Surprise! Look Who Got The Contract
Stocks were
lower on a widening trade balance, worry
about tomorrow’s PPI number and
hawkish comments from Atlanta Fed President Jack Guynn.
 Record
gasoline prices propelled May retail sales to a seasonally adjusted $335.8
billion, a 1.2% increase. Gasoline sales rose 4% despite record level prices.
According to Lundberg Research, gasoline prices at the the pump fell for the
first time since December, although down a mere 3 cents. The US trade deficit
widened on a weakened dollar to $48.3 billion with oil prices at the highest
levels in 21 years, to a record $142.3 billion.Â
MGM Mirage
(
MGG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
raised its offer to acquire Mandalay Resort
(
MBG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) to $71 a share.
Nokia
(
NOK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) cut its planned launch of 100 new games for N-Gage gaming
phones from 100 to 40 as it continues to lose market share to its competitors.
Atrix Laboratories
(
ATRX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose 12% after it agreed to be acquired by
QLT
(
QLTI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) for $855 million in a stock and cash transaction.
Dell
(
DELL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said
it will open 20 retail kiosks in California.
Bank of America reduced its
weighting in equities by 5% to 60%.
AAA said said the average price for a gallon of gas fell below $2.00.
CALPERS is opposing the
merger of Wellpoint
(
WLP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Anthem Inc.
(
ATH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
saying that executives would be given “excessine” severance packages.
Boeing
(
BA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) won the
sub-hunter contract, expected to be worth about $3.5 billion. Defense analysts
had predicted Lockheed would win the contract.
After the close, Yellow
Roadway
(
YELL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said it now sees 0.85 – 0.90, well above the 0.70 – 0.75
previous estimate. Tomorrow we should get in idea of the effect of higher
interest rates on the homebuilders as Lennar is expected to report after the
close; consensus is 1.16. Big numbers are expected from CPI and PPI, with the
market looking for 0.5% and 0.6%, respectively (Core PPI 0.2%).
| Dow | -75.37 | 10334.73 |
| S&P 500 | -11.21 | 1125.26 |
| Nasdaq | -29.88 | 1969.98 |
Weak today were Amex Gold
Bugs
(
HUI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -3.95%, Â Gold and Silver
(
XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -3.62%.
Disk Drives
(
DDX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Economic news release today
included a widening trade deficit at $48.3 Billion, Retail sales that met
consensus of a 1.2% increase, excluding autos sales rose by 0.7%.
10-year Notes were -185
at 107 015
The dollar
was -0.11 at 89.90
Gold was +0.4 at 383.30
Crude Oil was -0.80 at
37.88
Volume was 1.17 billion
on the NYSE, and 1.39 billion on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is negative.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 552 | Up Vol 163 |
| Declining | 2808 | Down Vol 996 |
| Ratio | 4.48 | 5.74 |
| Nasdaq |
||
| Advancing | 820 | Up Vol 339 |
| Declining | 2347 | Down Vol 1038 |
| Ratio | 2.97 | 3.57 |
Stocks in the news:
OSI Pharmaceuticals
(
OSIP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
announced that its Phase III study of combining its Aptosyn and Taxotere
medication for treatment of advanced non-small lung cancer did not have a
significant impact.
Applied Materials
(
AMAT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said it
is being investigated by Taiwanese trade regulators as part of a patent dispute
with Jusung Engineering.
99 Cents Only Store
(
NDN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) fell after
warning it will miss second-quarter earnings and sales would be below
expectations. The company cited rising fuel costs, among other things.
Brice Wightman
bricew@tradingmarkets.com
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