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
(
GIS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat, but missed on revenues.
UBS raised National Semiconductor
(
NSM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) to a ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’
and also raised the price target on Texas Instruments
(
TXN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) to $33.
Wyeth
(
WYE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said it will beat Wall Street estimates for Q1.
Strong sectors are: Â Oil Services
(
$OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.65%Â Â
Airlines
(
$XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.98%Â Â Â Homebuilders
(
$HGX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+1.74%
Weak sectors are:Â Insurance
(
$IUX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-0.42%Â
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
(
ORCL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) will buy Retek for $631 million; Oracle also
reports after the bell.
Electronics Arts
(
ERTS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) lowered its forecast for 2005 and now
sees $1.62 to $1.64, down from $1.82 to $1.87.
Lennar
(
LEN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.16 and guided higher, now seeing $7.15 vs a
previous $6.90.
KB Homes
(
KBH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat and boosted its outlook. The company now sees
$15.75 from $14.50.
Union Pacific
(
UNP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) raised guidance.
Brice Wightman