Headline Feeds
Gains in some heavily traded technology stocks sent the Nasdaq Composite Index slightly higher in early-afternoon trading Wednesday, while other major stock indexes headed lower.
The Nasdaq index was up 7.99 at 2,435.71 at midday, led by gains in Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO), Applied Materials (Nasdaq: AMAT), Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) (Nasdaq: INTC) and Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) (Nasdaq: ORCL).
Applied Materials was up US$5.19 at $46.44 despite reports that the company predicted the current quarter will be slow. The company, which makes semiconductor equipment, reported results for the first quarter just ended that beat analysts' lowered expectations.
JP Morgan reportedly upgraded Applied Materials shares, saying the worst could be over for the company.
Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) (Nasdaq: MSFT) was down 12 cents at $58.31, following reports the U.S. Justice Department is reviewing the software giant's investment in Corel. Microsoft also named a new president and chief operating officer, Rick Belluzzo.
JDS Uniphase (Nasdaq: JDSU) erased an early loss to trade up 17 cents at $38.67. The company, which makes fiber-optic components, lowered its sales and earnings projections for the quarter ending March 31st. Analysts at Adams Harkness and JD Cowen reportedly lowered their ratings on JDS Uniphase shares following the news.
Dow, S&P Lower
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and Standard & Poor's 500 index were lower at midday, as non-technology companies weighed in with earnings warnings. Agribusiness giant ConAgra (NYSE: CAG) said its results would be below earlier forecasts, and grocery-store chain Whole Foods Market (Nasdaq: WFMI) reported results that missed expectations.
In economic news, the Commerce Department said business inventories rose just 0.1 percent in December, reportedly the smallest gain since January 1999, and a sign companies were cutting back on stockpiles as demand for products slowed.
Greenspan's View
On Tuesday, Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said the there were "downside risks" to the economy, though "the degree of retrenchment will presumably be limited."
"Prospects for high productivity growth should, with time, bolster both consumption and investment demand," Greenspan told the House Banking Committee. "Before long in this scenario, excess inventories would be run off to desired levels."
The E-Commerce Times
Index was up 0.59 percent at midday. Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), Webvan
(Nasdaq: WBVN) and eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) were higher, while Priceline.com
(Nasdaq: PCLN), Barnesandnoble.com (Nasdaq: BNBN) and Egghead (Nasdaq: EGGS) were lower.
