| QQQQ to Nasdaq Composite: See Ya
EVERYONE KNOWS IT'S A MARKET of stocks, not a stock market. But that old saw even holds for traders of index funds, notably those based on the Nasdaq Composite Index and the Nasdaq-100. So far in 2007, the Nasdaq Composite's total return is up 19.09%, while the Nasdaq-100 -- the basis for the popular QQQQ exchange-traded fund, is up 27.74%. The outperformance of the QQQQ is so significant that it has persuaded most options traders and investors to consider less-diversified investment strategies, Credit Suisse derivatives strategists Ed Tom and Glenn DeSouza said in a recent trading advisory. The ETF (now officially called PowerShares QQQ Trust due to a licensing marketing agreement) consists of only the top 100 Nasdaq nonfinancial stocks. The Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) consists of all the listed Nasdaq stocks, which now totals about 3,000 companies.
Hostile bidders warned off French bank
THE French government vowed overnight to fight off any hostile takeover bid for Societe Generale, but warned the bank is in "crisis" following massive losses blamed on a rogue trader. Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said the bank was in "a crisis situation" and Societe Generale's board must now decide the fate of its chairman, Daniel Bouton after the €4.82 billion ($8.04 billion) losses. But Prime Minister Francois Fillon stressed the "government is very attentive to any risk of destabilisation of Societe Generale" and warned it "will not allow Societe Generale to be the target of hostile raids by other banking establishments". "Societe Generale is a great French bank ... and the government intends it to remain a great French bank and globalised player," Mr Fillon later told the National Assembly.
TMB ties up with broking firm
Tamilnad Mercantile Bank (TMB) has entered into a partnership with Religare Enterprises Ltd, a stock broking firm and part of Ranbaxy group, to provide a range of financial services to its customers including online trading of securities. As part of its ongoing efforts to expand its partners in bancinvest channel, Religare would leverage its tie-up with TMB to penetrate into tier-II and III towns in Tamilnadu where the equity cult was yet to make an impact, said S Amarnath, regional head, Religare Enterprises. Moreover, the broking firm would have trained staff to work closely with the bank to provide the support required for servicing customers. The company offered a range of financial services including trading in equities, commodities, insurance broking, wealth advisory and portfolio management services to high net-worth individuals and NRIs.
Major Indexes Near Session Highs
Earnings misses took a bite out of the market's rebound of the past few days. The NYSE composite was up 0.4%, the Nasdaq composite down 0.2% at 12:54 p.m. EST. The S&P 500 clung to a 0.2% gain, while the Dow climbed 0.8%. Small caps slipped, with the S&P 600 dropping 0.1%. A strong jump in transportation sector durable goods orders gave the sector a boost, with the Dow transports showing a 1.5% gain. NYSE volume eased but was still up 7%. Trading was 12% higher on the Nasdaq. Advancing issues led decliners by 3-to-2 on the NYSE and by a narrow margin on the Nasdaq. The Electrical-Parts Distributor group posted the best gain by midday, hoisted higher by Anixter International's (AXE) gap-up gain of 11.08 to 69.38. The 19% jump followed a Q4 earnings and sales report that topped expectations.
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