Have You Taken This Drug? It’s Being Pulled Off The Market

Stocks were higher, with the Dow making it four in a
row.
Oil fell 3%–to the lowest levels in a week–driving the market
to close near its highs. Gasoline was lower
as well. The Nasdaq rose 1%, closing above
2000.

Jobless claims for the week of 4/2 fell 19,000 to 334,000, the biggest drop
in two month. The 4-week moving average fell to 336,500.

Alcoa (AA)
beat by a penny; revenues were up 12.5% from a year ago but missed estimates by
a very small margin. AA rose almost  5%.

Dell
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backed its Q1 outlook–0.37–and will raise its share
buyback program to $2 billion. The company is meeting with analysts today.

Bed Bath & Beyond
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beat by 0.04.

Retail was in focus as many companies reported same-store-sales for March. 

American Eagle
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March comps rose +29.2%.  Abercrombie
& Fitch

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March comps rose 21%. Ann Taylor
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March
comps fell -1.7%. Gap Inc.
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March comps fell -4%. Gap’s Old Navy
line was -9%. Federated
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March same-store-sales rose +3.4%.
Target

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comps rose 14.3%.

Pfizer
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will withdraw Bextra from the market as per an FDA
request. The FDA also asked company to include include a strong safety warning
on Celebrex. The agency said the overall risk vs benefit profile is unfavorable.

Stock buybacks among S&P 500 stocks increased 72% in Q4, and the IT
sector accounted for 26% of it. Total stock buybacks rose 51% in 2004.

Trim Tabs reports that M&A is running at $1.5 billion per day over the
last month. The company also predicts that fund flows will rise from $10 billion
to $30+ billion in April.

KB Homes
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declared a 2:1 stock spilt.

The Department of Energy said that it sees oil prices staying above
$50 for 2005 and 2006.

The IRS says that the average tax return was up 6% from last year.

Strong sectors were:   Biotech
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+2.46%   
Semis

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+1.97%   Airlines
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+1.84%

Weak sectors were:  Oil Services
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-1.16%  
  Natural Gas
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-0.85%     Oil
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-0.33%

Dow  +60.08 10,546.10
Nasdaq +19.65 2018.79
S&P 500 +7.09 1191.16

The dollar was +0.18 at
84.87

Crude Oil was -1.74 at
54.11

Gold was -0.40 at 426.60

ce=”Arial” size=”2″ face=”Arial”>Volume was 1.85 billion on the NYSE and 1.67
billion on the Nasdaq

Market breadth was positive.

NYSE Issues
Advancing 1953 Up Vol 1063
Declining 1288 Down Vol 582
1.51 1.82
Nasdaq
Advancing 1791 Up Vol 1172
Declining 1274 Down Vol 377
1.40 3.10

Stocks in the News

Pier One Imports
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reported a sharp drop in quarterly
earnings–missing by 0.05–and guided lower.

Smith Barney downgraded General Motors
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to ‘sell’ and Ford
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to ‘hold.’ GM is up 1.27%.

Merck
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said that Phase II trials for cervical cancer drug
Gardasil was successful. The drug could hit the market as early as next year.

Wal Mart
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said it expects to report earnings at the lower end
of estimates.

Starbucks
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reported a smaller-than-expected monthly sales
increase.

Brice Wightman