Stocks Green As NYC Transit Strike Ends
Stocks closed at their highs Thursday after
tame inflation data was released and two Dow components got favorable brokerage
mentions. The New York City transit strike
ended, with full service expected in 10-18 hours. Transports closed at historic
highs.
Caterpillar
(
CAT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gained after CSFB named the stock its top
large-cap machinery pick for next year, and fellow Dow component
AIG {AIG|AIG] gained after Merrill Lynch named
the stock one of its top insurance stocks.
Jobless claims for the
latest week fell 13,000 to 318,000; the four week moving average 324,500.
Personal income rose 0.3%; personal spending rose 0.3%.
Todd Clark, Director of Trading at Nollenberger
Capital Partners, said “Bottom line, this is a seasonal period when markets
tend to drift higher. We did have much lighter volume this holiday week but we
saw that starting yesterday. It looks like we’re going to come up and try to
challenge the recent highs that we’ve seen on the Nasdaq–around 2278 and on the
S&P around 1276. The backdrop for today is basically decent economic numbers,
decent earnings and I also think the end of the New York transit strike seemed
to encourage traders in general.”  Â
General Mills
(
GIS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.03 and reaffirmed fiscal 2006 guidance. GIS’s
PowerRating is 6.
ConAgra
(
CAG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
was in-line but missed on revenues and said it sees continuing negative impact
in the third and fourth quarters. CAG’s
PowerRating is 3.
Research in Motion
(
RIMM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported $0.71 non-GAAP, beating by 0.06, on revenue of $560 million. The
company also cut its Q4 subscriber guidance and guided Q1 in-line and also
said it is likely to launch nationwide service with China Mobile this quarter.
RIMM’s
PowerRating is 5.
A.G. Edwards
(
AGE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.02, ex-items and missed on revenues. AGE’s
PowerRating is 6.
Altria
(
MO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) signed a deal to produce and sell cigarettes in China. MO’s
PowerRating is 5.
Strong sectors were:Â Â Â Gold
(
XAU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.14%Â Â Â Â Â
BiotechÂ
(
BTK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.85% Â Â Â Â Healthcare
(
HMO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.46%Â
Weak sectors were:Â Â Â
Retail
(
RLX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.39%Â Â Â Â Â Â Natural GasÂ
(
XNG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.23%Â Â Â Â Â Â
OilÂ
(
OIX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.11%Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
|
|
+55.71 | 10,889.44 |
| +14.83 | 2246.49 | |
| +5.33 | 1268.12 | |
|
Oil |
58.30 |
More stocks on the move:
Micron
(
MU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
missed by 0.02, with quarterly profit off 60%. Jeffries cut its target on the
company to $12.50. MU‘s
PowerRating is 4.
Red Hat
(
RHAT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by
.03 on higher-than-expected revenues of $73.1 million. Q3 profit more than
doubled from a year ago. Â RHAT’s
PowerRating is 5.
How is your favorite stock PowerRated? Click here.
Brice Wightman
Â
Â
Â