Rate Uncertainty Tempers Market Rise

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Stocks reversed early gains Tuesday after Federal Reserve officials sent mixed signals on when the central bank will finish raising interest rates.


The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 16.04, or 0.2 percent, to 10,483.07. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 8.60, or 0.4 percent, to 2,067.16. Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 0.25, or 0.02 percent, to 1,197.26.


Tuesday’s rally began when investors interpreted comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan to mean that the Fed was nearly done with its campaign of interest-rate hikes. Greenspan spoke on Monday night via satellite to a bankers’ conference in China. But by mid-afternoon Tuesday, investors got wind of remarks by Jack Guynn, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, who suggested that the central bank was not done yet with raising rates.


Among local companies, shares of Hot Topic Inc. rose 2.2 percent to $22.21 after the City of Industry-based mall retailer’s stock was rated “buy” in new coverage by analyst Pamela Nagler Quintiliano at WR Hambrecht + Co. The price target was set at $26 per share.


And Teledyne Technologies Inc. gained 2.3 percent to $32.29 after a subsidiary of the L.A.-based electronic components firm was one of four companies awarded a U.S. Air Force contract worth up to $500 million over five years. Teledyne Brown Engineering Inc. will provide engineering and technical services to the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center.


On the down side, shares of Jamdat Mobile Inc. fell 7.7 percent to $26.76 after the L.A.-based wireless game publisher’s stock was downgraded to “sector perform” from “outperform” by analyst Evan S. Wilson at Pacific Crest Securities.


And Cherokee Inc. slumped 3.8 percent to $34.64 on the same day the Van Nuys-based apparel marketing and licensing company reported net income of $6.1 million (69 cents per diluted share) for the first quarter ended April 30, compared with $5.5 million (64 cents) for the like period a year earlier.

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