Late Day Rally Pushes Stocks Higher

The U.S. stock markets have overcome early
rangebound trading to close to the upside. The Dow hit a new record intraday
high of 12,681 led by Dupont
(
DD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
and Boeing
(
BA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
.  DD shares rose
2%, while BA shares gained 1.7% 

The price of oil saw substantial
volatility over the course of the trading session on Thursday, bouncing back and
forth across the unchanged line. Crude for March delivery eventually ended the
session down $0.84 at $57.30 a barrel.

The price of gold moved higher over the
course of the trading session on Thursday, adding to the gains that were posted
in the two previous sessions. Gold for April delivery closed up $5.10 at $663 an
ounce, although it was well off its best level of the day.

The
PowerRatings
Heat Maps*
from Wednesday’s close is showing action that has historically led to weakness
in the overall markets.  The Energy and Metals and Mining sectors look the most
vulnerable.

Stocks in
Motion

Google
(
GOOG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Q4 Profit Nearly Triples (full
story
).  GOOG shares fall by nearly 4% in today’s session.

Starbucks
(
SBUX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Q1 Profit Up 18%, EPS Matches
Estimate; Continues To Expect FY07 Revenue Growth Rate Of 20% (full
story
).  SBUX shares lose 1.5%.

Exxon Mobil
(
XOM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Q4 Profit Down 4% On Lower Natural
Gas Prices And Profits From Gasoline Sales, Revenue Down 9.4%, EPS Tops
Consensus (full
story
).  XOM shares rise by 1.3%.

Ford
(
F |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
January U.S. Sales Fall 19% (full
story
).  F shares rise by 1.8%.

Toyota Motor
(
TM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
US Jan. Sales Rise (full
story
).  TM shares rise by 1.1%.

Pulte Homes
(
PHM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Posts Q4 Loss (full
story
).  PHM shares lose 1.3%.

Gilead Sciences
(
GILD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Posts Q4 Loss On Charges; EPS
Beats View (full
story
).  GILD shares jump 11%.

Monster Worldwide
(
MNST |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Q4 Profit Rises; Guides Q1,
FY07; Jan. Employment Index Rises One Point (full
story
).  MNST shares gain 4.5%.

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

Market Snapshot

Dow

+50.95 12,672.64

NASDAQ

+4.45 2,468.38

S&P 500

+7.68 1,445.92

 

NYSE NASDAQ

Volume

2,754,287,000 2,139,485,000

Advances

2377 1936

Declines

914 1112

Up Volume

1857 1156

Down Volume

640 859

New Highs

399 205

New Lows

17 39


Strongest/Weakest Sectors

Strongest Sectors

Weakest Sectors

Nasdaq Transportation Index (TRANX) GSTI Hardware Index (GHA)
Amex Gold Bugs Index (HUI) Amex Computer Technology Index (XCI)
Amex Airline Index (XAL) Computer Hardware Index (HWI)

Economic
News

Natural Gas Inventory fell 186
bcf to 2571 bcf

ISM Index 49.3 vs 51.5 consensus

Initial Claims 307K vs 315K consensus

Personal Income +0.5% vs +0.5% consensus

Personal Spending +0.7% vs +0.7% consensus

Darren Wong

Associate Editor

darrenw@tradingmarkets.com