Airline Merger! Plus, Halted After The Close On Earnings…

Stocks were higher–the fourth straight
up-day for the Dow and fifth for the Nasdaq.
The economic news was mixed: jobless claims for the week of 5/14 fell
20,000–more than expected–to 321,000. The 4-week moving average rose 5000 to
29,750. Leading indicators fell in April, by -0.2%, and the fourth month in a
row.

Year to date the Dow is off 2.7% and the Nasdaq is off 6.1%.

After the close, Marvell
(
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beat by 0.02. Serena
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beat by 0.01. Brocade
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was in-line, ex-items. Sharper Image
(
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beat by a penny but was light on revenues. The company guided lower.
The stock was halted after the close.  Autodesk
(
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beat by
0.2 and guided higher.

US Air and America West are merging. AWA was halted after
hours.

Netflix
(
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will team up with Wal-Mart to co-promote
DVD sales and rentals. Currently, 35% of all DVDs are sold through Wal-Mart.
Netflix will promote Wal-Mart DVD sales to its subscribers and Wal-Mart will
offer its online customers the chance to sign up with Netflix. NFLX is up up
15%.

Teva
Pharmaceutical’s
(TEVA)
generic version of Biaxin was granted final approval by the FDA.

Men’s Wearhouse
(MW)
beat by 0.16, guided higher and announced a 3:2 stock split. 

Cyberonics
(
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if lower after it confirmed that it received a
letter from the Senate Finance Committee, which is examining the FDA’s handling
of a depression treatment.

Boise Cascade withdrew its IPO, citing adverse market conditions.

Strong sectors were:  Oil Services  
(
$OSX.X |
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+1.85%  
Internet 

(
$GIN.X |
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+1.19%   Natural Gas
(
$XNG.X |
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+1.17%  

Weak sectors were:   Gold
(
$HUI.X |
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-0.85%  
Chemicals

(
$CEX.X |
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-0.39%   Drugs 
(
$DRG.X |
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-0.32%  

Dow +28.74 10,493.19
Nasdaq +11.93 2042.58
S&P 500 +5.52 1191.08

The dollar was +0.29 at
86.15

Crude Oil was -0.39 at
48.74

Gold was -2.20 at 420.20

ce=”Arial” size=”2″ face=”Arial”>Volume was 746 billion on the NYSE and
729 billion on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth was positive.

NYSE Issues
Advancing 2029 Up Vol 1168
Declining 1216 Down Vol 506
1.66 2.30
Nasdaq
Advancing 1671 Up Vol 1207
Declining 1382 Down Vol 474
1.20 2.54

Stocks in the News

Ann Taylor
(
ANN |
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was in-line and said margins continue under
pressure. Net income fell 46%.

Footlocker
(
FL |
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missed by a penny

Petsmart
(
PETM |
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beat by 0.04 and guided higher.

Google
(
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will increase services aimed at business customers

Motorola’s
(
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board authorized the repurchase of $4 billion of
the company’s stock over the next three years.

Kerr McGee
(
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will buy back 47 million shares in a dutch
auction.

Brice Wightman