November 11th 1999
Happy Veteran's Day! The US stock markets continued their divergent trends today. While the Nasdaq extended its remarkable technology rally, the NYSE proved nervous ahead of next week Federal Reserve's policy meeting. Bond markets were closed for the holiday. Trading was directionless for most issues not in the news. The Nasdaq rose 41 points (1.3%) to close at 3197 on a volume of 1.37 billion shares traded. Rally conditions prevailed again to set the 9th record high in the last ten sessions, up about 280 points in two weeks. Today was also the 4th largest volume day for the Nasdaq. Semiconductor stocks hit new highs as Merill Lynch upgraded its price target on the sector. Merill said that demand for computer chips will stay high for several years. The Dow spent most of the day down, ending off 2.44 (0.02%) to close at 10595 on a volume of 876 million shares. The S&P 500 advanced 8 points (0.58%) to close at 1381. Tomorrow, the 3rd quarter productivity data are set to roll out. Look for the all important hourly cost of wages that bond traders are watching closely for any tell tale rise of inflationary pressures. Also expect October retail sales to be released Friday. After spending much of the day in negative territory Apple moved ahead 13/16 to end the session at 92 1/4 on half the normal volume. Apparel retailer Gap Inc.(GPS) traded up fractionally to closed at 34 1/4 after beating 3rd quarter estimates with a 27% increase in sales. Profits rose 32% to $315 million or 35 cents a diluted share from $237.7 million or $0.27 per share last year. Steve Job's brought the Gap's CEO Millard Drexler onboard the Apple Broad of Directors early this year to tap his retail savvy. Dell rose 2 to 43 7/16 on hopes that 3rd quarter earnings, to be announced this afternoon, will beat analyst's expectations of $0.18 per share. Dell's earnings for the quarter had been revised down from $0.20 per share because high DRAM prices have eroded Dell's profit margin. Compaq rose by 1/2 point to close at 22 1/2 after yesterday's released of a new computer called the iPaq in honor of Apple's iMac. Microsoft (MSFT) bounced off a solid support level, up 2 1/2 to close at 89 5/8. Microsoft signed a marketing deal with Tandy Corp (TAN) to install kiosks in their Radio Shack stores. Gateway and Intel also both ended the day higher. Red Hat (RHAT) got a boost of 8 1/4 points to 103 1/2 on the news that Oracle will help promote Red Hat Linux. Be Inc. (BEOS) gave back some of the "Microsoft effect" gains of early this week, down 1 3/8 to 131 5/16. In Apple related stocks, Pixar, Arm Holdings and Macromedia posted gains, while Akamai, Adobe and Symantec were down. Apple's Power PC partners, IBM and Motorola both showed weakness in spite of the semiconductor rally. Oracle hit a new all time high up 3 3/16 to close at 62 1/16. 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.
[4:10 PM] The Apple Stock Watch: Veteran Day Tech Rally, Apple closes up to 92 1/4
by Wes George