The Market Today

The market rallied for the second day in a row, and for the fourth time in the last five days. The S&P 500 gained 0.43%, and our Buy List gained 0.32%. The bond market was weak again as long-term yields made new highs. The 10-year yield is up to 4.64%.
The broader market was helped by Merck (MRK). It seems that Merck was simply unprepared for the first Vioxx trial. By all reports, the company’s defense at this recent trial was overwhelming. The stock rallied today. Qualcomm (QCOM) and CVS (CVS) also had great days. Just a few weeks ago, Apple Computer (AAPL) fell below $48 after its earnings. The stock broke through to another new high today at $61.85.
Four months ago, Oracle (ORCL) hired Microsoft’s former CFO Greg Maffei as CFO. But then, no one seemed to know his status. The company wouldn’t discuss it and an analyst conference was canceled last week. The stock sold off sharply this morning on very heavy volume. The company just confirmed that Maffei has resigned.
Guidant (GDT) has been sued by Eliot Spitzer. Now that it seems like Johnson & Johnson will walk away from its proposed merger. There’s been some speculation that St. Jude Medical (STJ), one of our Buy List stocks, might be J&J’ next target. St. Jude was up over $2 yesterday.
The big winner today on our Buy List was Fair Isaac (FIC). The stock gained 5.5% in the wake of its great earnings. Lincare (LNCR) was up 4.7%. Congrats to Frontier Airlines (FRNT)! It was named #1 for on time performance. Quality Systems (QSII) just reported earnings of 43 cents a share, three cents more than estimates. Revenues were up 39%. The stock closed up 2.9%.
Our laggards included Brown & Brown (BRO) which had two downgrades. Also, Thor Industries (THO) dropped 4.5% due to Fleetwood’s (FLE) poor sales report.
Remember how Sarbanes-Oxley was going to increase transparency? Well, the compliance costs are weighing down lots of small companies. One publicly-traded stock has had enough, and they’re going private. Net effect: less transparency. (Via Luskin.)
And finally, Random Roger has some thoughts on Pfizer (PFE).

Posted by on November 3rd, 2005 at 4:44 pm


The information in this blog post represents my own opinions and does not contain a recommendation for any particular security or investment. I or my affiliates may hold positions or other interests in securities mentioned in the Blog, please see my Disclaimer page for my full disclaimer.