Mixed Housing Data Keeps Markets Flat

  • May 16, 2007
  • Darren Wong

Stocks are fractionally higher this morning after
mixed readings came out on the housing sector.  The S&P is
currently leading the major indices with a 0.3% gain.  Buyout
candidate Bausch and Lomb is one of the leaders in the S&P Index
with a gain of 8% in early trading.

Following today’s crude
inventory report that showed a build, June crude futures are down
0.8% to $62.27. 
June gold futures is also lower by 1% to $667.50 an ounce.

Around Asia, Shanghai’s Composite
Index continued its rise by adding 2.23% to close at 3,986.04,
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.3% to 20,937.26, and Tokyo’s Nikkei
made fractional gains to 17,529.00.

Today’s

PowerRatings Heat Map is starting to show bullish sectors after yesterday’s
session that pulled back from highs.  There are still several
sectors that contain many stocks with low PowerRatings. 
These include Transportation, Drugs, and Manufacturing. 


Click here to see our new list of indicators that includes

Gaps Down 5% or More,

2-Period RSI Below 2,

Stocks Up 10% or More.  Historically proven edges make
these a great place to start making a watch list. 


Stocks in
Motion

Bausch & Lomb
(
BOL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) To Be Taken Private By Warburg
Pincus For $3.67 Bln (full
story).  BOL shares rise 8%.

Deere
(
DE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Q2 Profit Dips 16% On Absence Of Year-ago Gain; EPS From Cont. Ops. Rises 21%;
Guides Q3; Lifts FY07 View (full
story).  DE shares lose 0.5%.

Oracle
(
ORCL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) To Buy Agile Software For $495 Mln;
Agile Sees Q4, FY07 Results Above Consensus (full
story).  ORCL shares are flat in early trading, while AGIL shares jump
12.5%.

Applied Materials
(
AMAT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q2 Profit Tops Consensus,
Revenue Up 13% (full
story).  AMAT shares lose 4.8%.

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

Market Snapshot

Dow

 +28.68 13,412.52

NASDAQ

 +1.28 2,526.77

S&P 500

 +4.83 1,506.02

 

 NYSE NASDAQ

Volume

 1,128,190,000 827,263,000

Advances

 1542 1259

Declines

 1520 1578

Up Volume

 503 298

Down Volume

 473 447

New Highs

 107 82

New Lows

 25 80


   



Strongest/Weakest Sectors

Strongest Sectors

Weakest Sectors
S&P Banking Index (BIX) Dow Jones Equity REIT Index (DJR)
Amex Airline Index (XAL) Amex Gold Bugs Index (HUI)
PHLX / KBW Bank Sector Index (BKX) GSTI Internet Index (GIN)


Economic
News

Industrial
Production +0.7% vs +0.3%, prior -0.2%

Capacity
Utilization 81.6% vs 81.5% consensus, prior 81.4%

Housing Starts 1528K vs 1480K consensus

Building Permits 1429K vs 1520K consensus

Darren Wong

Associate Editor

darrenw@tradingmarkets.com