Is Inflation Back? Plus, Happy Birthday NYSE!

Stocks are lower on mixed economic data.
The

PPI for April rose +0.6%, more than expected; ex -food/energy, +0.2%. The core
PPI was 0.3%, and +2.6% year/year. The reading rekindled inflation fears among
traders.  Housing starts for April rose +11% to an annualized rate of 1.97
million units; building permits rose 5.3%.

An OPEC report said oil demand may fall. Separately, Saudi Oil
Minister Ali al-Naimi said that very high oil prices are not in OPEC’s best
interest and that remaining oil reserves are abundant

Home Depot
(
HD |
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PowerRating) beat and reaffirmed sales and profit growth
targets. The retail sector is strong on the news.

JC Penney
(
JCP |
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PowerRating) beat by 0.02 but lowered Q2 guidance.

Staples
(
SPLS |
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News |
PowerRating) beat by a penny.

Agilent (A)
missed by a penny and guided lower for Q3.

Saks
(
SKS |
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PowerRating) missed by 0.04. Q1 comp sales rose 1.9%.

Deere
(
DE |
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News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.30. Revenues were $6.62 billion.

Boise Cascade will delay its IPO. The IPO market has been weak of
late: both Warner Music (WMG) and Lazard (LAZ) are both trading
below their offering prices.

Larry Ellison said Oracle
(
ORCL |
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PowerRating) was ready to consider other
large acquisitions. Siebel
(
SEBL |
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PowerRating) was been in the rumor mill as a
potential takeover target.

Happy Birthday NYSE!  213 years old today.

Strong sectors are:  Gold
(
$HUI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.72%   
Retail 
(
$RLX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.21%   Airlines 
(
$XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+0.66%  

Weak sectors are:    Biotech
(
$BTK.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.04%   
Brokers
(
$XBD.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.99%   Disk Drives 
(
$DDX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-0.89%

TJX
(
TJX |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) missed by a penny.

Barnes & Noble
(
BKS |
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News |
PowerRating) beat by a penny.

Hershey
(
HSY |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was downgraded at Bear Stearns.

SonicWall (SNWL)
beat by 0.04 and guided Q2 higher.

Warren Buffet
said he owns 630,000 shares of Proctor & Gamble (PG).

BJ’s Wholesale
(
BJ |
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PowerRating) beat by a penny.

ExxonMobil
(
XOM |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was upgraded to ‘buy’ at AG Edwards.

The New York Times
(
NYT |
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PowerRating) said it will begin charging for some of
its online content.

Taser
(
TASR |
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News |
PowerRating) will restate its 2004 financial statements.