In early Monday trading stocks recorded shallow gains as the markets look for direction after completing another week of disappointing losses. Fears of new terrorist attacks were on the minds of investors as markets made an effort to regroup from last weekis sharp declines.
Friday Market RecapOn Friday the markets continued their downward trend with the major market indexes recording their third straight weekly decline. An earnings warning from Intel late Thursday has also soured investor appetites for tech shares. Earlier in the week Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina dismissed any notion of an up tick in IT spending through the end of the September quarter. On Friday Intel closed down five points or more than eighteen percent on the day, with shareholders losing about $33 billion in the process.
Monday Afternoon Activity
The Dow gained ground in early afternoon trading on Monday as the drug and retail components of the index moved higher. The Dowis gain were cut back in late afternoon trading due to weakness in the computer hardware and oil components of the blue chip gauge. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 55.73 to finish the day at 9,645.40. The S&P 500 ended up 3.21 at 1,030.74. The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite Index closed down 4.79 at 1,530.69. AAPL was up $.08 at $21.48 on news of their new "Real People" advertising camapign.
Apple
Speculation has run amuck about Appleis reasons for releasing the eMac in the retail market. When the eMac was announced in late April, it was billed as an education only product for schools that preferred a less expensive, CRT-based G4 product to the new iMac. Now a consumer version is available in one configuration only at $1,099. Different configurations of the 17-inch CRT all-in-one G4 are available in the education market.
Some analysts have speculated that Appleis iMac shipments will come in under estimates for the quarter. Others suggest Appleis offering of the eMac to consumers is an effort to fill out its product line with a desktop solution priced at $1,099 versus the new iMac which begins at $1,399. Either way, Appleis shares have dropped significantly from their 52-week high of $26.17 set in intra-day trading on April 17th. Absent clear guidance from management on iMac shipments, Apple has fallen victim to the downward trend in stock prices.
Earlier today Apple announced a new advertising campaign featuring the stories of "Real People" who have switched from Windows-based PCs to Macs. Apple is investing heavily in the documentary-style campaign to further the companyis recent gains in market share. The new ads are available for viewing on the Apple Web site.
Adobe
Adobe jumped more than eight percent in early Monday trading in response to an upward movement in the software sector following the anouncement that Novell will acquire Web software maker SilverStream.
On a less optimistic note, the Business Software Alliance reported that software piracy continued to grow in 2001 and cost the software industry nearly $11 billion. Adobeis products are among the favorite applications software thieves illegally copy and sell on the international software black market.
The Mac Observer Stock Quotes and Additional Market Information
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