Bull Fight

The markets have turned down this Monday,
atop a
hoist of mixed data and news. In Israel, violence flared up with suicide bombings
over the weekend, and today with a retaliation attack on Palestinian
headquarters by Israeli helicopters.

For the economy,

the National Association of
Purchasing Management reported a contraction in the manufacturing sector with a
reading of 44.5 on its index. This is better than expected and up from October’s
reading of 39.8 which was a 10 year low. U.S. consumers also picked up the
pace on their spending habits for the month of October with an increase of 2.9%,
making up for the 1.7% decline in September. There was no change in personal
income for October.

Market breadth so far today is negative, with
Nasdaq down volume outpacing up volume by over 4 to 1. The tech sectors
are experiencing the brunt of the selling pressure as the Oil Services popped on
news of the Israeli attack. 

From our point gainers and losers list. biotechnology
companies are the most active.

Leading sectors today are Oil Services
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$OSX.X |
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up
2.20% at 79.42, and the Gold and Silver Index
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up
1.06% at 53.13.

The biggest losing sectors today are the CBOE
Internet Index

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down
3.17% at 317.93, and the Airline Index
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down 3.21% at
126.75.

From our point gainers list:

Aviron
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AVIR |
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up 11.31% at 41.24 on
over 11 times average volume. This biotech company will be acquired by Medimmune
in a $1.5 billion stock deal.

Biotech company Transkaryotic Therapies, Inc.
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TKTX |
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rose 4.13% to 44.40 on half-average volume, after announcing a legal judgment concerning patent infringement.

Matria Healthcare, Inc.
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MATR |
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up
10.23% at 28.66 on four times average volume. There is no news on this healthcare
company.

From our point losers list:

MedImmune, Inc.
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MEDI |
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down 11.84% at
38.88 on low volume. This biotech company will acquire Aviron in a $1.5 billion
stock deal.

Cephalon, Inc.
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down 2.32% at
71.05 on half average volume. This biotech company said it would buy French drug
maker Group Lafon for $450 million in cash.

CV Therapeutics, Inc
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4.62% at
52.60 on almost 100% volume. This biotech company is down after talks of 2
million share secondary offering.