Markets Move Higher on Further Deal News

  • May 23, 2007
  • Darren Wong

Mergers and acquisitions continue to fuel the
current rally.  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 are up 0.8% to $66.07 per barrel
this morning. 
June gold futures are up 0.5% to $662.90
an ounce after the Dollar weakened this morning against the Euro.

Around Asia, Shanghai’s Composite rose
by 1.5% to 4,173.71, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.22% to
20,798.97, and Tokyo’s Nikkei added 0.14% to 17,705.12.

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 rise by 3.2%.

Medtronic
(
MDT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q4 Profit Rises 10%; EPS Tops Estimate; Sales Up 7% (full
story).  MDT shares add 5% in early trading.

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 gain 11%, while SRR shares jump 31%.

Priceline.com
(
PCLN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Reiterates FY07 Pro Forma EPS
View; Lifts High End Of Gross Travel Bookings Outlook (full
story).  PCLN shares are higher by 1.4%.

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 add 2.7%.

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

Market Snapshot

Dow

 +44.94 13,584.89

NASDAQ

 +7.53 2,595.81

S&P 500

 +5.79 1,529.91

 

 NYSE NASDAQ

Volume

 1,273,656,000 847,768,000

Advances

 1946 1711

Declines

 1131 1164

Up Volume

 842 521

Down Volume

 289 262

New Highs

 262 155

New Lows

 15 29


   



Strongest/Weakest Sectors

Strongest Sectors

Weakest Sectors
Amex Gold Bugs Index (HUI) GSTI Semiconductor Index (GSM)
Dow Jones Internet Commerce Index (ECM) CBOE Technology Index (TXX)
Deutsche Bank Energy Index (DXE) GSTI Software Index (GSO)


Economic
News

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

Darren Wong

Associate Editor

darrenw@tradingmarkets.com