Today's News On One Page
December 3rd, 1999
| [4:45 PM] The Week's Top Stories For Week Ending 12/03/1999 |
Tame November employment numbers spawned an orgy of optimism in the stock market. Buying was wild on the Nasdaq which soared a hundred points early in the day, giving back some later to close with a respectable gain of 67 points. Apple traded higher by 4 13/16 or 4.37% to close at 115 on slightly above average volume. Apple started the week at about 95 a share for a 20 point gain this week. Bear Stearns raised its 12-month price target on Apple to the $115 -$120 range from $90-$95. They said, "We view Apple's near-term outlook with increasing confidence following conversations with management as it appears the quarter is on track and there may be upside in the revenue numbers due to better-than-expected consumer sales going into the Christmas season." They also said to look for an "... incremental upside from an Internet strategy expected to be unveiled in the next few months." Bear Stearns maintained a buy rating on AAPL, reiterating their earnings estimate of $3.20 a share for fiscal 2000 and $3.45 a share for 2001. The Dow bulled ahead 247 point (2.24%) to close at 11286, just 40 points shy of an all time high, on a volume of 981 million shares traded. The banks stocks were strong and so was everybody else. The Nasdaq gained another 67.84 points (1.97%) after yesterday's 99 point gain to end the session at 3520. Volume was the fifth heaviest day on record with 1.5 billion shares traded. Today's surge pushed the Nasdaq to a 61% year to date gain, or a 5.5% rally for the week. The best one year gain ever for the Nasdaq was 56.8% set in 1991. The telecom stocks led the way higher, but most sectors showed positive strength today. Technology stocks have been the place to be this year. For instance, software stocks, as a whole, are up 122% this year so far. Hardware stocks are up 57%, note that Apple is an exception to this rule, up about 175% for the year. Internet stocks are up 103%. Networks have soared 94.3%, and the semiconductor sector is up 86.7%. The S&P 500 rose 24.01 points (1.70%) to close at 1433.05 for a new all time high. 30-year Treasury bond rose 24/32 in a relief rally to close at 98 4/32, the yield dropped to 6.26% from 6.32% yesterday. November's employment number came in slightly weaker than some expected, remaining unchanged from last month at 4.1%. Average hourly wages only increased $0.01 to $13.41 per hour, while the manufacturing sectors continued to shed workers at the rate of 2,000 lost last month, down from 9,000 jobs lost per month earlier in the year. Overall, 234,000 new jobs were created for November. 120,000 in the service sector and 55,000 in construction, double October construction job numbers. The surge was attributed to unseasonably warm weather. Although inflation is basically a monetary phenomena, the Fed looks to these employment numbers to gauge inflation, which for now appears to be temporarily contained. Today's numbers show strong economic growth with no labor-based inflation pressures. The price of gold, a more reliable indicator of inflation, has been slipping lately. Virtually no one feels that the Fed will raise rates during their last meeting this year on December 21st. Clinton took advantage of the closing day of the WTO's devisive meeting in Seattle to point out that 20 million new jobs were created in the US since he took office. In Apple related businesses, Akamai saw some profit taking down 8 1/4 to close at 207. Adobe lost 1 15/16 to end at 66 11/16. Macromedia soared 9 1/8 to close at 76 5.8. Symantec was up 1 5/16 after yesterday's amazing 5 9/16 point gain to close at 51 1/16. Apple's Power PC partners were both up , IBM blasted up 6 47/64 to close at 112, while Motorola gained 5 7/16 to end at 124. Apple's competitors, Compaq and Dell, barely gained a fraction today, while Hewlett Packard climbed over 7 points to 107. Gateway was the only red in a sea of green down 3 13/16 after selling off 6 points in the last three days, to close at 73. GTW's stock suffered a delayed opening today due to an order imbalance to the sell side. According to CNET.com the strong morning down draft was due to rumors that Ted Waitt, Gateway's founder is stepping down as CEO. Gateway had no comment. For full quotes on all the companies mentioned in this article, we have assembled this set of quotes at Yahoo! for your reference. We also have many of these same quotes reported live (20 minute delay) on our home page. For other stories regarding Apple's stock activity, visit our Apple Stock Watch Special Report.
[4:25 PM] Apple Stock Watch: The Mega-Rally Continues, Apple Climbs To Another New High on Price Target Upgrade
by Wes George
| [4:20 PM] Public iMovie Demonstration To Be Held Saturday by Staff The good people at The Bottom Line are hosting a public demo of iMovie, the consumer digital video editing software included with the iMac DV. The company is working with Apple and the Austin Film Festival to produce the event, and it is free to the public. According to The BottomLine:
The Mac Observer will be there and we hope to see you there too! The Mac Observer Spin: Kudos to The BottomLine! This is a great event for consumers, Apple, and the retailer alike. The BottomLine has a great retail presence in the heart of the West Campus at The University of Texas. It's good to see them going that extra mile to offer information and experience to Mac customers. |
| [4:00 AM] Holiday Gift Suggestion Of The Day: iMac Base Hub w/Floppy, 2 Serial, 1 ADB, & 4 USB Ports by Staff We are providing a Holiday Gift Suggestion of the Day for Mac users looking for the perfect gift for their loved one. For those not celebrating any holidays, treat yourself. :-) Today, we offer a great product for iMac owners. For other Gift Suggestions, check out the Full List.
If you have a Gift Suggestion we should post, tell us about it! |
Product:
[Editorial] Mac Games and the iMac, Revisited
by Oliver Dueck
| [8:00 AM] Sonnet Brings G4 Upgrades To NuBus PowerMacs! by Staff Sonnet Technologies has announced a G4 upgrade that is compatible with the first generation of Power Macs, the 6100, 7100, and 8100 series machines. G4 cards, at reasonable prices, can breath new life into these old Mac workhorses. According to Sonnet:
The Crescendo G4/NuBus is available for US$599. You can find more information at the Sonnet Technologies web site. The Mac Observer Spin: Wow! We did not think any of the upgrade companies would be able to offer a G4 solution for NuBus Macs. It took some time to even get G3 upgrades for the first generation of PowerMacs. The price is right too, so for those who have not upgraded to a G3, the time may be right to bump up to a G4. Kudos to Sonnet! |
| [8:00 AM] Upgrade Your PowerMac To A 300 MHz G3 For Under US$300 by Staff Joining the upgrade card price reduction parade, Newer Technology has announced a price drop on their MAXpowr G3 300 upgrade card. The price drops makes upgrading your PowerMac to a G3 cost less than US$300. According to Newer:
You can find more information, and a complete product listing, at the Newer Technology web site. The Mac Observer Spin: The current round of price cuts coming from Newer, Sonnet, Powerlogix, and XLR8 are making it cheaper than ever to get more power out of your PowerMac. This card is particularly attractive because the cache is running at a higher speed than many of the higher MHz rated cards can. |
| [8:00 AM] A Cast Of 2.000 Hits Mac MP3 Player by Staff @Soft has released a new version of the popular, streamlined MP3 player, MACAST Lite. Version 2.000 (a little Millennium pun) adds a host of new features, most noticeably support for all of the full MACAST plug-ins. According to @Soft:
MACAST Lite is available as shareware for US$15. You can find more information at the @Soft web site. |
| [8:00 AM] The December Edition Of Web Page Design For Designers Is Ready by Staff The December issue of Web Page Design for Designers (WPDFD) is available. The WPDFD is geared toward assisting graphics and design professionals or hobbyists make the transition to the World Wide Web. According to WFDFD:
You can find more information, and the full issue, at the Web Page Design for Designers web site. |