It is a sign of an ugly market that things just start to go down. The National Association of Purchasing Management index, which measures manufacturing activity across the nation, edged up to 43.1 for March, higher than the 42.5 economists had expected. Though an index reading of less than 50 suggests that the manufacturing sector was still falling in March, that decline was at a slower pace than either January or February. Volume was active, with 1.2 billion shares changing hands on the New York Stock Exchange and 1.8 billion shares on the Nasdaq market. Declining shares beat advancing shares 19 to 12 on the NYSE and 27 to 10 on the Nasdaq.
Treasuries are mostly lower.
SG Cowen this morning said IBM is geared up to have a good year and issued a 12-month target price of 160 a share. SG Cowen also said IBM looks to deliver earnings growth in the mid-teens for 2001. The stock dropped 9 percent to 15.25. FPL was flat at 61.21 and Entergy was flat at 38. The company now sees earnings of 30 cents to 32 cents a share, lower than the 37 cents a share the Street was calling for in the first quarter.