Stocks Lack Direction

Stocks are flat on Thursday, ahead of tomorrow’s monthly employment report. In Europe, the ECB and the BoE left interest rates unchanged at 4% and 5.75% respectively.

Among today’s stocks on the move, China Natural Resources
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is continuing its recent surge, hitting a new all-time high (read more), Bois D’Arc Energy
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hit a new high after announcing it drilled two more successful wells (read more), Immucor
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is at a new high following its earnings report (read more).

Moving in the opposite direction, Varian Semiconductor
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is extending yesterday’s decline (read more) and Casual Male Retail Group
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fell to its lowest level in 18-months (read more).

Treasuries are flat, the U.S. dollar is lower versus the euro, crude oil is flat and gold is higher.


Stocks in the News

International Speedway Q3 Profit Falls 72%; Lowers FY07 Adj. EPS Outlook (read more).

CVS Caremark
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September Same Store Sales Rise 5% (read more).

For more stocks on the move, go to our
Breaking News section.

Market Snapshot

Dow

0.98 13969.03

NASDAQ

1.93 2731.36

S&P 500

1.98 1541.57

NYSE NASDAQ

Volume

494,245,530 833,864,564

Up Volume

272,026,110 412,388,809

Down Volume

215,996,220 371,387,957

Advances

1772 1582

Declines

1369 1231

New Highs

58 79

New Lows

20 37

Strongest/Weakest Industry Groups

Strongest Industries

% Change

Weakest Industries

% Change
Semiconductor – Memory Chips
+2.52%
Residential Construction
-4.36%
Foreign Money Center Banks
+2.27%
Consumer Services
-4.33%
Diagnostic Substances
+1.93%
Beverages – Brewers
-4.29%


Economic
News

Initial Jobless Claims (9/29): Actual 317K, Consensus 310K

Factory Orders (Aug): Actual -3.3%, Consensus -2.8%