Liste Newsletter

Index Performances
EPITEX, EPITA’S INDEX, Dec. 6, 2004: 82.56 (EPITEX set at 100 on Aug. 31, 2001)

News

MARKET FOCUS

U.S. stocks ended mixed on Monday, as resilience in IT stocks helped partly offset weakness in the blue chips, some of which were hit by brokers’ downgrades.

The U.S. dollar pulled back slightly from its latest record low against the euro set on Dec. 3 at $1.3460 against the European currency. But crude oil prices rebounded on news of a terrorist attack against the U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Intel was among the gainers, still enjoying some momentum from last week’s mid-quarter update where the giant chipmaker revised its revenue outlook higher.

OUTLOOK

Given the good gains scored in recent weeks, market participants will see whether equities can stage an unusually strong year-end rally.

THE NUMBERS

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up 45 points, or 0.4 percent, to 10,547. The Nasdaq composite index added 3 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,151 while the Nasdaq-100 index of large capitalization tech and biotech stocks ended up 0.3 percent at 1,619.

Profile

NEC Corp. has reorganized its platform strategy for 3rd Generation (3G) mobile terminals with digital base band LSI with software which is capable of handling W-CDMA/GSM/GPRS dual mode.

As part of NEC’s new 3G (dual mode of W-CDMA and GSM/GPRS) mobile terminal platform strategy for global business, NEC will employ additional platforms from Qualcomm and Ericsson Mobile Platforms.

With these platforms and current platform in place, NEC will be ready to offer a wider range of 3G mobile terminals to meet the various demands of 3G mobile operators and end users in a timely manner, because the services and functions required to advance 3G services vary in the future as 3G market grows and expands globally.

The platform strategy will be modeled based on its success of 2.5G mobile terminal product development strategy driven by NEC’s Chinese operation.

By utilizing Qualcomm’s platform, NEC has introduced prototype of new 3G handset which features a very small and compact design of 86.1cc in volume, 89g in weight and 117mm X 46mm X 16mm in dimensions.

It is developed as a popular 3G model with high functionality such as 3G video function, by fully utilizing its resources and staff in China. NEC will launch this terminal at the beginning of 2005 and intends to propose it to carriers in China for their 3G trials.

At the same time, NEC has started developing new 3G handset by using technology supplied by Ericsson Mobile Platforms - a company that brings experience from developing technology for over 200 million units of mobile phones deployed in over 100 countries in the world.