FDA Approval For A Product That 80% Of The World’s Population Could Use…
Stocks
rallied in the last hour of trading as the Dow tacked on another 87 points.Â
Interest-rate-sensitive stocks such
homebuilders and REITs
(
DJR.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) continue to sell off on fears of a
rate hike. The Dow has rallied 450 points over the past two weeks and is less
than 200 points away from its peak hit back in February. The S&P 500 is also
less than 10 points shy of its 52-week high.
Bank of America
(
BAC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
is planning to cut 12,500 jobs as a result of its $48 billion purchase of
FleetBoston Financial. The cuts will take place over the next two years and 30%
of them will come through attrition. Former Bank of America broker Theodore
Sihpol was indicted on 40 counts of fraud, grand larceny and other charges for
his role of allegedly helping to trade mutual funds illegally.
Palomar Medical Technologies
(
PMTI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) received FDA approval to market its LuxV handpiece for the treatment
of acne. Marketing opportunities for LuxV abound as 80% of the world’s
population experience acne at some point of their lives, according to the
American Academy of Dermatology.
Mandalay Resort Group
(
MBG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
expects higher first-quarter earnings from increased Las Vegas room
bookings–more than $1.10 a share–on reported occupancy rates of 80% and an
average nightly room rate of $240. Siebel Systems
(
SEBL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) raised its
first-quarter earnings to $28 million on higher-than-expected software licensing
revenue which is expected to be 13% higher. Three transactions exceeded $5
million.
JC Penney
(
JPC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is selling Eckerds to Canadian drugstore chain Jean
Coutu and CVS Corp
(
CVS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) for $4.5 billion, making CVS the biggest
drugstore ahead of Walgreen
(
WAG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating).
| Dow | +87.78 |
10558.37 |
| S&P 500 |
+8.73 | 1150.54 |
| Nasdaq | +21.94 |
2079.11 |
The day’s leading sectors are
Healthcare
(
HMO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +4.55%, Disk Drives
(
DDX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.13%,
Insurance
(
IUX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.57%, and Biotechs
(
BTK.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.55%.
Weak today are REITs
(
DJR.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-3.94%, and Amex Gold Bugs
(
HUI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -2.49%.
Economic news releases today
included better-than-expected ISM services at 65.8.
10-year Notes are -170
at 112 130
The dollar
is +0.73 at 89.58
Gold is +0.60 at 416.00
Crude Oil is -0.02 at
33.84
Volume is 1,393,000,000
on the NYSE, and 1,715,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is positive.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing |
1518 | Up Vol 887 |
| Declining | 1824 | Down Vol 484 |
| Ratio | 1.20 | 1.83 |
| Nasdaq |
||
| Advancing |
2001 | Up Vol 1277 |
| Declining |
1232 | Down Vol 429 |
| Ratio | 1.63 | 2.97 |
Stocks in the news:
General Electric
(
GE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said it would use
Critical Path’s
(
CPTH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) identity management software for its 400,000
employees. Shares of CPTH soared 151%.
Nortel
(
NT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said the SEC has
launched a formal investigation into the restatement of its financial results.
Cigna
(
CI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) upped its
first-quarter earnings forecasts to $260 million and $750 million for the full
year, citing better-than-expected performance from its healthcare business.
Cigna also cut quarterly dividends by 92% 2.5 cents a share. Smith Barney raised
its price target to $75.
Brice Wightman
bricew@tradingmarkets.com