Fed Comments Trigger Uncertainty

  • February 21, 2007
  • Darren Wong

The major averages closed mixed in
Wednesday’s session.  The Nasdaq was able to come back to
close in positive territory.  Top gainers in the Nasdaq 100
today included Joy Global
(
JOYG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Apple
(
AAPL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
which gained 7.7% and 3.75% respectively.

European markets sold off across the board as
France’s CAC 40, Britain’s FTSE, and Germany’s DAX all finished
lower in today’s session.  The FTSE led the major European
indices lower losing 0.9%. 

Crude for April delivery rose 2.1%
to $60.07 on concerns that unexpected refinery shutdowns will
lower fuel reserves in the coming weeks.  Gold for April
delivery gained 3.5% in today’s session closing at $684.00 an
ounce.



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Stocks in
Motion

HP
(
HPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q1 Earnings Rise, Top Estimates; Boosts FY07
Outlook (full
story).  HPQ shares lost 4.7% in today’s session.

Medtronic
(
MDT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q3 Profit Up 6%, EPS Grew 11% And Tops
Consensus; Revenues Rise 10%; Lifts Lower End Of FY07 EPS Forecast (full
story).  MDT shares dropped by 4.6%.

Hershey
(
HSY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Reaffirms Its Long-term, 2007
Expectations (full
story).  HSY shares finish the day fractionally higher.

H. J. Heinz
(
HNZ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Projects Q3 EPS Growth Of 30%; Backs
FY07 EPS Guidance (full
story).  HNZ shares finish fractionally lower.

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

Market Snapshot

Dow

 -48.23 12,738.41

NASDAQ

 +5.38 2,518.42

S&P 500

 -2.05 1,457.63

 

 NYSE NASDAQ

Volume

 2,474,522,000 1,989,073,000

Advances

 1468 1498

Declines

 1786 1522

Up Volume

 1054 954

Down Volume

 1190 808

New Highs

 290 203

New Lows

 16 26



Strongest/Weakest Sectors

Strongest Sectors

Weakest Sectors
Deutsche Bank Energy Index (DXE) Nasdaq Telecommunication Index (IXTC)
Amex Gold Bugs Index (HUI) CBOE Dow Ten Index (MUT)
Amex Oil Index (XOI) Amex Pharmaceutical Index (DRG)


Economic
News

Fed says economic expansion
remains ‘resilient’, says data suggest ‘leveling out’ in housing

Core CPI m/m +0.3% vs +0.2% consensus, prior +0.1%


CPI m/m +0.2% vs +0.1% consensus, +0.4% prior

Leading Indicators +0.1% vs +0.2% consensus, prior +0.3%

Darren Wong

Associate Editor

darrenw@tradingmarkets.com