Zacks.com Announces That Price Headley Highlights: iShares DJ US Financial Sector, iShares Consumer Cyclical, Citigroup, Bank of America, Wal-Mart and Microsoft

Business Wire, Nov 10, 2003

Business Editors

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 10, 2003

The Fed's promise to keep rates low may be the most bullish factor for the fourth quarter, according to Price Headley. This should leave investors in a good position to hop on a rising trend if they use this expert's analysis and exchange-traded-funds recommendations. Read about iShares Dow Jones U.S. Financial Sector Index Fund (AMEX:IYF), iShares Consumer Cyclical Index Fund (AMEX:IYC), Citigroup (NYSE:C), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT), and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT). Click here for the full story exclusively on Zacks.com: http://featuredexpert2bw.zacks.com/

Here are the highlights from the Featured Expert column:

Price Headley and his team are focusing not strictly on the earnings trends - which look quite healthy - but on the market's reaction to earnings, and how that dynamic may or may not be changing. He saw investors find in Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) latest earnings report cause to head for the exits. First, the good news: The company a) beat expectations and b) raised guidance. The not-so good news: It was in the proverbial fine print that investors and analysts found cause for concern. Though the company guided higher for the quarter and full year earnings, it looks like some investors were expecting even better news. Clearly it wasn't all bad news (far from it, really, given that the bottom line rose 28 percent on a year-over-year basis), but it was a mixed bag for investors looking for clearer signs of accelerating momentum on the capital spending side.

In Headley's view, the fact that the Federal Reserve unequivocally stated its intent to stand pat on rates may prove to be the most bullish event of the fourth quarter. Absent a sudden threat of inflation, the ability of equity and bond investors to count on stable rates (at least where the Fed is concerned) for the intermediate-term is a very bullish sign. That perception of certainty saw the markets let out a collective sigh of relief.

Conservative Portfolio Update

All things considered, Headley's position in iShares Dow Jones U.S. Financial Sector Index Fund (AMEX:IYF) looks like an indispensable play on the market recovery and the tremendous boost financial stocks continue to get from an historic combination of low interest rates and bullishness in the stock market. Top holdings include: Citigroup (NYSE:C) and Bank of America (NYSE:BAC).

Thursday, we saw the release new and existing home sales that exceeded analyst estimates by a nice margin. That, combined with solid consumer sentiment and the Federal Reserve's accommodative stance on interest rates, is renewing upward momentum for retail, homebuilding and media shares that dominate iShares Consumer Cyclical Index Fund (AMEX:IYC). Top holdings include: Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT).

Read Price Headley's complete market analysis and all of the ETF commentaries from his conservative and aggressive portfolios by clicking: http://featuredexpert3bw.zacks.com/

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