Markets Falter After Greenspan Comments

Mergers and acquisitions fueled a morning rally
that faded after former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan commented that he
feared a "dramatic contraction" in the Chinese market. 

Crescent Real Estate has agreed to be acquired by
Morgan Stanley Real Estate for about $6.5 billion.  Payless
ShoeSource reported that it will be buying Stride Rite for $800
million.

June crude futures finished up 0.4% to $65.77 per barrel. 
June gold futures also added 0.4% to $662.60
an ounce after the Dollar weakened this morning against the Euro.

Around Europe, Germany’s DAX rose 1%
to finish at 7,735.88, France’s CAC 40 Index gained 0.5% to
6,120.20, and Britain’s FTSE 100 added 0.15% to 6,616.40.

Today’s

PowerRatings Heat Map
is showing price action that is widely bearish across
all sectors.  If you are an aggressive trader, there are many
potential short positions for you to investigate in our Heat Maps.

Our

Research Archives
can give you ideas to take advantage of
pullbacks in the overall markets as well as in individual stocks.



Stocks in
Motion

Crescent Real Estate
(
CEI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
To Be Acquired By Funds
Managed By Morgan Stanley Real Estate For $22.80 Per Share (full
story
).  CEI shares rose by 3.2%.

Alcan
(
AL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Reportedly In Talks With BHP Billiton
(
BHP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
(full
story
).  AL shares added 5.5%, while BHP shares rose 2.4%.

GameStop
(
GME |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Q1 Profit Jumps On Strong Hardware
Sales; Lifts Full Year EPS View, Backs Revenue Growth (full
story
).  GME shares fell 4.3%.

Payless ShoeSource
(
PSS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
To Acquire Stride Rite
(
SRR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
For About $800 Mln. Plus Assumption Of Stride Rite Debt (full
story
).  PSS shares gained 9%, while SRR shares jumped 31%.

Strong Growth In Top Line, Same Store Sales Push Target
(
TGT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Q1 Profit Up; EPS Tops Street View, But Revenues Misses Consensus (full
story
).  TGT shares added 1%.

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

Market Snapshot

Dow

-14.30 13,525.65

NASDAQ

-10.97 2,577.05

S&P 500

-1.84 1,522.28

 

NYSE NASDAQ

Volume

2,970,269,000 1,983,537,000

Advances

1459 1251

Declines

1783 1750

Up Volume

1515 769

Down Volume

1228 1105

New Highs

291 191

New Lows

25 44


   



Strongest/Weakest Sectors

Strongest Sectors

Weakest Sectors

Nasdaq Other Finance Index (OFINX) Nasdaq Telecom Index (IXTCX)
Nasdaq Financial 100 Index (IXF) Amex Airline Index (XAL)
North American Telecom Index (XTC) CBOE Technology Index (TXX)


Economic
News

The EIA reported a
build of 1969K barrels in its weekly report

Darren Wong

Associate Editor

darrenw@tradingmarkets.com