Stocks Surge on Fed Cut

The major averages continue to trade above the unchanged line
on Friday despite recent weakness. Stocks opened the session
posting significant gains on the heels of a rate cut from the
Federal Reserve

The Fed cut the discount rate by half a percentage point this
morning in hopes of adding liquidity to the credit markets. The
fact that they cut the discount rate instead of the federal funds
rate is seen as evidence that the problem is mainly contained
within the financial sector rather than the economy at large.

Crude oil futures for September delivery added
1.5% to $72.05 a barrel on news that a hurricane headed toward the
Gulf of Mexico may threaten rigs and pipelines. Gold
futures for December delivery added 2% to $670.90 an ounce
.


Around
Asia, Shanghai’s Composite index
dropped 2.3% to 4,656.57, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.4% to
20,387.13, and Tokyo’s Nikkei index lost 5.4% to 15,273.68.

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Stocks in Motion

Dell
(
DELL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
To Restate Past Results; To Trim Net Income By Up To
$150 Mln (full
story
). DELL shares rose 1.4%.

Nordstrom
(
JWN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Q2 EPS, Revenue Top Consensus; Same-store Sales Up
5.9%; Lifts FY07 EPS Outlook (full
story
). JWN shares fell 0.5%.

El Paso
(
EP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
To Acquire Peoples Energy Production
(
TEG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)

For $875 Mln In Cash (full
story
). EP shares lost 0.25%, while TEG shares rose 0.5%.

J. M. Smucker
(
SJM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Q1 Profit Rises 42% On Eagle Family Foods Acquisition, Lower Charges (full
story
). SJM shares add 0.8%.

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


Market Snapshot

Dow

+175.50 13,021.28

NASDAQ

+42.81 2,493.88

S&P 500

+23.91 1,435.18

NYSE NASDAQ

Volume

1,304,893,000 1,287,740,000

Advances

2574 2185

Declines

570 768

Up Volume

931 1047

Down Volume

214 161

New Highs

34 60

New Lows

103 98




Strongest/Weakest Industry Groups

Strongest Industries

Weakest Industries

Gold Drug
Manufacturers

Credit
Services
Technology
Banking Healthcare



Economic
News

Michigan Sentiment-Prelim 83.3 vs
88.0 consensus

Darren Wong

Associate Editor

darrenw@tradingmarkets.com

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