Market Takes A Breather, Apple Falls Despite iPod News

Thursday Trading

The market took a day off from its recent climb as investors paused to take profits. The market has been rising almost without interruption over the last several trading sessions and a consolidation was expected by most analysts.

AOL Time Warner bucked the general market trend. The Internet services and media conglomerate rose US$1.02 to close at US$14.55. On Wednesday AOL disclosed accounting problems at its online unit and has restated two years of results. Despite the accounting problems, AOL reiterated its earnings growth estimates for the current quarter after slightly beating the Street estimate for its most recent three-month accounting period.

At the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 8,317.34, off 176.93. The S&P 500 Index finished at 882.50, down 13.64. The NASDAQ Composite Index fell 21.52 to close at 1,298.71. Apple dropped US$.19 to finish the day at US$14.69

Apple

News reports indicate Apple Computer will soon be selling the popular iPod digital music player and data storage device in Target stores just in time for the holidays. The iPod comes in both Mac and Windows versions. Sales of the iPod were one of the bright spots in Appleis most recent quarterly results.

Gateway

Last Friday Gateway shares slipped almost seven percent as the nationis number four PC maker reported yet another quarterly loss and indicated to the Street that challenging conditions would forestall the companyis return to sustainable profitability. This week the stock has recovered most of the losses but the companyis common shares seem unable to break above the US$3.00 per share barrier for any length of time. On Thursday Gateway closed at US$2.90, down US$.05 on the day.

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