Oil In Focus — Here’s Why
Stocks
rallied today after dropping 250 points over the last 5 trading session.
The oil service index is down 5.7% this week, as
investors who rushed to oil stocks earlier looked to lock in profit. Nationwide,
average gasoline prices rose for a third day in a row to $1.74 a gallon despite
a pullback in crude oil prices. Oil traders blame a cold winter, low
inventories, Strategic Petroleum Reserve buildup and a rapid growth in China,
especially in petroleum products for the recent spike in prices. The FBI warned
of possible terror threats to oil facilities and pipelines for the state of
Texas.
The US economy grew at an
annual rate of 4.1%; initial claims rose 1,000 to 339,000 for the week ended
March 20. The US attorney’s office in Pennsylvania is investigating Eli
Lilly’s
(
ELY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) marketing of certain drugs. Activision
(
ATVI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
rose after it boosted its fourth-quarter outlook on strength in its publishing
and distribution divisions. The company now expects earnings of 50 cents with
revenue at $940 million.
| Dow | +99.18 |
10147.05 |
| S&P 500 |
+10.24 |
1101.54 |
| Nasdaq | +37.35 |
1946.80 |
The day’s leading sectors are
Airlines
(
XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +4.50%, Networking
(
NWX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.92%,
Internet
(
ECM.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.66%, Hardware
(
HWI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) + 2.33%.
Weak today are Oil Index
(
OIX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.89%, Pharmaceuticals
(
DRG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.15%.
Economic news releases today
included initial claims that rose to 339,000, with GDP at the 4.1% consensus.
Existing home sales also met the consensus of 6.12 million units.
10-year Notes are -60 at
115 315
The dollar
is -0.33 at 89.02
Gold is -0.40 at 417.30
Crude Oil is down
1.14Â at 35.15
The Euro
is -1.93 at 121.01
Volume is 649,000,000 on
the NYSE, and 888,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is mixed.
| NYSEÂ | Issues | Â |
| Advancing | 2161 | Up Vol      466 |
| Declining | 903 | Down Vol  136 |
| Ratio | 2.34 | 3.43 |
| Nasdaq |  |  |
| Advancing | 2098 | Up Vol     773 |
| Declining | 839 | Down Vol  59 |
| Ratio | 2.62 | 13.10 |
Top Dow stocks are:
Kodak
(
EK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +3.55% at
25.68, Intel
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +3.06% at 27.32, Honeywell
(
HON |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+2.72% at 32.80, Intl Paper
(
IP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.43% at40.96.
Stocks in the news:
Apple Computer
(
APPL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said the
worldwide release of its iPod mini would be delayed to July from strong demand
in the U.S.
Merix
(
MERX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported
third-quarter earnings of $3.2 million on revenue of $44.1 million. The company
gave a disappointed fourth-quarter numbers with pro-forma earnings to be about
12 cents a share.
NEC Electronics
announced a partnership with Transmeta
(
TMTA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) to license its
low-power microprocessor technology.
Avon Products
(
AVP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose after
raising its outlook to 59 cents a share due to strength in operations. It also
expects full year earnings to reach $3.19 per share.