What Traders Are Upbeat About…
Blue chip stocks are in the green
as investors
responded to a moderately encouraging employment report and a couple of upbeat
profit reports from blue chip companies.
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
(
$INDU |
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PowerRating) rallied right out of the
gate at the opening. Helping push the Dow higher is Minnesota Mining &
Manufacturing
(
MMM |
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PowerRating), up over 5% today. 3M said first quarter profits
came in at $1.20 a share to beat forecasts of $1.05 to $1.20 a share. Cost-cutting strategies were given as the reason for the increase. In midday trading,
the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up .31%, after gaining 37 points Thursday.
The Dow has tested support at 10,200.
The Nasdaq Composite Index
(
COMPQ |
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is currently lower, the result being weighted down by technology issues. Semiconductor stocks
are pulling back. The PHLX Semiconductor Index
(
$SOX.X |
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PowerRating) is lower by 1%, which is
serving as a major drag. KLA-Tencor
(
KLAC |
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PowerRating), Applied Materials
(
AMAT |
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PowerRating)
and Novellus Systems
(
NVLS |
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PowerRating)
are all trading lower at this point in the game.
The Labor Department said the unemployment rate rose to 5.7% in March from 5.5%
a month earlier. The report also showed that non-farm payrolls increased by
58,000 last month. Economists surveyed by Thomson Global Markets expected a
jobless rate of 5.6% and an increase of 50,000 in payrolls.
However, data for February were revised to show a drop of 2,000 in non-farm
payrolls for that month. The monthly tally originally was reported as up 66,000
jobs.
Bond prices were higher following the release of the report. Both the June 30
yr bond
(
USM2 |
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PowerRating) and the June 10 yr
(
TYM2 |
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PowerRating) are trading
higher.
Wendy’s
(
WEN |
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PowerRating) is
rallying from a pullback from the high. Wendy’s is hitting a 52-week high.
WEN has a
TradingMarkets.com RS3 rating of 88
and an
uptrending
ADX of 37.
Laboratory Corp.
(
LH |
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PowerRating) is rebounding out of
a pullback to the 20-day moving average. LH is holding a
3-month relative strength rank of 86 from TradingMarkets.com.
Amerada Hess
(
AHC |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is pulling back to the
20-day moving average. AHC carries a
3-month relative strength rank of 92 along with an uptrending
ADX of 53 from TradingMarkets.com.
Advanced Energy Industries
(
AEIS |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is
pulling back from its recent high. AEIS is holding a
3-month relative strength rank of 88 along with an uptrending
ADX of 31 from TradingMarkets.com.
PF Chang’s
(
PFCB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is moving out of the
Trend Pivot Pullback we alerted Tuesday. PFCB is carrying a
3-month relative strength rank of 91 along with an uptrending
ADX of 40 from TradingMarkets.com.
Supervalu
(
SVU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
is rallying to a 52-week high with very strong volume. SVU has a
TradingMarkets.com RS3 rating of 88
and an
uptrending
ADX of 18.