High Crude Prices Keep Markets Down

  • February 26, 2007
  • Darren Wong

U.S. markets closed lower for the fourth
straight session with the Nasdaq composite index leading to the
downside.  Higher crude prices kept the markets down despite
record merger and acquisition deals announced this morning.

Crude prices continued their
advance in today’s session.  Crude oil moved up 0.4% to
$61.39 on speculation that U.S. fuel supplies will continue to
decline.  Gold futures for April delivery closed up 0.5% to
$689.80 an ounce reaching a 9-month high.

The major European exchanges
finished Monday’s session mostly higher.  The DAX, CAC, and
FTSE all closed higher by 0.5%.

The
PowerRatings
Heat Maps*
from Friday’s close showed action that has historically led to weakness with
the Energy and Metals and Mining sectors looking the most
vulnerable.



Stocks in
Motion

TXU
(
TXU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) To Be Acquired By Private Equity Firms For
$45 Bln (full
story).  TXU shares soared 13%.

XM Satellite Radio
(
XMSR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q4 Loss Narrows On Revenue
Growth, Lower Subscriber Acquisition Costs (full
story).  XMSR shares moved lower by 1%,  SIRI shares also closed
lower by 0.3%.

Station Casinos
(
STN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Accepts Revised Buyout Offer Of
$90 A Share, Deal Valued At $8.8 Bln (full
story).  STN shares rose by nearly 4%.

Itron
(
ITRI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) To Acquire Actaris Metering
Systems For $1.6 Bln; Reveals Private Placement For $235 Mln (full
story).  ITRI shares rose 4.5%.

Hub International
(
HBG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Agrees To Be
Acquired For US$1.8 Bln (full
story).  HBG shares gained 15%.

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

Market Snapshot

Dow

 -15.22 12,632.26

NASDAQ

 -10.58 2,504.52

S&P 500

 -1.82 1,449.37

 

 NYSE NASDAQ

Volume

 2,849,246,000 1,837,674,000

Advances

 1580 1186

Declines

 1666 1825

Up Volume

 1299 726

Down Volume

 1276 1001

New Highs

 282 170

New Lows

 23 41



Strongest/Weakest Sectors

Strongest Sectors

Weakest Sectors
Deutsche Bank Energy Index (DXE) Amex Securities Broker/Dealer Index (XBD)
Amex Gold Bugs Index (HUI) Nasdaq Transportation Index (TRANX)
Amex Natural Gas Index (XNG) Amex Airline Index (XAL)


Economic
News

No economic reports released
today.

Darren Wong

Associate Editor

darrenw@tradingmarkets.com