Traders have worked themselves into a tizzy in anticipation of a cut in interest rates of 50 basis points (a half point), and the word on The Street now is that anything less will in fact be "disappointing." All of this anticipation was built up without help from the Fed or Mr. Greenspan, but the rules of logic function differently on Wall Street. This is partly why Mr. Greenspanis testimony tomorrow will be watched so closely. However, remember that it was at a Senate hearing that Mr. Greenspan chided a Senator who said he thought he understood what Mr. Greenspan was saying by telling him that he must not have made himself clear. Mr. Greenspan is quote the comedian in addition to being the major architect of todayis economy.
Apple started the day with before-market trading on the plus side. AAPL opened slightly on the down side and stayed negative until the last few minutes of trading to close back at yesterdayis closing price. Apple closed at 20 1/2, unchanged, on strong volume of 12,803,700 shares trading hands.
The Nasdaq ended the day in the plus column by closing at 2859.15, up 18.76 (+0.66%).
The Dow closed at 10646.97, a slight loss of 2.84 (-0.03%).
The S&P 500 closed at 1364.30, a gain of 3.90 (+0.29%).
Akamai announced earnings after the bell, and raised guidance for revenue during fiscal 2001 to US$240 million. To top that off, the company says that it will only lose some US$140 million... This was after the bell, but anticipation of better than expected results sent the stock up another three points today. Akamai closed at 35 3/8, a gain of 3 1/4 (+10.12%) on twice normal volume of 7,428,200 shares trading hands. Apple is a major shareholder of Akamai.
Adobe closed at 60 1/8, up 11/16 (+1.16%) on volume of 4,052,500 shares trading hands.
IBM closed higher at 110 7/16, a gain of 1 3/8 (+1.26%) on volume of 6,750,000 shares trading hands.
Motorola had reports circulating that they were expected to sell $1.75 billion in securities in a two-part offering. Motorola was one of the few losers in the stocks we track, and closed at 23 7/16, a slight loss of 1/16 (-0.27%) on light volume of 8,313,300 shares trading hands.
Earthlink continued its upward march today to close at 9 5/16, a gain of 5/16 (+3.47%) on light volume of 814,900 shares trading hands.
Gateway hardly moved today as the stock closed at 22.21, a gain of 0.06 (+0.27%) on light volume of 2,810,000 shares trading hands.
Dell was another stock that traded higher before the opening bell on the goodwill generated by Compaqis earnings report. The stock closed at 27 1/8, a gain of 3/4 (+2.84%) on volume of 45,560,300 shares trading hands.
Hewlett Packard closed at 35, a gain of 11/16 (+2.00%) on light volume of 6,479,700 shares trading hands.
Intel closed higher today at 36 1/4, a gain of 7/8 (+2.47%) on heavy volume of 73,548,304 shares trading hands.
Microsoft joined those on the plus side to close higher at 62 15/16, a gain of 2 3/8 (+3.92%) on volume of 55,216,600 shares trading hands.
For full quotes on all the companies mentioned in this article, we have assembled this set of quotes at Yahoo! for your reference. For other stories regarding Appleis stock activity, visit our updated Apple Stock Watch Special Report.