Rats abandon ship... pundits spin like mad

[timework@xxxxxxxxx (Tom Walker)]

The following briefing.com piece is hilarious for the way that it tries to
find an 'optimistic' rationale for a market play whose most likely
explanation can be found at the end of the third paragraph:

12:00PM: Up until last night, the market was reeling from the thought that
the much-anticipated economic rebound in the U.S. was not going to occur
until next year... A slew of earnings warnings at home, a restrictive
European Central Bank, and a brewing debt and currency crisis in Latin
America were among the factors contributing to that belief... While the
timing of an economic rebound is still very arguable, a number of positive
developments after yesterday's close have raised hopes again that an
economic, and earnings, rebound is on the horizon...

The biggest influence in changing the prevailing mindset has been Microsoft
(MSFT +4.13), which raised its sales estimates for the June quarter and, in
the process, ignited hope that end demand is improving... In addition to
MSFT's news, market participants have also been enthused by the better than
expected earnings announcements, and guidance, from the likes of Yahoo!
(YHOO +0.78), Motorola (MOT +1.98) and Sonus Networks (SONS +4.09)... Other
notable companies to share good earnings news were General Electric (GE
+1.70), Tyco (TYC +0.99), Enron (ENE +0.21) and First Union (FTU +0.70)...

Suffice it to say, this slate of good news has been a welcome change of pace
from the disappointing earnings news that has been heard the past few
weeks... Accordingly, investors have been willing to overlook negative
developments today like a number of warnings from the retail sector, a sharp
spike in initial claims for the week of July 7, and continued investor
fallout in Argentina stemming from debt default concerns... Presently,
Argentina's Merval Index is down 11.8%... The U.S. indices, meanwhile, are
posting healthy gains, which has been the case since the start of trading...

The buying interest has been widespread with technology, financial and
retail stocks leading the way... Interestingly, volume continues to be on
the moderate side at the Nasdaq, which could perhaps suggest that there is
some underlying caution about the sustainability of today's rally... That
point notwithstanding, there is no mistaking the aggressive posture of
today's markets as most of the notable laggards are found in
defensive-oriented industry groups like tobacco, health care, drugs and gold...
Tom Walker
Bowen Island, BC
604 947 2213