STOCKWATCH: War avoidance helps stocks
STOCKWATCH: War avoidance helps stocks
Tech stocks looked healthier at the close of business yesterday when the government of Iraq agreed to a United Nations Resolution to allow weapons inspectors into the country. This has temporarily avoided a war between the United States and Iraq.
The Nasdaq had ended trading on the Tuesday almost 15 points down, but ended trading on Wednesday up by 11 points. As a result hardware shares moved up with IBM looking healthy thanks to a strong deal with J P Morgan Chase and an annual analysts meeting. Shares in IBM rose by 20 cents to close at US$79.35.
A round up of analysts carried out by Thomson First Call found that most analysts expect to see IBM grow in 2003 and that the expectations of IBM are "reasonable." Revenues of $87 billion and a share price of $4.31 are expected. A meeting was held by IBM with analysts where they discussed their e-business on demand strategy, which they claim has been "positively received". IBM has invested $10 billion in the project. The integration of consultants PriceWaterhouse Coopers is also going well, they claim.
Joining IBM in the upward climb were fellow storage vendors EMC, Network Appliance and Sun Microsystems. EMC rose by 21 cents to close at $5.76, while Network Appliance closed at $10.61 after a rise of 84 cents. Sun Microsystems had the smallest rise, only 14 cents and completed the day at $3.42.
Rivals Hewlett-Packard and Dell also climbed well, HP achieved a closing price of $16.11, a gain of 61 cents, while Dell rose by 57 cents to close with a share price of $30.05 the day before they announce their financial status at the end of the third quarter.
Veritas finished the week with its stock up three per cent. Veritas finalised a deal to off load its desktop and mobile division to Sonic Solutions, a Californian company. Sonic sells DVD applications and will issue preferred stock to Veritas in payment for the division.
Iraqi compliance with the UN resolution follows good news for the markets last week when the Federal Reserve cut interest rates. Chairman Alan Greenspan said yesterday that the American economy could still head into a "soft spot."
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