Markets Advance on New Takeover Deals

U.S. stocks rose slightly Thursday morning after
more takeover news was announced, but the move was held back by a
weak GDP report from the Commerce Department.

June crude futures are fractionally
higher this morning to $63.58
per barrel
after the EIA report showed an unexpected decline in U.S.
inventories. 
Gold
futures for August delivery are higher by 0.8% to $664.60 an ounce.

Around Asia, stocks rebounded with
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng adding 1.7% to 20,634.47, Shanghai’s
Composite moving higher by 1.4% to 4,109.65, and Tokyo’s Nikkei
gaining 1.6% to 17,875.75.

Today’s

PowerRatings Heat Map
has become more bearish after yesterday’s runup. The
weakest looking sectors are currently Computer Software, Drugs,
and Specialty Retail.
Click here for a free trial to see all
33 market sectors.



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

Wachovia
(
WB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
To Buy A.G. Edwards
(
AGE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
For $6.8
Bln Cash And Stock (full
story
). WB shares fall by 0.6%, while AGE shares jump 13.7%.

Sears Holdings
(
SHLD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Q1 Profit Rises 20% On One-time
Gains; Adj. EPS Drops, Misses Estimate; Revenue Down 2.5% (full
story
).  SHLD shares fall by 2.5%.

Costco
Wholesale

(
COST |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Q3 Profit Drops On Charges; Adj. EPS Rises 14%,
Matches Street View; Revenue Up 10.4% (full
story
). COST shares lose 0.4%.

Tiffany
(
TIF |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)

Q1 Profit Rises 15% On Higher Net Sales; Comps Up 9%; EPS, Sales Top Street
Views; Guides FY07 (full
story
).  TIF shares are fractionally higher.


Motorola
(
MOT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
To Cut 4000 More Jobs; To Take Additional Charges (full
story
).  MOT shares are down 0.2%.

TiVo
(
TIVO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Turns To A Profit In Q1, Revenue Up 6.4% (full
story
).  TIVO shares lose 1.25%.

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

Market Snapshot

Dow

+19.02 13,652.10

NASDAQ

+11.59 2,604.18

S&P 500

+1.76 1,531.99

 

NYSE NASDAQ

Volume

1,058,335,000 930,827,000

Advances

1796 1592

Declines

1242 1250

Up Volume

568 559

Down Volume

369 283

New Highs

297 177

New Lows

21 28


   



Strongest/Weakest Sectors

Strongest Sectors

Weakest Sectors

Amex Gold Bugs Index (HUI) Deutsche Bank Energy Bank Sector Index (DXE)
Amex Networking Index (NWX) S&P Banking Index (BIX)
Nasdaq Other Finance Index (OFINX) Amex Natural Gas Index (XNG)


Economic
News

Chicago PMI 61.7 vs
54.0 consensus

GDP-prel +0.6% vs +0.8% consensus

Chain Deflator-prel 4.0% vs +4.0% consensus

Initial Claims 310K vs 315K consensus

Darren Wong

Associate Editor

darrenw@tradingmarkets.com