Stocks End Lower After Volatile Day

• March 5, 2007
• Darren Wong

Due to the continued weakness in the Asian
markets, the U.S. stock markets followed to the downside. 
The NASDAQ led the indices to the downside giving up 1.15%. 
The largest decliners in the NASDAQ 100 were Sirius
Satellite Radio
(
SIRI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Wynn Resorts
(
WYNN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
which lost 5% and 4.5% respectively.

Crude prices moved lower
once again on speculation that global economic growth will slow,
cutting fuel demand. Crude for April delivery closed lower by 2.6% to $60.06
a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. 
Gold futures also moved lower by 0.8%
to $639.20 an ounce. 

Around Europe, the U.K.’s
FTSE 100 index slipped 0.94% to 6,058.70, while France’s CAC 40
index fell 0.73% to 5,385.03 and Germany’s DAX index dropped 1.04%
6,534.57.

Our
PowerRatings
Heat Maps*
from Friday’s close has started to move from neutral to bullish. 
The Drug sector is showing the highest percentage of high PowerRated
stocks. 

Click here for a free trial to our PowerRatings Heat Maps.

Stocks in Motion

AMD ( AMD | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) Warns Of Not Meeting Q1 Revenue Forecast, Shares Tumble (full story).  AMD shares fell by 1.6%. New Century Financial ( NEW | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) Shares Plunge On Bankruptcy Concerns; Others Follow (full story).  NEW shares dropped by nearly 70%. Research In Motion ( RIMM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) To Restate Past Results; Sees US$250 Mln Reduction In Previous Earnings; Chairman Jim Balsillie Steps Down (full story).  RIMM shares moved lower by 1.1%. BP ( BP | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) To Buy Chevron’s ( CVX | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating)  Netherlands Unit, Other Assets For About $900 Mln (full story).  BP shares dropped 2.2%, while CVX shares lost 0.4%. HSBC ( HBC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) Pre-Tax Profits Rise 5% To $22.1 Bln. For 2006 (full story).  HBC shares moved lower by 0.5%. Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea ( GAP | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) To Acquire Pathmark Stores ( PTMK | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) In Cash, Stock, Debt Deal (full story).  GAP shares gain 5.3%, while PTMK shares jumped 11%. For more stories as they happen, go to our Breaking News section.

Market Snapshot

Dow -63.69 12,050.41 NASDAQ -27.32 2,340.68 S&P 500 -13.05 1,374.12   NYSE NASDAQ Volume 3,490,070,000 2,285,147,000 Advances 629 602 Declines 2682 2481 Up Volume 423 349 Down Volume 2825 1785 New Highs 56 43 New Lows 105 181

Strongest/Weakest Sectors

Strongest Sectors Weakest Sectors Amex Computer Technology Index (XCI) Dow Jones Equity REIT Index (DJR) S&P Healthcare Index (HCX) Nasdaq Other Finance Index (OFINX) Amex Pharmaceutical Index (DRG) Amex Securities Broker/Dealer Index (XBD)

Economic News

ISM Services 54.3 vs 57.5 consensus

Darren Wong

Associate Editor

darrenw@tradingmarkets.com