Liste Newsletter

Index Performances
EPITEX, EPITA’S INDEX EPITEX at close of trading, Nov. 3: 88.28 Combined share value in EPITEX: $571.40 Average per-share value in EPITEX: $ 28.57 (EPITEX set at 100 on Aug. 31, 2001)

News

MARKET FOCUS

U.S. equities staged a robust rally on Monday, boosted by encouraging news from the recovering manufacturing sector.

The ISM reported that its national manufacturing index rose to 57 in October from 53.7 in September. The ISM has been above the reading of 50 that signals an expansion in manufacturing for four straight months. This confirmed the rising trend shown on Friday by the Chicago PMI survey of regional manufacturing.

The market is optimistic about the U.S. economic recovery, following last week’s surprise third-quarter jump for Gross Domestic Growth (GDP) growth to 7.2 percent, the fastest pace in two decades. Consumer confidence gauges are also climbing, reflecting the impact of fiscal and monetary stimulus, with overnight interest rates anchored at a 45-year low of 1.0 percent.

In the IT space, chipmakers like Intel were in the spotlight after the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) said worldwide semiconductor sales in the third quarter rose 13.7 percent sequentially and were up 17.5 percent compared to a year ago. Chip sales rose to $14.4 billion in September, the seventh straight month of gain.

Also, Cisco Systems continued to advance ahead of reporting its quarterly financial numbers on Wednesday.

OUTLOOK

Investors, looking for a confirmation the economy is improving, will watch the employment report for October, coming out on Friday. U.S. payrolls are forecast to have added 40,000 jobs in October following a gain of 57,000 in September. The jobless rate should hold steady at 6.2 percent.

Market players will also follow weekly claims for unemployment benefits on Thursday. The claims are holding below the 400,000 level that signals a contraction in the labor market, in a sign the worst might be over on the employment front, crucial to sustain economic growth and lofty stock valuation.

THE NUMBERS

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 57 points, or 0.6 percent, to 9,858. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 35 points, or 1.8 percent, to 1,967, while the Nasdaq-100 index of large-capitalization tech and biotech stocks ended up 1.9 percent to 1,443.

Profile

Microsoft has entered into a semiconductor technology agreement with IBM under which the software leader is licensing leading-edge semiconductor processor technology from the IT giant for use in future Xbox products and services.

Xbox, Microsoft’s future-generation video game system, allows players to create games that blur the lines between fantasy and reality. Xbox is now available in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

“Microsoft is already developing the software and services that will drive the Digital Decade,” said Robbie Bach, SVP of the Home & Entertainment Division at Microsoft.

“By combining our vision, software experience and R&D resources with IBM’s computer and semiconductor technologies, we plan to deliver unprecedented and unparalleled entertainment experiences to consumers while creating new engines of growth for the technology and entertainment industries,” Bach also said.

According to Bernie Meyerson, IBM Fellow and chief technologist for IBM’s Technology Group, the new Xbox technologies will be based on the latest in IBM’s family of state-of-the-art processors.

“IBM's advanced chip technologies are in demand across a wide range of industries and applications,” Meyerson said. “We’re excited to be working on a project of this magnitude and that Microsoft has chosen IBM to provide technologies that will power future consumer devices and expand the boundaries of what’s possible in entertainment.”

IBM’s Technology Group, the source of many of silicon breakthroughs, lays a critical role with its OEM customers and the IBM Systems Group in creating unique, high-performance semiconductor devices. It offers engineering design services, a portfolio of intellectual property, interconnect technologies, customized processors or application-specific integrated circuits that can be fabricated at IBM’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities.