Nasdaq---Julie (slow)
>> some breaking news from u.s. steel. the company has announced a new common stock offering. it will sell eight million shares of common stock and the underwriters have the option to purchase up to another 1.2 million additional shares. this offering is purr superintendent to the company’s effective current shelf registration.% they intend to use net proceeds% -pfrom the sale to retire about $535 million of its 10.75% outstanding divestitures. the remaining proceeds would be used for general administrative purposes. more from the martha stewart trial where robert morvillo wrapped up closing arguments. here’s what he told the jury. martha stewart’s life is in your hands. i ask to you acquit martha stewart. i ask you to let her return to her life and improve the quality of life for all of us. if you do that, it’s a good thing. let’s check the nasdaq numbers on the day. nasdaq like the other major indexes finishing lower on the day by 18 points for the nasdaq. a loss of about .9%. the index closing at 2,040 rounded up. volume on the nasdaq was higher than yesterday. almost 1.9 billion shares traded. julie hyman standing by at the nasdaq market site with details on trading today.
>> hi, mike. we did have a down day on the nasdaq. some groups that contributed the most to the decline were telecommunications as well as computer stocks. it looks like folks are still concerned about valuations in these stocks as they have been telling us the past several weeks now, in fact. one of the biggest decliners in the telecommunications group was super conducter technology. shares falling 45% in today’s session. a maker of filters for wireless networks. its auditor, price waterhouse coopers, says they are not sure the company can continue as a growing concern because it is running out of cash. afs december 31, they had $11 million in cash and cash equivalent on hand. first quarter revenue will be lower than the company expected. want to talk about gemstar-tv guide. out with its earnings report after the bell today. fourth first quarter loss narrowed to $1.20 a share compared with $3.19 a year ago. up today because we had news from the company. signed an agreement for echostar. that’s kwru see the shares there as well. it’s for licensing and distribution. it will settle litigation between the companies which concerned a gemstar patent. they’ll pay $190 million to gemstar. it will carry the tv guide channel as well on its most popular programming package. also will buy two small gemstar units for $48 million. this settles all litigation between those two companies. also want to talk about mercury interactive, biggest decliner by percentage on the nasdaq 100. maker of software to test the performance of computer networks. rated a sell in new coverage over at oppenheimer. the analyst saying shares may fall because license revenues may not be as robust as they appear. that’s a look at today’s trading on the nasdaq. back to you.
>> julie hyman. a down day across pretty much all of the markets . the new york stock exchange composite index down as well as the nasdaq. it was 49 points lower on the day. amex down by three. the russell 2000 small caps down
