The market heard Buy signals this morning from Credit Suisse First Boston's Thomas Galvin, UBS Warburg's Ed Kerschner and one of the grouchiest bears of all, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter's Barton Biggs.
Biggs, as late as last month, was predicting a rapid hard landing in the economy and continued deterioration in the markets. Then, last week he suggested in a note that got little notice in the media that the Nasdaq was near a bottom and could soon see a powerful rally. Today he went further, saying "by all indications the Nasdaq is really deeply oversold," and the potential for a snapback is "substantial" over the next four to six weeks. Much of the bad news on tech stocks has been priced in, said Biggs, who put a near-term target on the Nasdaq at 3500.
Galvin said Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan's signal last week that lower interest rates may be on the way to prevent a recession means the chance of a soft landing in the economy has risen decidedly.
In addition, the long list of warnings from tech leaders has made the earnings picture clearer and is helping the market put in a bottom, he wrote to clients today.
"Both Intel (INTC) and Motorola (MOT) shares advanced following their respective 'mea culpa' as investors recognized that enough shoes and stock prices had already dropped such that bad news became good news," he said. As the election stalemate clears up, the buyers who have sat on the sidelines might be ready to step in, Galvin added.
Kerschner wrote that the decline in markets has left investors with "one of the five most attractive opportunities of the past 20 years."
Biggs, as late as last month, was predicting a rapid hard landing in the economy and continued deterioration in the markets. Then, last week he suggested in a note that got little notice in the media that the Nasdaq was near a bottom and could soon see a powerful rally. Today he went further, saying "by all indications the Nasdaq is really deeply oversold," and the potential for a snapback is "substantial" over the next four to six weeks. Much of the bad news on tech stocks has been priced in, said Biggs, who put a near-term target on the Nasdaq at 3500.
Galvin said Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan's signal last week that lower interest rates may be on the way to prevent a recession means the chance of a soft landing in the economy has risen decidedly.
In addition, the long list of warnings from tech leaders has made the earnings picture clearer and is helping the market put in a bottom, he wrote to clients today.
"Both Intel (INTC) and Motorola (MOT) shares advanced following their respective 'mea culpa' as investors recognized that enough shoes and stock prices had already dropped such that bad news became good news," he said. As the election stalemate clears up, the buyers who have sat on the sidelines might be ready to step in, Galvin added.
Kerschner wrote that the decline in markets has left investors with "one of the five most attractive opportunities of the past 20 years."
