Down 51% Intraday. More Bad News For This Stock And Its Partner

Stocks are lower on higher oil prices.
Goldman Sachs
said that oil could make a ‘super spike’ to $105. Goldman is a
large energy derivatives trader.

Jobless claims for the week ending 3/26 rose 20K to 350,000.  Personal
income rose +0.3% in February.

Freddie Mac
(
FRE |
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posted 2004 net income that was off 40%.

Biogen Idec
(
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and Elan
(
ELN |
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are in focus
after a third patient contracted an often fatal infection linked to the MS drug, Tysabri.
Two patients have died from this previously. BIIB is off 8% and ELN is 51%
lower.

S&P cut American International Group’s
(
AIG |
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debt ratings to AA+
from AAA and said they may cut them again, saying accounting errors raise
questions about the management’s integrity. Bank of America reiterated its ‘buy’
rating.

Johnson & Johnson
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, Biomet
(
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and Stryker
(
SYK |
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will be in focus as the Justice Department begins an investigation of
orthopdedic companies.

For Q1, the Dow was off 2.3%, the SPX, -2.3%, the Russell 2000, -6.5% and the
Nasdaq, -7.8%. Among Dow components, GM was down 26%, AIG -13%, VZ -13%, HD
-11%, JPM -10%, MSFT -10%. For the quarter, energy rose 18%, hospitals gained
12.4%, homebuilders were up by 7.8% and steel rose 6.7%. Airlines were the big
loser, down almost 20%.

Strong sectors are:   Oil Services
(
$OSX.X |
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+2.78%   
Natural Gas

(
$XNG.X$ |
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+2.22%   Gold
(
$HUI.X |
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+1.46%

Weak sectors are:   Airlines
(
$XAL.X |
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-1.76% 
Insurance

(
$IUX.X |
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-1.35%  Biotech
(
$BTK.X |
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-0.84%

Dow  -44.86 10,496.07
Nasdaq -8.63 1997.04
S&P 500 -1.07 1180.34

The dollar is -0.29 at
84.00

Crude Oil is +1.31 at
55.30

Gold is +1.40 at 427.80

ce=”Arial” size=”2″ face=”Arial”>Volume is 1 billion on the NYSE and 744
million on the Nasdaq

Market breadth is mixed.

NYSE Issues
Advancing 1896 Up Vol 470
Declining 1224 Down Vol 380
1.54 1.23
Nasdaq
Advancing 1209 Up Vol 266
Declining 1701 Down Vol 457
1.40 1.71

Stocks in the News

Ruby Tuesday
(
RI |
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cut its Q4 earnings forecast.

Western Digital
(
WDC |
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raised its Q3 targets; the stock is in focus
as are competitors Seagate
(
STX |
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and Maxtor
(
MXO |
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.

The FDA said that Forest Labs’
(
FRX |
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Lexapro was not approvable
for social anxiety disorder.

Yum Brands
(
YUM |
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downgraded at CSFB, to neutral.

Brice Wightman