Bestimmte noch Ende letzter Woche die Zinsangst die Stimmungen, so sind diese nun schlicht beiseite gewischt worden und nun macht man angesichts guter Unternehmensmeldungen wieder auf fast grenzenlosen Optimismus. Angesichts der extremen Schwankungen sollte man m. E. sich lieber etwas im Hintergrund halten.
Wednesday April 19, 12:39 am Eastern Time
Profit Reports Are Generally Strong
By BRUCE MEYERSON
AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- One after another, leading names from the battered technology sector are offering
some reassurance that the Internet boom is not a mirage -- and that some companies are in fact profiting
from it.
Intel (NasdaqNM:INTC - news), IBM, America Online and Qualcomm all topped Wall Street forecasts
on Tuesday with their reports on profits and revenues from the first three months of the year. Last week, in
the midst of the stock market's seemingly endless slide, Sun Microsystems, Advanced Micro Devices and
Yahoo! did the same.
At this point, however, strong profits are no guarantee against further market convulsions. Then again, it can't hurt.
About a third of the 500 companies that make up the Standard & Poor's 500 index have now posted their first-quarter results, and more than
70 percent of them surpassed expectations, according to First Call/Thomson Financial.
Based on readings such as those, estimates of the overall profit growth among the S&P 500 companies have been nudged higher. The latest
surveys of industry analysts by First Call and IBES now call for them to post a healthy 12 or 13 percent gain in their combined profits
compared with the first quarter of 1999.
But with so many companies, including heavy hitters like Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) on Thursday, still yet to report, the
profit backdrop is filled with potential land mines.
Since market sentiment is so fragile after all the theatrics of recent days, investors may conveniently ignore a series of strong reports if a few of
the big names come up short.
It helps of course, that popular market measures like the Nasdaq composite index now sit well below the eye-popping record highs reached
back in March.
``Having seen so many speculative excesses wrung out over the past few weeks, the market is not in as precarious position as it had been,''
said A.C. Moore, chief investment strategist for Dunvegan Associates in Santa Barbara, Calif.
But, he cautioned, even at post-plunge levels, stocks remain very pricey compared with traditional valuations.
``The overvaluation is not going to be cured by a good earnings season,'' said Moore, asserting that stocks are still priced 32 percent above
fair value and 10 percent above excessive valuations that preceded the crash of 1987.
Wednesday April 19, 12:39 am Eastern Time
Profit Reports Are Generally Strong
By BRUCE MEYERSON
AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- One after another, leading names from the battered technology sector are offering
some reassurance that the Internet boom is not a mirage -- and that some companies are in fact profiting
from it.
Intel (NasdaqNM:INTC - news), IBM, America Online and Qualcomm all topped Wall Street forecasts
on Tuesday with their reports on profits and revenues from the first three months of the year. Last week, in
the midst of the stock market's seemingly endless slide, Sun Microsystems, Advanced Micro Devices and
Yahoo! did the same.
At this point, however, strong profits are no guarantee against further market convulsions. Then again, it can't hurt.
About a third of the 500 companies that make up the Standard & Poor's 500 index have now posted their first-quarter results, and more than
70 percent of them surpassed expectations, according to First Call/Thomson Financial.
Based on readings such as those, estimates of the overall profit growth among the S&P 500 companies have been nudged higher. The latest
surveys of industry analysts by First Call and IBES now call for them to post a healthy 12 or 13 percent gain in their combined profits
compared with the first quarter of 1999.
But with so many companies, including heavy hitters like Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) on Thursday, still yet to report, the
profit backdrop is filled with potential land mines.
Since market sentiment is so fragile after all the theatrics of recent days, investors may conveniently ignore a series of strong reports if a few of
the big names come up short.
It helps of course, that popular market measures like the Nasdaq composite index now sit well below the eye-popping record highs reached
back in March.
``Having seen so many speculative excesses wrung out over the past few weeks, the market is not in as precarious position as it had been,''
said A.C. Moore, chief investment strategist for Dunvegan Associates in Santa Barbara, Calif.
But, he cautioned, even at post-plunge levels, stocks remain very pricey compared with traditional valuations.
``The overvaluation is not going to be cured by a good earnings season,'' said Moore, asserting that stocks are still priced 32 percent above
fair value and 10 percent above excessive valuations that preceded the crash of 1987.