Stocks Gain Ground, Dow Up For The Year

Stocks gained ground Wednesday, putting
the Dow back into positive territory for the year.
Energy stocks rebounded after suffering losses on Tuesday. Trading
was light.

The Conference Board’s Index of Consumer
Confidence was 103.6 in December, its best level since pre-Katrina.

Enron’s former accounting chief Richard
Causey pleaded guilty to securities fraud and is expected to cooperate with
prosecutors in their case against Ken Lay and Jeff Skillings.

Boeing
(
BA |
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PowerRating)
gained 0.43 after it won a $1 billion V-22 contract from the Navy.
BA’s
PowerRating is 5.

Albertson’s

(
ABS |
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PowerRating) was upgraded at J.P. Morgan, to neutral from underweight.
ABS’s
PowerRating is 6.

Celgene
(
CELG |
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PowerRating) said its Revlimid capsule was approved by the FDA. Revlimid is related
to Thalodimide and the drug will contain a warning of the potential for human
birth defects.
CELG rose $3.47 and announced a 2:1 stock split. CELG‘s
PowerRating is 6.

Whole Foods
(
WFMI |
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PowerRating) will replace



MBNA
(
KRB |
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PowerRating) in the S&P 500 after the close on Friday. The stock gained 4.85%. WFMI’s
PowerRating is 6.

Cracker Barrel

(
CBRL |
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PowerRating) said same store sales rose less than 1% in December.
BA’s
PowerRating is 4.

HCA
(
HCA |
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PowerRating)
was downgraded at Deutsche Bank to hold from buy.
HCA’s
PowerRating is 6.

Estimates on video game stocks were lowered at S.G Cowan:
(
ATVI |
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PowerRating),
(
ERTS |
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PowerRating),
(
TTWO |
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PowerRating).
ERTS’s
PowerRating is 5.