Merck Causes Late Slide
The biggest news of the day broke
late in the session when a jury ruled that Merck
(
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PowerRating) is liable for the
death of a Texas man who died after taking the company’s Vioxx painkiller.
As a result, Merck was ordered to pay the man’s family more than $250 million.
Full Story.
The news caused stocks to slide in the final 30 minutes of trading. Prior to the
verdict stocks were modestly higher, having spent the day in a narrow range.
Northwest Airlines
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PowerRating) mechanics are
expected to go on strike at midnight tonight following the breakdown of contract
negotiations. If the strike goes ahead it will be the first by a US airline
since 1998. The airline has said it needs to cut its annual labor bill by $1.1
Bln to avoid bankruptcy and wants $176 Mln of that to come from the mechanics
union. Read
more about the possible strike here and keep updated on this and other
stories throughout the weekend via our
breaking news
section.
Biggest Risers And Fallers
S&P 500:
Delphi
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+7.43%,
Dillard’s
(
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PowerRating) +7.23%, and Autodesk
(
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PowerRating) +5.37%.
Merk
(
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PowerRating) -7.72%, Calpine
(
CPN |
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PowerRating) -2.73% and
Autozone
(
AZO |
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PowerRating) – 2.69%
Nasdaq 100:
Ciena
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CIEN |
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PowerRating) +3.90%, Sanmina
(
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PowerRating) +2.93%
and JDS Uniphase
(
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PowerRating) +2.63%.
Patterson Companies
(
PDCO |
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PowerRating) -2.84%, Verisign
(
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PowerRating) –
2.31%, and Network Appliance
(
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PowerRating) -1.87% and
Strongest Sectors
Oil Index
(
XOI |
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PowerRating) +1.74%, Oil Service Index
(
OSX |
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PowerRating) +1.57%
and Natural Gas
(
XNG |
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PowerRating) +1.45%.
Weakest Sectors
Airlines
(
XAL |
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PowerRating) -1.10%, Retail Index
(
RLX |
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PowerRating) -0.94% and
Pharmaceuticals
(
DRG |
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PowerRating) -0.79%.
| Dow | +4.30 | 10,559.23 |
| Nasdaq | -0.52 | 2135.56 |
| S&P 500 | +0.69 | 1219.71 |
| NYSE | Nasdaq | |
| Volume | 1,558,364,000 | 1,225,278,000 |
| Up Volume | 786 (50%) | 558 (46%) |
| Down Volume | 737 (47%) | 629 (52%) |
| Advances | 1797 | 1580 |
| Declines | 1438 | 1422 |
Ashton Dorkins
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