Stocks Start Week with Gains

With a downturn
by the price of oil generating some buying interest, the U.S. stock markets have
turned higher over the course of the trading session on Monday. The
major averages have all climbed into positive territory after seeing some
weakness earlier in the session.

The turnaround by the Dow is partly due to
a significant advance by shares of IBM
(
IBM |
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PowerRating), with the information
technology closing up up 1.5 percent. At its high for the session, IBM was at
its best intraday level in well over two years.

The tech heavy NASDAQ 100 was led by Joy Global
(
JOYG |
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PowerRating) and Citrix
Systems
(
CTXS |
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News |
PowerRating) both gaining over 3% in today’s session.  The top
NASDAQ 100 losers for the day were Tellabs
(
TLAB |
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PowerRating) and EBAY
(
EBAY |
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PowerRating),
which lost 4% and 3.5% respectively.

After seeing significant weakness last
week, the price of oil saw substantial volatility over the course of the trading
session on Monday. Crude for February delivery eventually ended the session down
$0.22 at $56.09 a barrel.

The price of gold saw some volatility
during trading on Monday, although it eventually ended the session in positive
territory after seeing substantial weakness last week. Gold for February
delivery closed up $2.50 at $609.40 an ounce.

Stocks on the Move

Walmart
(
WMT |
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Chart |
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PowerRating) Receives Downgrade from Goldman Sachs from Buy to
Neutral.  WMT shares fall by 0.7%.

Applebee’s
(
APPB |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Dec. Same-Store Sales Rises; Lifts FY06 EPS
Outlook; Reaffirms FY07 EPS Forecast (full
story).  APPB shares rise by 1.3%.

United Surgical Partners
(
USPI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) To Be Acquired By Welsh Carson
For $1.8 Bln, Inclusive Of Debt (full
story).  USPI shares jump nearly 12%.

Bed Bath & Beyond
(
BBBY |
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PowerRating) Receives Upgrade from Goldman Sachs from
Hold to Buy.  BBBY shares rise by 2.2%.

RadioShack
(
RSH |
Quote |
Chart |
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PowerRating) Sees Higher Q4 Profit, But 7.8% Decline In Comp.
(full
story).  RSH shares rise by 11.5%.

St. Jude
(
STJ |
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PowerRating) Expects Higher Q4 Earnings; Sees Sales Above Street
View (full
story).  STJ shares jump by 5.6%.

Forest Oil
(
FST |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) To Acquire Houston Exploration
(
THX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
For $1.5 Billion In Cash And Stock; Deal To Close In Q2 FY07 (full
story).  THX shares rise by 4%, while FST shares fall by 3.5%.

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

Market Snapshot

Strongest/Weakest Sectors

Economic News

Consumer Credit +$12.3 bln vs +$5.5 bln consensus

Darren Wong
darrenw@tradingmarkets.com

P.S.

Click here to use PowerRatings to identify stocks that could potentially
move higher in the next few days.