Blue Chip Warning; Plus, Why Is This Stock Up Over 12 Points?
Stocks are lower, weighed down
by a GM warning and record high oil prices.
A daily trendline on the SPX was broken.
Crude rallied over $56 after inventories fell by
almost 3 million barrels. This comes after OPEC said they would increase
production quotas in April.
Housing starts for February rose 0.5% to an
annualized 2.19 million units–better than expected and the highest since
February 1984; building permits fell 2.7%. January’s figure was revised to 6.2%
from 4.7%.
The current account deficit widened to $187
billion, more than expected.
General Motors
(
GM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) lowered guidance for Q1 and 2005 and now sees a
loss of $1.50 vs breakeven for the year. The new forecast is 80% below the prior
forecast. Standard & Poor’s revised its outlook on GM to negative, which may
indicate a possible downgrade to junk status. GM slumped to a 13-year low.
Research in Motion
(
RIMM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) will pay $450 million to NTP Inc. to
settle a lawsuit. RIMM is trading up over 12 points.
Strong sectors are:Â Â Â Disk Drives
(
$DDX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.67%Â Â Â
Gold
(
$XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.70%Â Â Â Â Oil Services
(
$OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+0.56%
Weak sectors are:Â Chemicals
(
$CEX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-1.56%Â Â Â Â Utilities
(
$UTY.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.40%Â Â Â Â Healthcare Providers Â
(
$HMO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+0.39%
| Dow | -87.42 | 10,657.68 |
| Nasdaq | -12.60 | 2022.38 |
| S&P 500 | -7.56 | 1190.19 |
The dollar is -0.54 at
81.58
Crude Oil is +1.15 at
56.80
Gold is +2.70 at 442.90
billion on the Nasdaq
Market breadth is negative.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 1033 | Up Vol 193 |
| Declining | 2110 | Down Vol 435 |
| 2.04 | 2.25 | |
| Nasdaq |
||
| Advancing | 1074 | Up Vol 192 |
| Declining | 1800 | Down Vol 654 |
| 1.67 | 3.40 |
Stocks in the News
Toys R Us
(
TOY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) will evaluate bids from two private equity firms
today.
Bear Stearns
(
BSC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported 2.64 vs 2.34, beating by 0.30.
Opnet
(
OPNT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) announced a distribution agreement with Cisco.
AIG’s board may sever all ties with Hank Greenberg.
CSFB and Deutsche Bank upgraded Campbell’s Soup
(
CPB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) to a ‘buy.’
Brice Wightman