Weekly Wrap

Why not end the year on another down Nasdaq week? What the heck. It's my first year of ever writing market wraps, so why not be bearish on tech stocks the whole way through?  It was a shortened week because of the Christmas Holiday so there wasn't much news. Oh wait, the Nasdaq was down. A couple of bright shining stars though... the Dow and the S & P were up!

Network Associates (NETA) warned that they expect an enormous decrease in profits this next quarter. Losses for the year could be as great as 140 million. MILLION. That's one-hundred forty (who wants a) million!

Speaking of Regis... Regis Hair Salon (RGIS), also owners of Super Cuts and Cost Cutters, warned that they too would come up a pixie cut short of their earnings estimates. But get this, they didn't blame the slowing economy... they blamed the weather. Seems that the bangs, I mean banks of snow, kept customers away from their strip mall locations. Didn't keep me away. If you saw my Christmas picture, those kids got Cost Cutter hair. Hmmmm... maybe that's what really kept the customers away. Nah.

I don't know if you remember the Firestone debacle of a few months back, but this past week, the tire industry was gathering speed as it was the biggest gainer. (It was the only way it could go.) Goodyear Tire and Rubber (GT) was up 22.29% and Cooper Tire and Rubber (CTB) was up 12.34%.

The worst industry of the week was the Entertainment Field. No jokes about Madonna's wedding please. Harvey Entertainment Co. (HRVY), which owns the rights to Casper the Friendly Ghost, Richie Rich (but not Guy Richie) and other cartoon characters was down another 33%. The stock has been freefalling all year...which eventually led to the resignation of President Rick Mischel on Wednesday.

Two companies that should be holding their butts high this week were, RJ Tobacco Holdings (RJR) and Philip Morris (MO). Both moving UP 6.85% and 1.13% respectively. This past week Chick Kristin wrote a great article on Philip Morris. As an experiment, count how many Philip Morris beverages you consume this New Years Eve, and then you decide if it's a company worthy of investing in. (Can you tell I'm still irked the Chicks didn't buy it this summer? I'm even more irked that I didn't scoop it up personally.)

That's the week in an eggshell. Have a safe and Happy New Year. Stay Tuned this weekend for my Yearly Market Wrap. I'm so excited to tell you about some of my bear friends.

Chick Karin

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