Stocks Start the Week Lower

After moving lower in early
trading, the U.S. stock markets have seen some further downside
over the course of the trading session on Monday. The major
averages have all moved into negative territory, extending the
steep downward move that was seen Friday afternoon.

Our
PowerRatings
Heat Maps*
have been pointing towards a move lower in the overall markets
with resource/energy stocks showing the most weakness.  It
will be interesting to see what signals we get today. 

Click here
for a free trial to our PowerRatings Heat Maps.

The price of oil moved
sharply lower during trading on Monday, as traders reacted to
comments from Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister. After closing higher in
the two previous sessions, crude for March delivery closed down
$2.08 at $57.91 a barrel.

After closing higher in the
two previous sessions, the price of gold moved back to the
downside during trading on Monday. Gold for April delivery closed
down $5 at $667.30 an ounce after ending Friday’s trading at its
best closing level in over six months.



Click here
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

Four Seasons
(
FS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Agrees To Be Taken
Private By CEO Isadore Sharp-led Group For US$82 A Share Cash (full
story
).  FS shares fall by 3%.

Vodafone
(
VOD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Wins Bidding War To
Acquire Controlling Stake In Hutchison Essar; Intends To Sell Stake In Bharti (full
story
).  VOD shares rise by 2%.

Novelis
(
NVL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Strikes Deal With Hindalco
For $6 Bln Buy Out Offer (full
story
).  NVL shares soar 13%.

CNA Financial
(
CNA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Swings To Profit In
Q4; Adds Jose Montemayor To Board (full
story
).  CNA shares lose 1%.

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

Market Snapshot

Dow

-28.28 12,552.55

NASDAQ

-9.44 2,450.38

S&P 500

-4.69 1,433.37

 

NYSE NASDAQ

Volume

2,279,832,000 1,844,828,000

Advances

1254 1309

Declines

1993 1748

Up Volume

732 531

Down Volume

1385 1258

New Highs

125 117

New Lows

29 56



Strongest/Weakest Sectors

Strongest Sectors

Weakest Sectors

Amex Airline Index (XAL) Dow Jones Equity REIT Index (DJR)
Computer Hardware Index (HWI) Deutsche Bank Energy Index (DXE)
Morgan Stanley Healthcare Providers Index (HMO) CBOE Oil Index (OIX)


Economic
News

No economic
reports released today.

Darren Wong

Associate Editor

darrenw@tradingmarkets.com