Technology groups set to weigh at Wall St opening
Enviado: 11/8/2004 11:16Technology groups set to weigh at Wall St opening
11/08/2004 11:15
By Huw Jones
LONDON, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Technology trio Cisco Systems , National Semiconductor and Kulicke & Soffa were set to drag Wall Street lower at the opening bell on Wednesday amid fresh signs of faltering demand.
September Nasdaq 100 futures were down 0.9 percent, indicating a hefty opening fall could be in store for the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite index.
On the earnings front, Federated Department Stores Inc. , parent of Macy's and Bloomingdale's, reports second-quarter results before the bell.
News Corp , Rupert Murdoch's media empire, reports after the New York close.
After the Federal Reserve's widely anticipated 25 basis-point interest rate hike to 1.5 percent on Tuesday, the next U.S. macro milestones for stock investors are not due until Thursday's jobless claims and July retail sales figures.
By 0950 GMT, U.S. stock futures were pointing to opening losses of between 0.5 and 0.9 percent for the three main indexes .
On Tuesday, the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 1.3 percent at 9,944.67 points, while the technology-laden Nasdaq Composite Index ended up 1.9 percent at 1,808.70 points.
Wall Street rallied as the Federal Reserve, in delivering its interest rate increase during Wall Street trading, said the economy, although hit by energy costs, was still poised for faster growth.
The central bank signalled no let-up in its "measured" campaign to lift rates to a more neutral level despite poor job creation in July. Crude oil prices traded around $44.60 a barrel, still near their 21-year highs of earlier this week.
TECH TROUBLES
Cisco, the world's largest maker of equipment that directs Internet and other network traffic, reported a 41 percent surge in quarterly profit, but said inventories also rose and that customers were becoming more cautious.
Cisco forecast sales for the current quarter, its first of fiscal 2005, would be flat to up 2 percent from the prior quarter, short of Wall Street's expectations.
Cisco shares fell to $19.47 on the INET electronic brokerage in after-hours trading on Tuesday, compared with their $20.46 Nasdaq close.
On Wednesday, Merrill Lynch investment bank cuts its recommendation on the stock to "neutral" from "buy".
"Our discussions with market participants lead us to believe that the visibility is getting worse going into the next quarter," Merrill said in a research note.
"We believe the forthcoming elections in the U.S. may increase market uncertainty, which could hamper Federal spending," Merrill said.
Computer Sciences Corp. , one of the world's biggest computer services providers, fell after-hours to $41.85, after closing at $44.20 on the New York Stock exchange on Tuesday.
The group posted higher first quarter earnings on a rise in revenue on steady sales to the federal government and growth in its European operations.
Shares in National Semiconductor Corp. also fell after-hours in New York on Tuesday after the group said it expected fiscal first-quarter revenue to fall, on lower-than-expected demand.
Kulicke & Soffa, which makes equipment used to assemble microchips, said fiscal fourth-quarter revenue will be short of its prior forecast by as much as 31 percent, citing growing caution among customers about future demand.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Pentagon auditors have concluded that Halliburton Co. failed to adequately account for more than $1.8 billion of work in Iraq and Kuwait.
It said the findings in the 60-page Pentagon audit report, dated Aug. 4 but not publicly released are likely to increase pressure on the U.S. government to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars of payments to Halliburton.
Meanwhile, Walt Di
11/08/2004 11:15
By Huw Jones
LONDON, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Technology trio Cisco Systems , National Semiconductor and Kulicke & Soffa were set to drag Wall Street lower at the opening bell on Wednesday amid fresh signs of faltering demand.
September Nasdaq 100 futures were down 0.9 percent, indicating a hefty opening fall could be in store for the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite index.
On the earnings front, Federated Department Stores Inc. , parent of Macy's and Bloomingdale's, reports second-quarter results before the bell.
News Corp , Rupert Murdoch's media empire, reports after the New York close.
After the Federal Reserve's widely anticipated 25 basis-point interest rate hike to 1.5 percent on Tuesday, the next U.S. macro milestones for stock investors are not due until Thursday's jobless claims and July retail sales figures.
By 0950 GMT, U.S. stock futures were pointing to opening losses of between 0.5 and 0.9 percent for the three main indexes .
On Tuesday, the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 1.3 percent at 9,944.67 points, while the technology-laden Nasdaq Composite Index ended up 1.9 percent at 1,808.70 points.
Wall Street rallied as the Federal Reserve, in delivering its interest rate increase during Wall Street trading, said the economy, although hit by energy costs, was still poised for faster growth.
The central bank signalled no let-up in its "measured" campaign to lift rates to a more neutral level despite poor job creation in July. Crude oil prices traded around $44.60 a barrel, still near their 21-year highs of earlier this week.
TECH TROUBLES
Cisco, the world's largest maker of equipment that directs Internet and other network traffic, reported a 41 percent surge in quarterly profit, but said inventories also rose and that customers were becoming more cautious.
Cisco forecast sales for the current quarter, its first of fiscal 2005, would be flat to up 2 percent from the prior quarter, short of Wall Street's expectations.
Cisco shares fell to $19.47 on the INET electronic brokerage in after-hours trading on Tuesday, compared with their $20.46 Nasdaq close.
On Wednesday, Merrill Lynch investment bank cuts its recommendation on the stock to "neutral" from "buy".
"Our discussions with market participants lead us to believe that the visibility is getting worse going into the next quarter," Merrill said in a research note.
"We believe the forthcoming elections in the U.S. may increase market uncertainty, which could hamper Federal spending," Merrill said.
Computer Sciences Corp. , one of the world's biggest computer services providers, fell after-hours to $41.85, after closing at $44.20 on the New York Stock exchange on Tuesday.
The group posted higher first quarter earnings on a rise in revenue on steady sales to the federal government and growth in its European operations.
Shares in National Semiconductor Corp. also fell after-hours in New York on Tuesday after the group said it expected fiscal first-quarter revenue to fall, on lower-than-expected demand.
Kulicke & Soffa, which makes equipment used to assemble microchips, said fiscal fourth-quarter revenue will be short of its prior forecast by as much as 31 percent, citing growing caution among customers about future demand.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Pentagon auditors have concluded that Halliburton Co. failed to adequately account for more than $1.8 billion of work in Iraq and Kuwait.
It said the findings in the 60-page Pentagon audit report, dated Aug. 4 but not publicly released are likely to increase pressure on the U.S. government to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars of payments to Halliburton.
Meanwhile, Walt Di