(April 20) – “The market looks poised for some buying in the early going,” write Kristen French for TheStreet.com today.
“Looks like it’s time for spring cleaning as investors continue to sort through their portfolios, separating the ‘must keep’ and the ‘ditch that’ into piles, and, of course, getting rid of the latter. Most Wall Streeters expect to see continued intraday volatility. But the good news is, the bulk of margin call fears have probably been wrung out of the market and investors are calculating bets with their heads rather than a queasy gut.
“A continuing stream of stellar earnings may not keep major indices out of the red today, but earnings and revenue will continue to determine which stocks are winners and which ones are losers.
“Yesterday Bristol-Myers Squibb took a beating after pulling a major drug marketing application and slid down 14 3/16, or 21.8%, to 50 15/16 in composite trading. Today’s earnings slate is just a little thinner than yesterday, but we have more to come next week. Big names on deck today include Microsoft Amgen, Sigma-Aldrich, and Xilinx.
“In any case, yesterday’s flat trading volume is expected to repeat itself today, as many investors take a break from last week’s intensity and duck out ahead of Good Friday.”