De markt blijft sterk, wel blijft het wachten op de volgende beweging.

De dollar beweegt op en neer met grote uitslagen, de weerstand bij de meeste indices blijft zwaar. Nabeurs was er veel beweging bij de chip aandelen na de cijfers van Applied Materials..

Vandaag (19-02) komen de retailers Target (TGT) en Wal-Mart (WMT) met cijfers, ook network solutions provider Ciena (CIEN) laat van zich horen. Ook krijgen we 3 economische cijfers, de initial claims over de week, de januari Leading Indicators, en de Februari Philadelphia Fed Index.

• 18:00 ET Wednesday After Hours : prices levels vs. 4 pm ET: Tonight's extended session has found buyers fighting over each other after Applied Materials (AMAT) and Broadcom's (BRCM) encouraging earnings pronouncements. Both tech names have experienced better than expected order rates, which has translated into stronger revenues. The effect has sent the S&P futures to 1154 (3 points above fair value) and the Nasdaq 100 futures to 1519 (10 points above fair value). The below table lists tonight's most notable news items, and the reason behind the stock's resulting move:
• Applied Materials (AMAT) +5% : - World's largest semiconductor equipment maker beats by $0.04 in Q1 (Jan) report on revenues that rose 48% to $1.56 bln; Applied Materials also says it sees Q2 (Apr) EPS of $0.17-0.19 (consensus of $0.11), revenues rising 20% sequentially to $1.87 bln (consensus of $1.48 bln), and orders increasing 30% sequentially on its conference call.
• Intuit (INTU) -5% : - Maker of Turbo Tax tops the Q2 (Jan) EPS and revenue estimates, but puts Q3 (Apr) forecasts below that of the Street's projections; Intuit does guide FY04 (Oct) to $1.60-1.70 (consensus of $1.64) but this is not enough to stymie selling in light of its recent senior management changes
• Broadcom (BRCM) +3% : - After the semi company announced a call yesterday to discuss its 'stronger business outlook' (to which BRCM got a 7% pop), Broadcom said Q1 (Mar) revenues should rise 16-18% sequentially from +10% earlier; Puts the top-line at roughly $555.8-565.3 mln versus the Reuters Research of $524.8 mln.
• ADC Telecommunications (ADCT) -11% : - Large-cap communications equipment name reports Q1 (Jan) breakeven on revenues that fell short of Reuters Research consensus estimates; Company goes on to issue Q2 (Apr) top and bottom-line guidance that is also short of the Street's forecasts; Traders sell into ADCT's 50% 6-month rally.
• 15:34 ET Treasury Market Summary : Bonds have given up the day's gains and have moved into the red following large currency fluctuations vs the dollar. With little else to focus on, treasuries tracked the wild action in the dollar, which rallied mid-day against an array of currencies on speculation that the BOJ will sell the yen, and on comments made by French President Chirac suggesting the euro should not be allowed to rise too fast. The euro has pulled back, hitting 1.2687 from the early 1.2929 high, while the yen accelerated to 3-week highs at 106.83. Today's currency markets have whipsawed throughout the day due to intervention threats, and have yet again dictated the direction of the treasuries (weak dollars lead to treasury gains, while strong dollars lead to losses). Since inflation is a crucial component of bond valuations, Friday's CPI number should give the market significant direction. Until then the treasuries may be stuck following currency moves. Ten-years are currently -01/32 yielding 4.042%; twos are -01/32 yielding 1.678%; threes are -01/32 yielding 2.201%; fives are -02/32nds yielding 3.014%; thirties are +01/32 yielding 4.908%.

• 14:58 ET IBM moves to lows of day following Dow Jones report that judge rules co must make back payments in pension case (IBM) 98.39 -0.98: -- Update -- The retroactive benefits reportedly could be $6 bln.

• 14:36 ET Market Action : Checking with desks for possible reasons behind the sudden move lower this afternoon. Nothing specific being mentioned. Here is a sample of what we're hearing back: "Great run recently - low volume today, no deals today, so the market has no catalyst going into the close"... "No reason for us to go higher, people taking profits."

• 08:53 ET NYSE traders tentatively agreed to pay $240 mln - WSJ : The Wall Street Journal reports the NYSE's five largest floor-trading firms tentatively agreed to pay a total of about $240 mln to settle civil charges that they stepped ahead of customer orders that came to the Big Board. As part of the preliminary accord, the specialists would pay a total of about $155 mln in disgorgement of ill-gotten gains to investors; the firms also would pay penalties of about $85 mln, the person familiar with the matter said. The firms that have tentatively agreed to a settlement are Bear Stearns Cos.' Bear Wagner Specialists; Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s Spear, Leeds & Kellogg; LaBranche & Co.; Van Der Moolen Holding NV's Van Der Moolen Specialists USA; and FleetBoston Financial Corp.'s Fleet Specialist unit.

• 08:42 ET Gold Oil and Dollar Summary : The Euro (1.2844) notched an all-time high against the Dollar at 1.2900 in earlier trade. The Sterling and Aussie Dollar also rose to multi-year highs versus the dollar. Hints of the ECB possibly raising rates soon and the US Fed Reserve suggesting rates to remain on hold are making US assets slightly less attractive to investors. The Yen continues to be kept at bay around 105.80 by the suspicion of a BOJ selling intervention to protect their exporting business against a rapidly advancing currency...Gold (414.75) is slightly lower this morning despite the greenback's weakness. A weaker dollar usually makes gold more attractive to holders of other currencies. Traders are concerned of gold's failure to make a comparable move to its highs as the Dollar tests the same lows back in January...Oil (35.10) prices are little changed as they rose to test its monthly highs yesterday on expectations of today's US weekly inventory report showing tighter petro supplies.

Guy Boscart