Oil, Chips Boost Stocks
Stocks are higher on lower oil prices and a chip
upgrade. Oil is lower for a third day in a row. Crude inventories
rose a more-than-expected 2.4 million barrels, but gas inventories fell more
than expected, down 2.1 million barrels.
Merrill Lynch upgraded several semiconductor stocks, including Altera
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PowerRating), ATI Technologies
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PowerRating), Maxim
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PowerRating),
Broadcom
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PowerRating) and Nvidia
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PowerRating).
Research in Motion
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PowerRating) beat by 0.06 but was light on revenues
(although revenues rose 92%). RIMM guided lower for Q1.
Siebel Systems
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$297-$300 million vs the Reuters consensus of $336 million. The stock was
downgraded to underperform at Needham.
Monsanto
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PowerRating) beat estimates by 0.06 and guided in-line.
MCI rejected a sweetened offer from Qwest.
The SEC will vote on expanding the trade-through rule to the Nasdaq.
After the close, look for Alcoa to report; estimates are 0.39. Look for the
effect of higher raw materials costs. Alcoa marks the official start of the
earnings season. A Thomson Financial poll indicated that S&P 500 members are
expected to see average Q1 earnings growth of 8.2%; this compare with growth of
19.7% in Q4.
Strong sectors are: Biotech
(
$BTK.X |
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PowerRating) +2.17% Â Semis
(
$SOX.X |
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PowerRating)
+1.45% Â Â Â Healthcare Providers
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$HMO.X$ |
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+1.46% Â
Weak sectors are: Homebuilders
(
$HGX.X |
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PowerRating) -0.63%Â Â Â
 Retail
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$RLX.X |
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PowerRating) -0.15%Â Â
| Dow | +58.91 | 10,517.37 |
| Nasdaq | +14.76 | 2014.08 |
| S&P 500 | +6.72 | 1188.11 |
The dollar is +0.16 at
84.82
Crude Oil is +0.04 at
56.08
Gold is +0.60 at 425.50
million on the Nasdaq
Market breadth is positive.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 2167 | Up Vol 494 |
| Declining | 867 | Down Vol 177 |
| 2.49 | 2.79 | |
| Nasdaq |
||
| Advancing | 1928 | Up Vol 491 |
| Declining | 934 | Down Vol 264 |
| 2.06 | 1.85 |
Stocks in the News
Anheuser Busch
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PowerRating) guided lower and was downgraded to sell at
Legg Mason. Sales slipped in Q1.
Morgan Stanley cut its rating on steel stocks and raised Pfizer
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PowerRating)
to overweight.
Forest Labs
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PowerRating) cut their Q4 view, now seeing 0.40 vs. 0.52.
AIG was downgraded at UBS.
Halliburton
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PowerRating) resolved its billing dispute with the Army.
Autodesk
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PowerRating) raised profit and revenue targets for 2006. By
contrast, ten other software companies have warned.
Brice Wightman