Market Commentary – Noon

The DJIA, which had plunged 1,140 the past two weeks, is up 205 at 9710. Nasdaq is up 27 at 1955 although chips are down; biotechs and Internets are up. NYSE breadth is 19-8 positive; Nasdaq breadth is 20-11 positive. Trading is active. Short-term technicals are neutral.

Treasuries are off as stocks rise. The dollar is off as February new home sales and existing home sales fell. Oil futures are up.

“We have definitely seen a bounce here, and we were definitely looking for one,” said Amaury de Barros Conti, senior trader, US Global Investors. “We had a lot of sectors and a lot of stocks that had been oversold and people definitely saw some bargains, not just in technology, but across all different sectors – financial and capital goods, etc.”

“This is also follow through from the last two days, which is very positive. However, the focus once again has to go back to earnings and earnings expectations for the third and fourth quarters of 2001,” continued de Barros Conti. “Unfortunately, we are continuing to see these being revised downward, so it will be interesting to see if or how the expectations of people shift.”

De Barros Conti noted that there are some values in technology but thinks investors have been too focused on price action, rather than on long-term fundamentals. “Some stocks are still overvalued, if you use a p/e ratio or other valuations, and have a relatively soft earnings picture for 2001,” he said. “Just because things are cheap is not reason enough to start putting money to work.”

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