Stocks Move Higher on Deal News; Microsoft Eyeing Buyout of Yahoo!

Stocks are higher on major deal news as well as soft economic
data that increases the odds for a Fed rate cut later this year.  The Labor
Department reported that jobless rates rose to 4.5% in April and that the
economy added the fewest new jobs in more than 2 years.  

Reports of Microsoft
(
MSFT |
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continuing its pursuit
of Yahoo! Inc.
(
YHOO |
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has fueled a major rally in YHOO shares this
morning, currently up 15%.  The acquisition could be worth $50 billion. 
In other deal news, Wells Fargo
(
WFC |
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PowerRating)
has agreed to purchase
Greater Bay Bancorp

(
GBBK |
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in a stock deal worth approximately $1.5
billion.

Self storage company Public Storage
(
PSA |
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PowerRating)
reported
a first-quarter loss of $4.4 million due to charges in its acquisition of
Shurgard Storage Centers back in August. 

For more stocks
to watch, see
TradingMarkets 7 Trading Ideas for Today.

Today‘s

PowerRatings Heat Map
has started to show price action that is bearish,
especially after the broad market rallies over the past few sessions.  The sector with the highest amount of low PowerRatings stocks is
the Diversified Services sector, shown here:

Today’s featured
list comes from our
PowerRatings
Top 10 Most Requested Stocks
.  These stocks have been the most
requested over the past 24 hours.

For a free PowerRatings trial,
click here. If
you have any questions about PowerRatings or the new Stock Indicators please
feel free to email us or call 213-955-5858 ext 1.

Darren Wong

Associate Editor

darrenw@tradingmarkets.com

Reminder: We are in no
way recommending the purchase or short sale of these stocks. This article is
intended for education purposes only. Trading should be based on your own
understanding of market conditions, price patterns and risk; our information is
designed to contribute to your understanding.

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