquisition-related or more on the organic side. database is a mature market. they’re looking for other growth avenues and finding success in them. the question is, is it enough to move the needle.
>> how they move the needle could involve the peoplesoft deal, something that sensoterra and others will keep their eye on. snags last week as federal regulators delayed approval of the proposal. as of thursday ellison won commitments for just 11% of peoplesoft stock . analysts say with peoplesoft trading at roughly 9% less than the offer price it’s a sign investors don’t expect a deal to happen. ellison wants to buy peoplesoft to strengthen his position against s.a.p., which is the global sales leader in the industry. henry asher of northstar who holds oracle shares says the more important question in today’s meeting with analysts is how oracle’s business is tracking, and paul cook who runs investments for munder capital with $40 billion under management says he has been more interested on oracle’s business statements as well. he said oracle’s comments today that it is regularly outselling b.e.a. systems on one of its server products bodes well. we’ll have more throughout the hour. back to you.
>> su keenan. investors are awaiting monthly sales figures from the nation’s retailers. most of the big chains report consumer results tomorrow. bank of tokyo mitsubishi, wal-mart stores forecast an is increase of 2-4%.
>> lots of economic reports to be released for japan.
