If Cattle Testing Increases, Here’s A Company That May Benefit
Stocks are
flat today. Jobless claims released
today indicated a recovering economy with weekly claims falling to a 3-year low.
Weekly claims fell by 15,000 to 339,000 indicating a growing economy according
to Patrick Fearon of A.G. Edwards and Sons. The dollar hit another low, amid
terrorist fears in the US during New Year celebrations, it now trades at $1.26
per Euro, a 17% drop for the year. Laggard Merck
(
MRK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is up 1%
today after it resubmitted a marketing application to the FDA for its Arcoxia
arthritis medication. MasterCard Advisors reported that toy sales at Toys R
US
(
TOY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) were down 7.7% compared with last year, citing heavy competition
from discount retailers such as Target
(
TGT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Wal-Mart
(
WMT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating).
| Dow | +0.60 | 10425.30 |
| S&P 500 | -1.18 | 11008.53 |
| Nasdaq | -10.88 |
1998.98 |
The day’s leading sectors are
Oils
(
OIX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.40%,
Pharmaceuticals
(
DRG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.33%,
Chemicals
(
CEX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.28%, Telecoms [XTC.X|XTC.X]
+0.24%, Networking
(
GIP.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.15%,
Weak today is Oil Service
Sector
(
OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.74%, and Gold and Silver
(
XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-1.32%.
Economic news releases included
initial claims that dropped by 15,000 to 339,000.
10-year Notes are +60
at 112 095
Dollar is +0.01 at 87.38
Gold is -1.10 at 416.10
Crude Oil is -0.07 at
32.72
Volume is 400,000,000 on
the NYSE, and 849,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is Negative
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 1446 | Up Vol 176 |
| Declining | 1656 | Down Vol 194 |
| Ratio | 1.14 | 1.11 |
| Nasdaq | ||
| Advancing | 1140 | Up Vol 441 |
| Declining | 1942 | Down Vol 391 |
| Ratio | 1.72 | 1.36 |
Top Dow stocks are:
Merck
(
MRK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.26% at 46.09,
Eastman Kodak [EK|EK],
+1.23% at 25.70, Honeywell |HON|HON],
+0.96% at 33.31, and AT&T [T|T],
+0.64% at 20.10.
Stocks in the news:
Lamson & Sessions
(
LMS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) issued an earnings warning, citing major price competition in its pipe business. It now
expects to earn 2 to 4 cents a share, down from previous forecasts of 10 cents. LMS is trading 10% lower.
Orchid Biosciences
(
ORCH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose 30% on increasing demand for its animal food traceability DNA test program. It is involved in diagnostic
tests for scrapie, a mad-cow-like disease that affects sheep. The U.S.
government and the cattle industry are considering wider testing for BSE.
Ciena
(
CIEN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is up 6% after it was
awarded a multi-year contract to support the US Department of Defense’s Global
Grid Bandwidth Expansion program.
JD Powers reported that more Chevrolet
(
GM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
owners are more likely to buy another Chevy — 60.8% — when they go out to buy
a new car. Toyota
(
TM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) came in second, with 59.4%.
bricew@tradingmarkets.com