Stocks Higher on Deal News

The major indices moved higher in the morning
session as stocks got a boost from continued M&A activity. The
higher than expected consumer confidence numbers also helped to
lift stocks.

June crude futures fell 2.4% to $63.21 per barrel
in early trading. 

June gold futures, which usually trade in tandem with the Euro, rose 0.2% to $663 an ounce
as the Euro moved higher.

Around Asia, Shanghai’s Composite
Index rose 1.5% to 4,334.92, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.3% to
20,469.59, and Tokyo’s Nikkei Index rose 0.5% to 17,672.56.

Today’s

PowerRatings Heat Map
looks slightly bearish to neutral and it will  be
interesting to see if we continue to see a pullback in the
markets.



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to see our new list of indicators that includes

Gaps Down 5% or More
,

2-Period RSI Below 2
,

Stocks Up 10% or More
.  Historically proven edges make
these a great place to start making a watch list.
 


Stocks in
Motion

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Launches $95.5 Billion Bid for
ABN Amro

(
ABN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
. ABN shares fall 0.5%.

URS
(
URS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Signs Definitive Agreement To
Acquire Washington Group
(
WNG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
For About $2.6 Bln.; URS Expects
Transaction To Be Accretive To Cash EPS In 2008 (full
story
).  URS shares rise 3.7%, while WNG shares jump 17%.

Forest Oil
(
FTO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Agrees To Sell Alaskan
Assets To Pacific Energy For About US$464 Mln (full
story
). FTO shares 0.2%.

Pogo
Producing

(
PPP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
To Sell Northrock Resources To Abu Dhabi National Energy
For $2.0 Bln In Cash (full
story
).  PPP shares rise 2.7%.

For more stories as they happen, go to our
Breaking News section.

Market Snapshot

Dow

+1.06 13,507.04

NASDAQ

+11.44 2,568.63

S&P 500

+1.28 1,517.20

 

NYSE NASDAQ

Volume

1,131,623,000 723,072,000

Advances

2296 1925

Declines

827 985

Up Volume

670 466

Down Volume

332 174

New Highs

132 120

New Lows

19 32


   



Strongest/Weakest Sectors

Strongest Sectors

Weakest Sectors

Amex Airline Index (XAL) CBOE Oil Index (OIX)
CBOE Internet Index (INX) S&P Chemicals Index (CEX)
Amex Networking Index (NWX) Deutsche Bank Energy Bank Sector Index (DXE)


Economic
News

Consumer Confidence
108.0 vs 104.5 consensus

Darren Wong

Associate Editor

darrenw@tradingmarkets.com