Here Are The Leaders Of This Rally

Stocks
are nicely higher midday
with good news on the war front from
coalition forces. Reports that a division of Iraq’s Republican Guard was crushed
put the buyers on the offense at the open, and additional reports of another
division “hanging by a thread” have sustained the day’s upward momentum.
Disappointing data from the manufacturing sector barely put a hiccup in price
action, with volume coming in strong and breadth positive. Technology issues
represent the day’s strength with the Dow led by Intel and Microsoft.

The Dow Jones Industrial
Average

(
$INDU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
is +2.90% at 8,304.11. The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)

is +2.81% at 882.64. The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
is +3.64% at 1,397.41.

Top sectors are airlines
(
$XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, +7.05%, semiconductors
(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, +6.45%,
software

(
$GSO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, +5.30%, and networking
(
$NWX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
,
+4.97%.

Weakest sectors are gold and
silver

(
$XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, -2.53%, and oil
(
$OIX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, -0.83%.

In economic news, factory orders were down
1.5% vs. expectations of a decline of 0.7%.

The 10-year U.S. Note
is -265 at 114 010.

The dollar is +1.02 at
100.60.

Gold is -6.30 at 328.00.

Crude Oil  -1.25 at
28.53.

Volume is at 797,684,000
on the NYSE, and at 855,857,000 on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth is positive,
with NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by a ratio of 2.82, and up
volume over down volume by a 9.54 ratio. Nasdaq advancing issues over declining
issues are at 2.47, and up volume over down volume is at a 6.23 ratio.

Topping the Dow are:

Intel
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
,
+6.76% at 17.53, Microsoft
(
MSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, +5.71% at 25.74, Walt Disney
(
DIS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, +5.55% at 18.06, Altria Group
(
MO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, +4.73% at 29.43, SBC
Communications

(
SBC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, +4.63% at 22.37, and JP Morgan
(
JPM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
,
+3.67% at 25.12.

Stocks in the news:

Home builder Clayton Homes

(
CMH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, +12.22% at 12.49, announced it has agreed to be acquired by
Berkshire Hathaway
for
(
BRK.A |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, +4.43% at 68,400.00, for $1.75 billion
in cash.

Electronics retailer Circuit
City

(
CC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, +3.89% at 5.34, rallied after meeting its fourth-quarter
earnings expectations, though earnings were down 43% from a year ago.

Transportation company
Expeditors International

(
EXPD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, +0.03% at 35.56, has been downgraded
by CSFB to “neutral” from “outperform”.

Electric utilities company
American Electric

(
AEP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, -0.85% at 23.18, has received a subpoena from
the SEC as energy traders continue to be under investigation.

Medical equipment and supplies
company Immucor
(
BLUD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, +6.19% at 22.66, has beat its third-quarter
earnings by $0.02 with profits of $0.28 per share. The company sees 2003
earnings coming in between $1.03 and $1.08 vs. a consensus of $1.02.

Dow stock and communications
services company AT&T Corp.
(
T |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, -3.48% at 15.81, has been downgraded
by Goldman Sachs to “in-line” from “outperform”.

Also in the Dow, drug maker
Johnson & Johnson

(
JNJ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, +0.19% at 58.53, has been downgraded by Morgan
Stanley to “equal-weight” from “overweight”.

Biotech firm Biogen
(
BGEN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
,
+12.22% at 33.99, has raised its first-quarter earnings guidance to $0.47-0.51
per share vs. a consensus of $0.37 per share.

Also in the biotech sector,
 Invitrogen

(
IVGN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, +1.44% at 31.01, has had coverage initiated on it
by Morgan Stanley at “underweight”.

Also in the biotech biz,
Biomet

(
BMET |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, -1.23% at 30.62, has been downgraded by Merrill Lynch to
“neutral” from “buy”.

Video retailer Hollywood
Entertainment

(
HLYW |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, +3.15% at 16.42, has raised its first-quarter
earnings guidance based on strong same store sales.

Restaurant company PF
Chang’s

(
PFCB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, +8.49% at 39.75, has announced that they expect to meet
or exceed its earnings consensus based on strong volume from new restaurants.

From TM’s Momentum List,
Netflix Inc.

(
NFLX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, +6.24% at 20.14, and Omnivision Technologies
(
OVTI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, +5.70% at 22.45.


danielb@tradingmarkets.com