What Traders Are Saying About The Saudi Offer
Stocks
gapped higher but gave up most of their gains as oil prices climbed 4%.
Saudi Arabia attempted to calm oil markets by calling for an increase of
11%, or as much as 2.5 million barrels a day. Traders were disappointed by
comments from Venezuelan Energy and Mines Minister Rafael Ramirez as he was
opposed to the increase and cited Saudi’s lack of authority. Some traders doubt
whether the Saudi pledge to increase output unilaterally is sufficient to meet
demand.
New York AG Eliot Spitzer said
he would file a lawsuit against Richard Grasso to seek the return of part of his
$188.5 million pay package. Under NY statutes, compensation for executives at
non-profit corporations must be commensurate with services provided. Alcoa
(
AA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) announced plans to build a $1 billion smelting plant in Trinidad which
would have an annual capacity of 250,000 tons of aluminum. The project is
expected to cost more than $1 billion with Alcoa holding a 60% stake.
Campbell Soup
(
CPB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported earnings that rose 10% to $142 million with
revenue up 4% to $1.7 billion on a weak dollar and one-time gains offsetting
declining US soup sales.
Volume continues to be on the
light side on the NYSE, with program volume accounting for over 50% of total
volume recently; there has never been two consecutive weeks with program volume
this high.
President Bush will appear
speak at 8 PM EDT tonight to outline his Iraq strategies.
| Dow | -25.28 | 9941.82 |
| S&P 500 | -0.79 | 1093.35 |
| Nasdaq | +7.00 | 1918.56 |
Strong today are Oil
Services
(
OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +3.07%, Energy
(
DXE.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.04%, Oil
Index
(
XOI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.50%, and Natural Gas
(
XNG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.48%.
Weak today are
Pharmaceuticals
(
DRG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.78%, Telecoms
(
XTC.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.40%.
No Economic news releases
today.
10-year Notes are +25 at
109 010
The dollar
is +0.10 at 90.67
Gold is +5.00 at 385.40
Crude Oil is 1.74 at
416.50
Volume is 567,000
million on the NYSE, and 726,000 million on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is positive.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 2060 | Up Vol 342 |
| Declining | 1047 | Down Vol 215 |
| Ratio | 1.98 | 1.59 |
| Nasdaq |
||
| Advancing | 1719 | Up Vol 433 |
| Declining | 1230 | Down Vol 255 |
| Ratio | 1.40 | 1.70 |
Top Dow stocks are:
Alcoa
(
AA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.24% at
30.13, Boeing
(
BA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.89% at 44.20, Caterpillar
(
CAT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+1.45% at 74.01Â Disney
(
DIS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.42% at 23.00
Stocks in the news:
Lucent Technologies
(
LU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) acquired
maker of VoIP systems Telica for $295 million in stock and options.
Boeing
(
BA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is higher after a CSFB upgrade to
outperform. The analyst cited optimism in its 7E7 aircraft due to an increasing
number of comparable jets nearing retirement.
Wiser Oil
(
WZR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) will acquire Forest Oil
(
FST |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
for $330 million in cash, a 30% premium over Friday’s closing price.
WalMart ]WMT|WMT] re-affirmed May same-store sales to
be around 5%. The company opened 18 new super-centers and 5 discount stores over
the last week. Its annual shareholders are expected to meet June 4th.
Brice Wightman
bricew@tradingmarkets.com