Despite the better-than-expected data, stock markets traded sharply lower Thursday after several prominent companies received downgrades from Wall Street analysts.
Several analysts also issued downgrades of prominent technology companies, including Intel, WorldCom and Micron Technology, citing concern that weak demand could result in lower-than-expected revenue growth in the coming months.
Standard & Poor's has been criticized by prominent lawmakers since it downgraded its assessment of the long-term credit of the United States in August, and McGraw-Hill recently announced plans to separate the company into two parts in response to a shareholder uprising.
Late last month, after the company reported its third-quarter financial results, two prominent Merrill Lynch analysts, Jessica Reif Cohen and Henry Blodget, downgraded the company's stock over concerns that subscriber revenue growth at the AOL online unit was slowing.
Cisco Systems, down $5.25, to $36.50, was a prominent casualty after it was downgraded by a Merrill Lynch analyst, who said lower corporate spending could be a drag on revenue.
Prominent fashion labels canceled or downgraded their runway shows, leaving models hoping for a break with fewer opportunities.
Technology shares plummeted after one of the bull market's pillars, Dell Computer, was downgraded by a prominent hardware analysts who questioned the computer maker's fiscal fourth-quarter revenue targets.
Whole Foods Market closed its acquisition of fellow natural-foods name Wild Oats Markets ; Winn-Dixie and United Natural Foods reported earnings, and Wal-Mart Stores, an increasingly prominent name in the grocery business, was downgraded to "sell" at Merrill Lynch.
"We had a couple of high-profile names get downgraded right after Labor Day, Intel prominent among them," Mr. White said.
How prominent will your interests be in your solicitor's choice between downgrading the category of your case to keep the advocate's fees in-house, or instructing someone of the appropriate grade and losing those fees?
