Late Selloff Pushes Indices Lower

The major averages hit or neared record highs
intraday after overcoming some early selling pressure, mixed
economic numbers and rising oil prices. However, a selloff in the
last hour of trading nudged them into negative territory and
prevented the Dow from closing at a new record high.

Among today’s major stock news, Alliance Data
agrees to become acquired by private equity firm Blackstone in a
$7.8 billion deal. ADS shares jump nearly 25%.

June crude futures jumped by 3.8% to $64.92 a barrel on speculation that gas
supplies won’t be high enough to meet this summer’s demands.

June gold futures continue to slide currently down 0.6% to $657.50
an ounce.


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Stocks in
Motion

Hewlett-Packard
(
HPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Q2 Earnings Decline, Top
Estimate; Boosts FY07 Outlook (full
story
). HPQ shares move lower by 0.7%.

J.
C. Penney

(
JCP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Q1 Profit Increases; EPS From Cont. Ops Tops Consensus;
Guides Q2; Raises FY08 Outlook (full
story
). JCP shares rise nearly 5%.

Alliance Data
(
ADS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Agrees To Be Acquired By
Blackstone Group For $7.8 Bln (full
story
). ADS shares jump 24%.

Napster
(
NAPS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Q4 Loss Widens, Excl. Gain Loss
Narrower Than Consensus, Revenue Up 9%; Sees Q1 Revenue Of About $31Mln (full
story
). NAPS shares drop nearly 8%.

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

Market Snapshot

Dow

-10.81 13,476.72

NASDAQ

-8.04 2,539.38

S&P 500

-1.39 1,512.75

NYSE NASDAQ

Volume

2,765,940,000 1,918,463,000

Advances

1,316 1,127

Declines

1,924 1,907

Up Volume

1,314 850

Down Volume

1,267 979

New Highs

193 118

New Lows

43 107



Strongest/Weakest Sectors

Strongest Sectors

Weakest Sectors

Amex Oil Index (XOI) Dow Jones Equity REIT Index (DJR)
CBOE Oil Index (OIX) Amex Disk Drive Index (DDX)
Deutsche Bank Energy Index (DXE) Nasdaq Other Finance Index (OFINX)


Economic
News

Initial Claims 293K
vs 315K consensus

Darren Wong

Associate Editor

darrenw@tradingmarkets.com