Nasdaq Continues to Show Major Weakness
While the NASDAQ
has remained firmly in negative territory throughout the trading session on
Thursday, the Dow has been showing a lack of direction. The blue chip
index has been more or less rangebound, but moving to the downside in the late
afternoon.
Leading the NASDAQ 100 to the downside today are
Lam Research
(
LCRX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and game maker Nvidia Corp.
(
NVDA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
losing 14% and 8%. Nvidia is also leading the S&P 500 to the downside as
well.
After a choppy trading session, the price
of gold eventually ended Thursday’s trading in negative territory. Gold for
February delivery closed down $5.20 at $628.10 an ounce after ending the
previous session up more than $7 an ounce.
The price of oil fell sharply on Thursday,
more than offsetting the notable increase that was posted in the previous
session. Crude for February delivery closed down $1.76 at $50.48 a barrel, its
lowest closing level since May of 2005.
Stocks on the Move
Apple
(
AAPL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q1 Profit Jumps 78% (full
story). AAPL shares fell over 6% in today’s session.
Lam Research
(
LRCX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q2 EPS Soars; Tops Estimates (full
story). LRCX shares dropped nearly 15%.
Hoku
(
HOKU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Soaring On News Of Contract With Sanyo (full
story). HOKU shares rocket up 123%.
Schlumberger
(
SLB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) CFO Perraud To Retire; Boosts Dividend 40% (full
story). SLB shares lost 0.8%.
Guess
(
GES |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Raises Q4 Forecast Above Estimates; Stock Up On Upbeat
Outlook (full
story). GES shares traded fractionally higher.
UnitedHealth
(
UNH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Reports Q4 Profit Of $1.2 Bln; Revenue Surges
47%; Backs FY07 View (full
story). UNH shares fell 3.5%.
Merrill Lynch
(
MER |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q4 Profit Vaults 68% On Strength In Global
Markets And Investment Unit, Revenues Surge 27% (full
story). MER shares lose 1.5%.
Tribune
(
TRB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Gets Takeover Bid From Chandler Family (full
story). TRB shares rise 1.8%.
For more stories as they happen, go to our
Breaking News section.
Market Snapshot
|
Dow | -9.22 | 12,567.93 |
| NASDAQ | -36.21 | 2,443.21 |
|
S&P 500 | -4.25 | 1,426.37 |
|
NYSE |
| |
|
Volume | 2,736,930,000 | 2,421,047,000 |
|
| 1290 | 898 |
|
Declines | 1972 | 2158 |
|
Up Volume | 980 | 407 |
|
Down Volume | 1492 | 1875 |
|
New Highs | 203 | 96 |
|
| 24 | 59 |
Strongest/Weakest Sectors
| Strongest Sectors | Weakest Sectors |
|
| GSTI Semiconductor Index (GSM) |
S&P Retail Index (RLX) | GSTI Hardware Index (GHA) |
North American Telecommunications Index (XTC) | Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payors Index (HMO) |
Economic News
The E.I.A. reports that crude oil inventories had a build of 6.768 mln
barrels
Initial Claims 290K vs 315K consensus
CPI y/y +2.5% vs +2.4% Bloomberg consensus
CPI m/m +0.5% vs +0.4% consensus
Building Permits 1596K vs 1505K consensus
Core CPI y/y +2.6% vs +2.6% Bloomberg consensus
Core CPI m/m +0.2% vs +0.2% consensus
Housing Starts 1642K vs 1570K consensus
Darren Wong
darrenw@tradingmarkets.com
P.S.
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