Stocks Start Week on a Positive Note

• March 12, 2007
• Darren Wong

With a notable drop in the
price of oil generating some positive sentiment, and investors
shunning concerns over subprime lenders, stocks saw strength
throughout much of Monday’s session.
 With the gains, the major
averages extended the upward moves from last week.

The Nasdaq Composite led the major
averages today gaining 0.6%.  Top leaders in the Nasdaq 100
included Express Scripts
(
ESRX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Akamai
Technologies
(
AKAM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating).  Both stocks gained over 4%.

Crude for April delivery fell
$1.14 to $58.91 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on
speculation that OPEC will refrain from reducing output further
when it meets this week.  Gold futures for April delivery
rose 0.2% to $651.40 an ounce.

Around Europe, the U.K.’s
FTSE 100 index fell 0.19% to 6,233.30, while France’s CAC 40 index
slipped 0.75% to 5,496.07 and Germany’s DAX index lost 0.02% to
6,715.49.

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Stocks in Motion

New Century Financial ( NEW | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) Creditors Refrain From Financing; Shares Plunge (full story).  NEW shares fell by 48%. UnitedHealth Group ( UNH | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) To Acquire Sierra Health For $43.50 Per Share In Cash (full story).  UNH shares rose by 0.5%. Ford ( F | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) To Sell Aston Martin Business To David Richards-led Consortium For $925 Mln (full story).  F shares lost 0.9%. Boeing ( BA | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) Receives $2.26 Bln Order From Kuwait’s Alafco For 787-8 Dreamliners And Next-generation 737-800s (full story).  BA shares gained 1.8%. Isle Of Capri Casinos ( ISLE | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) To Restate Prior Earnings On Non-cash Adjustments; Postpones Q3 Financial Results (full story).  ISLE shares fell 2%. For more stories as they happen, go to our Breaking News section.

Market Snapshot

Dow +42.30 12,318.62 NASDAQ +14.74 2,402.29 S&P 500 +3.75 1,406.60   NYSE NASDAQ Volume 2,676,728,000 1,570,356,000 Advances 2079 1712 Declines 1180 1304 Up Volume 1490 1007 Down Volume 981 476 New Highs 108 82 New Lows 31 65

Strongest/Weakest Sectors

Strongest Sectors Weakest Sectors Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payors Index (HMO) Amex Natural Gas Index (XNG) Amex Gold Bugs Index (HUI) Deutsche Bank Energy Index (DXE) Amex Airline Index (XAL) Amex Oil Index (XOI)

Economic News

No economic reports released today.

Darren Wong

Associate Editor

darrenw@tradingmarkets.com