This week could see light volume and heavy calories due to Thanksgiving.
The earnings calendar has few entries of note, while there are slim servings
of economic data. Durable goods and Michigan sentiment could shake investors
from their torpor, although one should keep in mind that any movement could be
exaggerated due to the thin trading conditions, and thus be short-lived. One
of the factors that have reportedly contributed to the market's strength has
been end of the year window-dressing. So far this month, techs have been among
the leading gainers, closely followed by staple, industrial and material
shares. The latter sectors have mostly benefited respectively from talk that
the GOP election win is favoring tobacco stocks, from a decline in oil prices
and from strength in gold amid dollar feebleness. As for techs, computer
stocks, followed by Internet and chip shares, have led the group. Meanwhile,
telecom gear issues finished last. The fact that the chip sector has lost its
crown is not surprising, as sector bellwethers such as Applied Materials
continue to underscore inventory concerns looking forward. Also, the computer
sector got bolstered by pleasing results and guidance from Dell and Hewlett-
Packard, while a lackluster revenue forecast from Cisco Systems weighed on the
telecom gear industry. Turning to the Internet sector, sentiment remains
positive, even though Google's growth rate sustainability was in doubt last
week. Talking to CNNMoney, eMar-keter expects online ad sales to reach $9.4
billion this year, and companies are likely to nearly double their annual Web
ad spending by 2008. Some perennial bears note that ad price increases should
be limited however, since inventory, that is, the total supply of ad space
available, is growing. A handful of top players are getting about half of the
ad dollars, while below that, the sector is more fragmented, commented Jupiter
Research to the Internet news service. In sum, stick with the big birds!
High-Tech Monday Update is provided courtesy of Thomson Financial. This
information is believed to be true and accurate; we take no responsibility for
inaccurate information and reserve the right to update our reports. For more
information, please visit our web site at http://www.thomson.com/financial.
SOURCE Thomson Financial
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