Why Stocks Are Positive Now

Stocks are positive in the first half of
trading
after General Motors
(
GM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
and Lowe’s
(
LOW |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
said
business is picking up and an industry report showed home sales climbed to a
record pace in January, showing that consumer spending is buoying a rebound in
corporate profits.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average
(
$INDU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
rallied up and climbed
111.20, or 1.1%, to 10,079.35, erasing its loss for the year. The Dow is
in a trading range at this hour. Caterpillar
(
CAT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
led the advance
after the chief executive of the largest maker of heavy machinery told Barron’s
it may beat first-quarter profit expectations.

The Nasdaq Composite Index
(
$COMPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
is trading at the highs of the
day. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index
(
$SPX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
advanced 12.01, or 1.1%, to 1101.85 and is in a trading range. The S&Ps are being led by Intel

(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
and General Electric
(
GE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
.
Signs the economy is
emerging from the recession took the limelight away from corporate accounting
and debt concerns that have pushed the S&P 500 down 4.3% so far this
year. The Nasdaq has dropped almost 11%.

The Morgan Stanley Consumer Index
(
$CMR.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)

continues to move higher today.
It has support at 577.00 and overhead
resistance at 590.00. The CMR Index is on the

TradingMarkets.com Strongest Sectors of the Last 5 days list.
Some of the
stocks helping push the CMR up are Emerson Electric
(
EMR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, Grainger
(
GWW |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
,
Automatic Data Processing
(
ADP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, Walgreen
(
WAG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
and Proctor &
Gamble
(
PG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
.
The CMR Index is trading at 585.16 up 2.99.

The AMEX Oil Index
(
$XOI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
is breaking out above its 520 resistance line.
The AMEX Oil
Index is on the

TradingMarkets.com Strongest Sectors of the Last 5 days list.
Some of the
stocks helping push the XOI up are Unocal
(
UCL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, Total Fina
(
TOT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
,
Exxon Mobil
(
XOM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, Chevron Texaco
(
CVX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
and BP Amoco
(
BP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
.

The XOI is trading at 522.91 up 3.23.

The PHLX Oil Service Index
(
$OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
is
breaking out of an ascending triangle.
The Oil Service Index is on the

TradingMarkets.com Strongest Sectors of the Last 5 days list.
Some of the
stocks helping push the OSX up are Smith International
(
SII |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
,
Schlumberger
(
SLB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, Cooper Cameron
(
CAM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, Weatherford
(
WFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
,
and
Tidewater
(
TDW |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
.
The OSX is trading at 93.29 up 2.46.

L-3 Communications
(
LLL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
is starting to
pull back after a move higher.
LLL is holding a

3-month relative strength rank of 95
with and uptrending

ADX
of 46 from TradingMarkets.com.

Wet Seal
(
WTSLA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)

is breaking out of a narrow sideways channel.


Wet Seal has a TradingMarkets.com RS3 rating of 98
and an up trending

ADX
of 32.

Ann Taylor
(
ANN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
is beginning to
trigger out of a Trend Pivot Pullback, where the stock makes a false move out of
the pullback before resuming its uptrend.
ANN has a

3-month relative strength rank of 97
from TradingMarkets.com.

Ryland Group
(
RYL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
is breaking out
of an ascending triangle.
RYL is carrying a

3-month relative strength rank of 91
from TradingMarkets.com.

USA Networks
(
USAI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)

is rallying from a pull back from the high.
USAI has a

TradingMarkets RS3 rating of 82
and an Up trending

ADX
number of 34.