Dow Sets New Intraday Record

After seeing slight weakness through most of the
session, the markets have pulled back up to close near breakeven.  The
major averages have all moved well off their worst levels of the day.

Leading the Dow today were Johnson & Johnson
(
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(
XOM |
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(
MO |
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the Dow losing nearly 1% on reports that the company is in talks to buy a stake
in Chinese budget carrier Spring Airlines. 

The NASDAQ 100 is being led by Garmin
(
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(
SYMC |
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PowerRating).  Apple Computer
(
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heavy NASDAQ back as it falls again amid investigations into whether company
executives falsified documents in order to maximize the profitability of option
grants.

Meanwhile, gold stocks continue to see
some strength in mid-afternoon trading, with the Amex Gold Bugs Index closing up
0.8 percent. The strength in the sector comes as gold for February delivery
closed up $6.60 at $636.90 an ounce, closing higher for the fourth straight
session. Crude futures are trading
higher by 0.3% to $60.53.

Stocks on the Move

Benihana
(
BNHNA |
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PowerRating) receives upgrade from Sanders Morris Harris
from Buy to Strong Buy.  BNHNA shares jump nearly 13%.

TollGrade
(
TLGD |
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PowerRating) receives an upgrade from Ferris Baker Watts from
neutral to buy.  TLGD shares rise by 8.4%.

Computer Sciences’
(
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PowerRating) Federal Sector Unit Signs 110 Contracts
And Subcontracts Worth $643 Mln In Q3 (full
story).  CSC shares close lower by 1%.

Sirius
(
SIRI |
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story).  SIRI shares drop 2% in today’s session.

German Federal Armed Forces Select Siemens
(
SI |
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PowerRating) And IBM
(
IBM |
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To Modernize And Manage Non-military Information And Communications Technology (full
story).  IBM shares are close fractionally lower, while SI shares rise
by 0.8%.

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

Market Snapshot

Strongest/Weakest Sectors

Economic News

The E.I.A. reports that crude oil inventories had a draw of 8.13 mln barrels

Existing Home Sales 6.28 mln vs 6.15 mln consensus

Consumer Confidence 109 vs 102 consensus

Darren Wong
darrenw@tradingmarkets.com

P.S.

Click here to use PowerRatings to identify stocks that could potentially
move higher in the next few days.