Mega-Merger, Plus, Plenty Of Earnings You Need To Know About

Stocks rose
Wednesday as the US trade deficit shrank by 0.2%
.
After the close, Intel
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reported Q4 earnings of .33 vs a .25 estimate, and revenues of $8.74 billion. Yahoo!
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reported 0.11, in-line;
Genentech

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earned .27/share, beating expectations, and Apple
Computer

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said it earned 0.16, beating by a penny. NCR said
it sees Q4 above expectations.

Yahoo! announced a deal with
Sina

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to jointly operate and run auction-based e-commerce
targeted towards small businesses in China. Sina gained 9% on the news.

AT&T Wireless
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shares are trading higher on news of a possible merger with Cingular Wireless
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. Plantronics
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surged 10% after reporting a 91% jump
in net income. Earnings rose to 17.6% million on sales of 107.6 million, well
ahead of analysts’ forecasts. Gold
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traded lower for the
third day in a row.

In a deal to cooperate with
federal prosecutors, former Enron financial chief Andrew Fastow will get 10
years in prison. The dollar gained against the euro.

Dow
+111.19

10538.37
S&P 500 +9.30
1130.52
Nasdaq
+14.69

2111.13

The day’s leading sectors were
Healthcare
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+2.17%.Health Providers
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+7.12%, Telecoms
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+1.73%,
Airlines
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+1.32%,

Weak today were Amex Gold
Bugs

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-4.78%, and Gold and Silver
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-4.12%.

Economic news releases included
an improving trade deficit of $38 Billion, and Producer price index that rose by
0.3%.

The
dollar was +0.59 at 86.10.

Gold was -3.13 at 421.19

Crude Oil was -0.13 at
33.79

Volume was
1,518,186,000 on
the NYSE, and
2,091,489,000 on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth was Positive

NYSE Issues
Advancing 2241 Up Vol
1117
Declining 1041 Down Vol 378
Ratio 2.15 2.95
Nasdaq
Advancing 1920 Up Vol
1163
Declining 1256 Down Vol
873
Ratio 1.52 1.33

Stocks in the news:

After the close, The Wall Street Journal reports
that JP Morgan Chase
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is acquiring Banc One
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in a deal worth
$60 billion, or 1.32 shares JPM. Both stocks were halted in the after
market. Jamie Dimon is expected to be CEO of the new company.

Taser International
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announced a three-for-one stock split in February, to increase liquidity and
attract private and institutional investors.

Battery maker Rayovac
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will close
plant-and-service centers operated by its Remington unit. It expects to cut 528
jobs, with restructuring costs around $8 million. Investors pushed the stock up
56

Delta Airlines
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reported a
fourth-quarter loss of $327 million on revenue of $3.4 billion. Excluding
unusual items, Delta lost $207 million, or $1.71 per share, 5 cents
higher than Wall Street consensus.

Shares of shoemaker Vans
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rose
8% on raised third-quarter and 2004 earnings. The company now expects to earn 25
cents a share for the third quarter and 62 cents a share for the full year.

bricew@tradingmarkets.com