Reply #24: Noonday numbers and blather....

[KoKo]

Dow 9,895.78 -48.89 (-0.49%)
Nasdaq 1,771.30 -37.40 (-2.07%)
S&P 500 1,071.17 -7.87 (-0.73%)
10-Yr Bond 4.291% +0.004
NYSE Volume 629,939,000
Nasdaq Volume 889,453,000

and the blather....

12:00PM: There have been two focal points for the market today: the Cisco (CSCO) earnings report and oil prices... The former was the object of everyone's interest in early trading as the increase in the networker's inventories and its uninspiring revenue guidance of flat to up 2.0% sequentially for fiscal Q1 (Oct) - a seasonally weak period - triggered concerns about end demand and the pace of earnings growth for the tech sector, as well as the broader market...

Cisco wasn't alone in that regard, though, as disappointing revenue and/or earnings guidance from the likes of National Semiconductor (NSM), Kulicke & Soffa (KLIC), Federated (FD), Brinker Intl. (EAT), and Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) compounded those concerns and set the market up for a decidedly negative start to the day... That was exactly the case, too, as the Nasdaq saw yesterday's 34-point gain wiped out in a matter of minutes when the opening bell rang... The S&P and Dow followed suit as they relinquished a substantial portion of yesterday's gains before buyers stepped up to the plate...

Their willingness to do so was prompted by a mid-morning announcement from Saudi Arabia that it had more than 1.3 mln barrels per day in spare capacity that could be used immediately to help stem the rising tide of oil prices... The timing of the announcement was fortuitous in that the weekly inventory report from the American Petroleum Institute showed a decline in inventories across the enrgy complex (i.e. crude, gasoline, and distillate); moreover, there were separate reports that the troubled Russian oil company Yukos had received a default notice on a $1.6 bln loan...