Stocks Finish Lower

Stocks were lower Friday even amid retreating energy
prices. The International Energy Agency said it would release
petroleum supplies. Oil fell 2.7%, but still was up 2.2% on the week. Unleaded
gas futures fell 9%.

Nonfarm payrolls were 169K vs the 190K consensus. Unemployment was 4.9%,
slightly better than expected and a 4-year low.

H&R Block
(
HRB |
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PowerRating) missed by 0.02; revenue increased 26%. (full
story)

Machinists at Boeing
(
BA |
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PowerRating) went on strike for the first time in 10
years after rejecting wage and pension offers; production at the world’s largest
aircraft maker is halted. BA fell 2%.

Merrill Lynch reiterated its buy on General Electric
(
GE |
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PowerRating). GE rose
0.20.

Caterpillar
(
CAT |
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PowerRating) gained over 2% on Katrina clean-up speculation.

A lawsuit alleges that the NYSE is overpaying for its proposed merger
with Archipelago and that CEO John Thain may have had conflicts of interest in
negotiating the transaction.

Risk Management Solutions estimates Katrina could cost the U.S.
economy $100 billion, making it the costliest hurricane ever.

Shares of Delta Airlines
(
DAL |
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PowerRating) briefly fell below $1.00 intraday.
The company has been trying to avoid bankruptcy.

Strong Sectors were:  Pharmaceuticals 
(
DRG |
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News |
PowerRating)
+0.42%    
 

Weak sectors were:  Natural Gas 
(
XNG |
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PowerRating)
-1.84%       Computer Hardware 

(
HWI |
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PowerRating)
-1.60%   Biotech 

(
BTK |
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PowerRating)
-1.27%   

A Federal judge dismissed a suit accusing Siebel Systems
(
SEBL |
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PowerRating) of
providing material information to a group of institutional investors. (full
story)

An article in the New England Journal of Medicine says that a shock
from a Taser
(
TASR |
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PowerRating) gun caused a teenager to go into ventricular
fibrillation.

Goldman Sachs upgraded Southwest Airlines
(
LUV |
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PowerRating) to outperform.

Blockbuster
(
BBI |
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PowerRating) said it would not declare a dividend for Q3,
saying it would instead use the cash for the business.

Albertson’s
(
ABS |
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PowerRating) said it is exploring strategic alternatives to
increase shareholder value, including a possible sale of the company. ABS rose
12%.

Textron
(
TXT |
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PowerRating) was raised to a buy at Merrill Lynch.

Plato Learning
(
TUTR |
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PowerRating) beat by 0.11 but gave lowered guidance. (full
story)

Applied Signal
(
APSG |
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PowerRating) missed by 0.09.

Neoware Systems
(
NWRE |
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PowerRating) beat by 0.05 and guided higher. (full
story)

Brice Wightman