Market briefing --- Bob (fast)
NYSE --- Julie (slow)
Nasdaq --- June (slow)
Intel --- Matt (slow)
welcome to “world financial report.” crude oil prices fell for a sixth session in seven today. there were reports that iraq’s oil exports were not hurt by a pipeline explosion. shipping agents say flows to southern export terminals are near capacity. crude oil on the day down 2% closing at $42.28. oil has fallen 14% since reaching the high of $49.4010 days ago as violence in iraq diminished and traders last week trimmed bets that oil prices would rise according to a commodity futures trading commission report. among the other energy movers on the day, new york unleaded gasoline wholesale level, down 3%. heating oil down 2.25% on the day, natural gas futures up close to 1% at $5.23 per million b.t.u. stocks fell in the slowest trading day this year -- treasuries rose after reports showed that personal incomes rose less than forecast, just up .1%. the personal income number. 13/32 the upside for the 10-year treasury. for more on today’s trading action, we bring in julie hyman at the big board.
>> trading volume on the new york stock exchange today, the second lowest of the year, just squeaking by friday’s volume. under a billion shares traded, again, however, we did see both the dow jones and s&p trading lower today. one of the big drags on the index, tyson foods cutting their profit forecast for 2004 seeing lower prices for chicken and beef and raw material costs not declining as expected. they joined several meat processing companies cutting their forecasts, including hormel and sanderson farm. we also saw pilgrim’s pride and smithfield reporting today. semiconductors ahead of intel’s mid quarter update showing weakness. semiconductors as well as technology hardware stocks declining today. one of the few groups of strength, property. l.n.r. is the real estate developer spun off from lennar, agreed to be bought by sybaris group. also, interstate bakeries, this could be bad news for people who like twinkies. the company delayed filing its annual report with the u.s. securities and exchange commission, saying it may be out of compliance with debt agreements and may have trouble continuing as a going concern. i’m julie hyman with bloomberg news at the new york stock exchange.
>> the nasdaq had the lowest full day of trading volume since august of last year. our june grasso has details from the nasdaq marketsite in times square.
>> technology stocks were the drag on the nasdaq today. now, all the economic indexes which make up the nasdaq closed lower today but the worst performer was the computer index. some of the stocks dragging that index down were cisco systems, intel and microsoft. microsoft, whose software runs almost 95% of personal computers said on friday that it delayed the next version of its windows p.c. operating system until late 2006, two careers after first promising the program. credo health, provider of contract pharmacy services and drugs for hard-to-treat illnesses such as hemophelia and multiple sclerosis fell after warning that 2005 results would be hurt by low reimbursement rates for certain drugs. we also have another healthcare area stock, dent supply international, world’s largest maker of artificial teeth, likely to have increased sales as aging baby boomers push up demand for dentures and other dental products, according to “barron’s.” imclone traded lower. many patients on the drug erbitux may be going off of it, hurting sales and disappointing investors according to one analyst who rates the shares neutral. doing well today was u.s.ay ways airways. the pilot’s union leadership said it’s considering a new contract proposal from the company, which is seeking nearly $300 million in pay and benefit cuts to help avoid a second bankruptcy filing and compete with low-cost carriers. the airline is trying to cut back on $1.5 billion on annual costs. june grasso, bloomberg news at the nasdaq marketsite.
>> intel says it’s built a test chip with a process that creates faster circuits. intel packed 10 million transistors into the area the size of the tip of a ball point pen, using 65 nanometer technology to shrink circuits inside chips, allowing twice as many transistors in the same space. analysts say that puts the company as much as 12 months ahead of competitors. intel shares still closing lower today as investors worry intel may lower its revenue forecast thursday. with more on that, we turn to matt nesto who is over at the stocks desk with more on intel, right, matt?
>> oh, yes, bob. we talk about the mid quarter update, a bellwether issue. but the last four mid quarter updates might show differently. starting with the numbers as expected after the close of business on thursday, the company with second-quarter results, 8.6 to 9.2 billion dollars. the midpoint between those -- interestingly, i love this kind of stuff, the actual range of estimates from the analysts on the street are 8.6 to 9.2, actually in line with what the company says. the average of the estimates is 8.8, the median. intel actually does a very good job in terms of delivering historically so on what it says it will do in terms of sales. the average surprise, positive or negative, over the past five quarters, is .5% so they’re within .5%, typically, of what they say they will do on the average. the two-week estimate change of 16 million shows that really not a lot of tightening or tweaking going on recently with the estimates. so looking at the share price, on to the bloomberg we go. we all know that intel is down 32% year to date. this chart goes back to the trough of the market , march of 2003. the green line is estimated p.e., i need to tell you that. forward p.e., price-to-earnings. the green line is the average over that period of time. you’re just under 24, the average. we’re sitting right now at 18 times and that, too, is corresponding with about the 14-month low that the share price itself is at. last but not least, speaking of the share price, i mentioned what history tells us, the last four, they’re all circled here, two times the stock was up, two times the stock was down. but i think market observers might point that the down ticks were more a reflection of the broader market than they were the news in and of itself because the company typically does tighten up.
>> i was looking at the trailing p.e. of intel, the lowest point since march of 2001 and the other question whether it deserves to be that low based on growth. thank you. when we return, fractile geometry used to handle complicated events, now generated by the model.
