Stocks Higher Ahead Of Fed

Stocks are higher ahead of the Fed. The
announcement is scheduled for 2:15 ET today; a quarter point hike is expected..
Traders will be looking to see if the Fed changes the ‘measured pace’ language.

Producer prices for February rose +0.4%; ex food energy, +0.1%.

General Mills
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beat, but missed on revenues.

UBS raised National Semiconductor
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to a ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’
and also raised the price target on Texas Instruments
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to $33.

Wyeth
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said it will beat Wall Street estimates for Q1.

Strong sectors are:  Oil Services
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$OSX.X |
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+2.65%  
Airlines

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+1.98%    Homebuilders
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+1.74%

Weak sectors are:  Insurance
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$IUX.X |
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-0.42% 

Dow +29.55 10,594.72
Nasdaq +3.80 2011.25
S&P 500 +4.20 1187.98

The dollar is -0.19 at
82.69

Crude Oil is -0.36 at
57.10

Gold is +0.50 at 431

ce=”Arial” size=”2″ face=”Arial”>Volume is 811 million on the NYSE and
727 million on the Nasdaq

Market breadth is positive.

NYSE Issues
Advancing 1812 Up Vol 465
Declining 1261 Down Vol 265
1.43 1.75
Nasdaq
Advancing 1600 Up Vol 363
Declining 1245 Down Vol 316
1.28 1.14

Stocks in the News

Oracle
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will buy Retek for $631 million; Oracle also
reports after the bell.

Electronics Arts
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lowered its forecast for 2005 and now
sees $1.62 to $1.64, down from $1.82 to $1.87.

Lennar
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beat by 0.16 and guided higher, now seeing $7.15 vs a
previous $6.90.

KB Homes
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beat and boosted its outlook. The company now sees
$15.75 from $14.50.

Union Pacific
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raised guidance.

Brice Wightman