| MadMax |
Posted
on 09-Apr-03 07:43 AM
Investors watch footage of Iraqi crowds and focus on the good war news over the weakness at home
April 9, 2003: 10:38 AM EDT
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - TV footage of jubilant Baghdad residents working to tear down a statue of Saddam Hussein and shaking hands with U.S. soldiers was pitted Wednesday on Wall Street against the realization that once the war in Iraq is over, the U.S. economy will lose the one last excuse for its current weakness.
This led to hesitation among investors and stock prices that opened higher, only to turn lower, then higher again as traders seemed to determine the good news from Iraq justified a rally, at least over the short term.
Still, a feeling of uncertainty appeared to have crept back into the market and stocks seemed set to react to every bit of news coming out of Iraq or from home. Such news came in abundance: first there was still speculation over the fate of Saddam Hussein, who may have perished with his sons in a bombing of a Baghdad building Monday night. Then there was the purported Osama bin Laden tape in which the infamous al Qaeda leader urged Muslims from around the world to launch terrorist attacks against U.S. and British interests. Then, from closer to home, there were a handful of profit warnings to contend with.
Shortly after 10:00 a.m. ET the Dow Jones industrial average (DJIA: Research, Estimates), the Nasdaq composite (up 6.37 to 1389.31, Charts) and the S&P 500 index (up 6.35 to 884.64, Charts) seemed to have decided up was the way to go.
Market breadth was solidly positive both on the New York Stock Exchange, where 196 million shares changed hands, and the Nasdaq, where 236 million shares traded.
Among the day's movers, shares of Yahoo! (YHOO: down $0.26 to $23.55, Research, Estimates) fell more than 1 percent ahead of the Internet portal's release of its latest quarterly results after the closing bell. Yahoo! is expected to have earned 6 cents a share, well above the 2 cents a share it reported for the same quarter last year.
Shares of Hughes Electronics (GMH: up $0.35 to $11.85, Research, Estimates), the satellite TV unit of General Motors (GM: up $0.23 to $34.96, Research, Estimates), climbed about 3 percent following reports that News Corp. (NWS: up $0.14 to $28.02, Research, Estimates) is close to a deal to buy Hughes for about $6.8 billion.
U.S. Treasury bonds reversed direction and headed lower, with the 10-year note losing 3/32 of a point in price for a yield of 3.94 percent. The dollar rose against major currencies.
Commodity prices were mostly higher. Brent crude futures edged up 2 cents to $24.58 a barrel in London. Gold gained 70 cents to $323.60 an ounce in New York.
Overseas markets suffered. European stocks were mixed and Asian markets closed mostly lower overnight.
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