Major Indices Finish the Week Strong

  • April 13, 2007
  • Darren Wong

U.S. stocks rose after Merck jumped 8.5% on a
dismissal in a Vioxx lawsuit case.  Traders showed optimism
as we head into the heart of earnings season.

Crude futures for May delivery
closed lower by $0.26 per barrel to $63.59. 
June gold futures added $8.40 to $688.10 an ounce.

Around Europe, Germany’s DAX Index led
with a gain of 1% to 7,212.07, France’s CAC 40 added 0.7% to
5,789.34, and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 also added 0.7% to close at
6,462.40.



Click here to see our new list of indicators that includes

Gaps Down 5% or More,

2-Period RSI Below 2,

Stocks Up 10% or More.  Historically proven edges make
these a great place to start making a watch list. 



Stocks in
Motion

McDonald’s
(
MCD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) March Comps. Rise 8.2%, Sales Up
12.7%; Q1 Comps. Rise 6.3%; Gives Q1 EPS View (full
story).  MCD shares added 1.75%.

GE
(
GE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Q1 Profit Edges Up 2%; EPS From Cont. Ops Matches Estimate; Revenue Rises 6%;
Reaffirms FY07 EPS Forecast (full
story).  GE shares rose by 0.7%.

Merck’s
(
MRK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Vioxx Successor Arcoxia Gets Knockout
Punch From FDA Advisory Committee (full
story).  MRK shares jumped 8.5%.

Apple
(
AAPL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) To Delay Release Of Mac OS X V10.5
Leopard, Says IPhone On Schedule (full
story).  AAPL shares fell  by 2.1%.

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

Market Snapshot

Dow

 +59.17 12,612.13

NASDAQ

 +11.62 2,491.94

S&P 500

 +5.05 1,452.85

 

 NYSE NASDAQ

Volume

 2,559,821,000 1,834,333,000

Advances

 1924 1839

Declines

 1297 1171

Up Volume

 1581 1147

Down Volume

 839 587

New Highs

 241 170

New Lows

 17 40



Strongest/Weakest Sectors

Strongest Sectors

Weakest Sectors
S&P Healthcare Index (HCX) S&P Chemicals Index (CED)
Amex Pharmaceutical Index (DRG) GSTI Software Index (GSO)
Nasdaq Telecom Index (IXTCX) GSTI Semiconductor Index (GSM)


Economic
News

Trade Balance -$58.4bln vs
-$60.5 bln consensus

Core PPI m/m unchanged vs +0.2%
consensus

PPI m/m +1.0% vs +0.7% consensus

Michigan Sentiment-prelim 85.3 vs 87.5 consensus

Darren Wong

Associate Editor

darrenw@tradingmarkets.com