After the Bell: Trading Horror Stories, Not Stocks

Feb 28 2001

After Wednesday's brutal session on Wall Street, investors were more likely to trade horror stories than stocks.

No question the after-hours session has seen limited interest after the beatings many investors took in the regular session. The bad news started early in the day when Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told Congress that the economy had gone from he-man to wimp. Even so, he wasn't going to give it the steroids many observers say it needs. No rate cut, at least for now.

The news disappointed the market, which desperately needs a catalyst. The Nasdaq sunk to its lowest point in two years and the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted a triple-digit loss.

Big caps, by and large, are fairly stable after the bell, although a few issues are moving. Standard & Poor's announced after the market's close that Cintas would be added to its broad SP 500 index. Shares of the company, which offers corporate services including uniform rentals, were heavily traded with almost 20 million shares changing hands. Cintas dipped 1 cent, or 0.04 percent, to $36. Bellwethers like Intel and Cisco Systems held steady. Bargain hunters propped up enterprise hardware maker Sun Microsystems : Its shares are up 8 cents, or 0.39 percent, to $19.95.

Wireless equipment maker 3Com is drowning after it announced that it would lose twice as much money as it previously thought. The company made the announcement Wednesday after the market close. Shares are down $2.19, or 13.01 percent, to $7.94.