Markets Cautiously Watching the Fed

  • August 21, 2007
  • Darren Wong

After experiencing a mid-day rally on fresh news from the
Federal Reserve, the major averages have come under pressure with
only the Nasdaq and S&P 500 holding on to their early gains.

The major averages moved to the upside following the meeting of
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke with Treasury Secretary
Henry Paulson and Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd.

Senator Dodd reported that during the meeting Chairman Bernanke
confirmed his commitment to use all available tools to stabilize
the markets. Investors had hoped for a rate cut, but the Fed wants
to give the markets a few more days to digest the discount rate
cut.  Negative housing data was also released this morning
from RealtyTrac. The data showed a 9 percent increase in
foreclosures in July from June and a whopping 93 percent increase
from the same time last year.

Crude oil future prices for September delivery
fell 2.3% to $69.47 a barrel on news that a hurricane Dean
was downgraded to a category 2 storm. Gold
futures for December delivery fell fractionally to $666.20 an ounce.

Around Europe, Germany’s DAX rose 0.2% to 7,424.75, France’s CAC
40 index added 0.4% to 5,418.78, and Britain’s FTSE 100 gained
0.1% to 6,086.10.

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Stocks in Motion

Target
(
TGT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Shows Resilience In Weak Retail Environment; Q2
Profit Up About 13% On 9.5% Sales Growth; Backs Full Year EPS View (full
story). TGT shares rose 0.2%.

American Eagle Outfitters
(
AEO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Q2 Profit Up 13%; EPS Tops Estimate; Sees Q3 EPS Below Consensus (full
story). AEO shares fell 0.9%.

Staples
(
SPLS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q2 Profit Up 11%
On Strong North American Delivery, International Sales; EPS Matches Estimate;
Provides Q3, FY07 EPS, Sales Growth Target (full
story). SPLS shares closed flat.

BJ’s Wholesale Club
(
BJS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q2
Profit Rises On 8% Sales Growth, Gains (full
story). BJS shares ended down 2.2%.

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



Market Snapshot

Dow

 -30.49 13,090.86

NASDAQ

 +12.71 2,521.30

S&P 500

 +1.57 1,447.12

NYSE NASDAQ

Volume

 2,314,595,000 1,658,318,000

Advances

 2027 1584

Declines

 1254 1443

Up Volume

 1308 940

Down Volume

 775 622

New Highs

 21 44

New Lows

 89 92




Strongest/Weakest Industry Groups

Strongest Industries

Weakest Industries
Technology Oil
Services
Telecom Natural
Gas
Insurance
Transportation



Economic
News

No economic reports released today

Darren Wong

Associate Editor

darrenw@tradingmarkets.com

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