November 15th 1999
The stock market waffled in a narrow trading range, ending today's session slightly off ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest rate policy meeting tomorrow. It wasn't a good day for the computer hardware sectors. The Nasdaq lost 1.73 points (0.05%) to close at 3219 on another big volume day with 1.2 billion shares traded. Telecommunications were about the only technology sector that was strong. The Dow settled lower by 8.57 points (0.08%) to close at 10769 on tepid volume ahead of the Fed meeting tomorrow. Although many analysts don't expect a rate hike to have much negative impact on the on the Dow. The S&P 500 lost 1.69 points (0.12%) to close at 1394. Comdex, the world's largest computer trade convention, opened today in Las Vegas with an upbeat speech by Bill Gates emphasizing the future of the Internet. Wall Street will be closely watching for emerging technology trends this week from Comdex. China signed an agreement today with the US clearing its way for entry into the World Trade Organization. President Clinton said the breakthrough means, "unprecedented opportunities for American farmers, workers and companies to compete successfully in China's market." The deal still has to meet with the approval of Congress. Tomorrow is the Fed's last chance to raise interest rates before Y2K. Will they do it? Opinion is split, too close to call. In the shadow of Fed's decision industrial production numbers will come out tomorrow, which will shed some light on the strength of manufacturing sector and gauge factory capacity. Excess capacity bodes well for lower inflation into next year. On Wednesday, Wall Street will be watching for the new housing numbers which could reveal whether the higher interest rates are having an impact. Also, the important Consumer Price Index for October is released. Apple lost 1 3/16 to close at 89 7/16 on half the normal volume. It was a weak day for Apple related stocks, Adobe, Symantec, Macromedia, and Akamai all end down. Arm Holdings beat the trend up 5 5/8 to close at 109 1/8. Apple's PowerPC partners, IBM and Motorola, both ended the day down. Dell announced a new workstation today. Dell dipped 7/8 to close at 40 7/8. Gateway close up 1 to 82 1/2, a new all time high for the company. Both Compaq and Hewlett Packard closed down. Microsoft investors have had a week to read Judge Jackson's Findings of Fact and they don't like it, Microsoft declined 2 3/16 to 87. Redhat (RHAT) announced that it will buy Cygnus for $674 million and shareholders loved the idea, Redhat rose 3 9/16 to close at 105 3/8. 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.
[4:00 PM] The Apple Stock Watch: Markets Trendless Ahead of FOMC Policy Meeting, Apple Down at 89 7/16
by Wes George