Housing and Inflation Data Moves Markets Higher

  • April 17, 2007
  • Darren Wong

U.S. stocks finished mixed with the Dow and S&P
ending higher, while the Nasdaq closed flat.  Higher housing
starts and inflation friendly CPI data helped move the majority of
stocks higher.

Crude futures for May delivery
closed lower by 0.8% to $63.11 per barrel.  The move lower is
on speculation that tomorrow’s crude inventories report will show
that U.S. refineries are continuing to increase output. 
June gold futures moved fractionally lower today to close at $692.30
an ounce.

Around Europe, Germany’s DAX Index
added 0.15% to close at 7,348.83, France’s CAC 40 Index moved
fractionally lower to 5,858.14, and Britain’s FTSE 100 Index fell
0.3% to 6,497.80.

Our
PowerRatings
Heat Maps*
have started to become more and more bearish over the last several sessions
as the indices make new highs.  This tells us that it is
becoming harder to find good buying opportunities in the current
market. 

Click here for a free trial to our PowerRatings Heat Maps and
find out which sectors you should be entering.



Stocks in
Motion

Johnson & Johnson
(
JNJ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q1 Profit Tumbles 22% On
Acquisition Charges; Adj. EPS Beats Estimate; Revenue Rises 16% (full
story).  JNJ shares added nearly 3%.

Charles
Schwab
(
SCHW |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q1 Profit Up 12%, EPS Matches Consensus; Ameritrade Q2
Profit Declines 18%, Cuts FY07 EPS Forecast, Shares Decline (full
story).  SCHW shares fell 2.4%.

EMC
(
EMC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q1 Profit Rises On Higher Software Sales;
Growth In Asia-Pacific And Japan Regions (full
story).  EMC shares rose 3.7%.

Dow Jones
(
DJ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q1 Revenues Up 17.9% On Factiva
Acquisition, Backs FY07 adjusted EPS forecast (full
story).  DJ shares gained 3.8%.

Wells Fargo
(
WFC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q1 Profit Rises 11% On Top Line
Growth; EPS, Revenue Beat Street View (full
story).  WFC shares lost 0.5%.

Steel Dynamics
(
STLD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q1 Earnings Rise 34% (full
story).  STLD shares fell 0.3%.

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

Market Snapshot

Dow

 +52.58 12,773.04

NASDAQ

 -1.38 2,516.95

S&P 500

 +3.01 1,471.48

 

 NYSE NASDAQ

Volume

 2,848,237,000 1,878,397,000

Advances

 1554 1259

Declines

 1696 1762

Up Volume

 1306 865

Down Volume

 1300 861

New Highs

 316 200

New Lows

 19 42



Strongest/Weakest Sectors

Strongest Sectors

Weakest Sectors
S&P Retail Index (RLX) Nasdaq Other Finance Index (OFINX)
S&P Insurance Index (IUX) Deutsche Bank Energy Index (DXE)
S&P Healthcare Index (HCX) Amex Gold Bugs Index (HUI)


Economic
News

Core CPI +0.1% vs
+0.2% consensus. +0.2% prior

CPI +0.6% vs +0.6%
consensus, +0.4% prior

Housing Starts 1518K vs 1500K consensus, 1506 prior

Building Permits 1544K vs 1515K consensus, 1532K prior

Darren Wong

Associate Editor

darrenw@tradingmarkets.com