Inside The NYSE/AX Merger

Stocks are higher on a host of good earnings and
more good economic data.

Jobless claims for the week of 4/16 fell 26,000 to 296,000, the consensus was
325K. It was the largest one-week drop in three years. The 4-week moving average
fell 8500 to 330,250. Leading indicators fro March fell 0.4%. The Philly Fed was
stronger than expected, which spiked the market at Noon ET.

The NYSE and Archipelago are merging. The new company, called the NYSE
Group
–will be for-profit and will be publicly traded. 70% of the company
will be held by NYSE members; 30% will be held by Archipelago. NYSE seat
holders–numbering 1366–will receive a cash payout of $300,000. NYSE Group
plans to move into derivatives and other products. The deal–which requires
shareholder and regulatory approval–is expected to close in Q4.  NYSE head
John Thain said the deal would not mean the end of the auction system. The
debate over an earlier NYSE open may get put on the back burner.

eBay EBAY beat by 0.02, reporting 0.20 pro-forma (0.19 GAAP); revenues
were in-line. The company guided slightly higher for Q2. 

Motorola
(
MOT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
beat by 0.03 at 0.22, net income rose 14% to $692
million.  The stock is trading higher pre-open.

Qualcomm
(
QCOM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
beat by 0.02 at 0.29 and guided lower for ’05.  

McDonald’s
(
MCD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
beat by 0.03; revenues, at $4.8 billion, beat
estimates.

Earnings Tonight

GOOG (0.92)  AMGN (0.68)

Friday

EK (0.33), HAL (0.44), IP (0.33), MYG (0.20)

Strong sectors are: Airlines
(
$XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+3.19%  
Semis

(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+2.71%   Computer Tech
(
$XCI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)

+2.61%

Weak sectors are: Gold
(
$XAU.X$ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)

-0.96%   Banks
(
$BKX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-0.20%     

Dow  +123.11 10,135.47
Nasdaq +33.10 1946.86
S&P 500 +13.84 1151.34

The dollar is +0.02 at
83.54

Crude Oil is -0.78 at
53.25

Gold is -0.90 at 432.80

ce=”Arial” size=”2″ face=”Arial”>Volume is 1 billion on the NYSE and 945
million on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth is positive.

NYSE Issues
Advancing 2101 Up Vol 632
Declining 966 Down Vol 293
2.17 2.15
Nasdaq
Advancing 1927 Up Vol 658
Declining 928 Down Vol 194
2.07 3.39

Stocks in the News

Merck
(
MRK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
beat estimates and guided in-line. Profits were lower due
to the Vioxx recall.

Nokia
(
NOK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
beat expectations–including their own.

Schering Plough
(
SGP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
posted better-than-expected results.

Ingersoll Rand
(
IR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
beat by 0.10 and lifted its 2005 outlook.

United Parcel Service
(
UPS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
beat estimates and guided higher. The
stock is trading higher pre-open.

Yum Brands
(
YUM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
beat by a penny and guided lower

Ryland
(
RYL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
beat by 0.02 and guided lower.

Brice Wightman