Airlines Lead, Semis Lag

Major indices finish fractionally higher. Crude oil
futures close higher by 0.6% to $61.40.

Stocks on the Move

Monster
(
MNST |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
To Take Total Charge Of $339.6Mln To Properly Account
For Options Granted Between 1997 And Mar. 31, 2003 (full
story
).  MNST shares fall by 0.6%.

Health Net
(
HNT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)

Boosts 2007 EPS View As Buybacks Cut Share Count (full
story
).  HNT shares rise by 3.3%.

Hilton Hotels
(
HLT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)

Elaborates On Earnings, Business Growth Outlook; Reaffirms FY07 Guidance (full
story
).  HLT shares rise by 2.5%.

Progen
(
PGLA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)

Reveals Positive Results For Liver Cancer Trial (full
story
).  PGLA shares jump 116%.

General Electric
(
GE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)

Sees Double Digit EPS Growth In Q4, FY06; Guides FY07; Boosts Dividend (full
story
).  GE shares finish fractionally lower.

AirTran
(
AAI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)

Proposes To Acquire Midwest Air
(
MEH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
For $290 Mln In Cash And Stock
(full
story
).  AAI shares rise by 4%, while MEH shares soar by 22%.

For more stories as they happen, go to our Breaking News section.

Market Snapshot

Dow


+1.92

12,317.50

Nasdaq

+0.81

2,432.41

S&P 500


+1.66

1,413.22

NYSE


NASDAQ

Volume


2,478,557,000

1,782,431,000

Advances


1731

1498

Declines


1554

1555

Up Volume


1231

898

Down Volume


1140

830

New Highs


275

106

New Lows


15

46

Strongest/Weakest Sectors

Strongest Sectors

Weakest Sectors


Amex Airline Index (XAL)


Morgan Stanley Healthcare Providers Index (RXH)

PHLX Oil Services Sector Index (OSX)

PHLX Semiconductor Index (SOX)

Deutsche Bank Energy
Index (DXE)

GSTI Semiconductor Index (GSM)

Economic News

The E.I.A. reports that crude oil inventories had a draw of 4.29 mln barrels.

Business Inventories +0.4% vs +0.5% consensus

Retail Sales +1.0% vs +0.2%
consensus

Retail Sales ex-auto +1.1% vs +0.3% consensus

Darren Wong
darrenw@tradingmarkets.com

Use our most popular trading tool to find out how your stocks will move in the next 5 days.