Markets Rise...Liberals Cry

[The Finman]

Bulls took Monday off for a short breather after a three month run, but came roaring back today. [img]graemlins/popcorn.gif[/img]

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<h2><font color=#003399>Stocks Climb on Soothing Corporate News</font></h2>
NEW YORK --- Stocks climbed Tuesday, bolstered by a soothing earnings outlook from global mobile phone maker Nokia Corp. (NOK), an encouraging forecast from chipmaker Micron Technology (MU) and a bullish call on aircraft manufacturer Boeing (BA).

Micron, one of the world's biggest makers of computer memory chips, said at a conference in New York that its fiscal third-quarter production is running slightly above forecasts.

When a technology bellwether comes out and says that demand is better than thought, it's positive for the market," said Jeff Swensen, senior trader at John Hancock Funds.

Additionally, "investors are still focused on the big picture, which is that the economy is going to be better in the second half," Swensen said.

Earlier, a company spokesman told an investors' conference that personal computer makers are seeing a smaller-than-expected drop in unit shipments, and that Micron sees its capital expenditure in the current fiscal year above expectations.

Persistent hopes for a recovery shaping up later this year have fueled the rally, which has driven the broader S&P index up nearly 23 percent since hitting a 2003 low on March 11.

Traders attributed recent buying to money managers who, afraid of underperforming the market, have been scooping up shares.

"There's a lot of portfolio managers who are trailing the S&P benchmark, and they're in a mode where they are playing catch-up," said Mike Driscoll, a managing director of trading at Bear Stearns.

In economic news, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan (search) warned of the impact of high energy prices on the fragile U.S. economy.

In remarks before a congressional committee, Greenspan said if natural gas prices remain high, "we're going to see some erosion in a number of macroeconomic variables."

However, he said that so far there was no impact from natural gas prices on economic data.

Boeing Co. jumped after Banc of America Securities said it raised its investment rating on the aerospace company to "buy" from "neutral" and hiked its price target to $45 from $28.

General Motors Corp. (GM) rose after it said Wall Street's quarterly estimates for the automaker are "reasonable" and "consistent" with its previous guidance.

But GM reiterated that it is uncertain whether it could reach its full-year 2003 earnings target, due to high sales incentives offered by the industry.

Nokia, the world's No. 1 mobile phone maker, fell after it warned that sales had been hit by a weak dollar, sluggish economies in the United States and Europe, and the SARS outbreak in China.


Full Article <font color="red"><u>Here</u></font>

[Edith Piaf]

bonnes nouvelles (good news) even en france CAC40 has been performing better than it did in past

[The Finman]

Wheeeeeeeeeee...DOW up 110+ points today!!

It will probably settle back down though when profit taking kicks in though. [img]graemlins/popcorn.gif[/img]

[Imqu]

Just guessing but I predict 11,000 by end of the year.

[Simply Emo]

Ahem... Dow Industrial Average closes up 202 points [img]graemlins/clap.gif[/img]



Ahem... Nasdaq Composite closes up 40 points [img]graemlins/clap.gif[/img]