The End Of An Era…

Stocks are higher after a blue chip lifts its
outlook and new home sales rise dramatically.

New homes sales rose 9.4% in February to an annualized rate of 1.226 million,
above forecasts and the highest rate since December 2000.

General Electric
(
GE |
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PowerRating) raised Q1 guidance by a penny

Northrup Grumman
(
NOC |
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PowerRating) upped guidance to $3.60-$3.75, the company
also boosted its dividend to 0.26 from 0.23.

ConAgra
(
CAG |
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PowerRating) beat by 0.02 and will restate 2003 and 2004 results.

Yahoo
(
YHOO |
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PowerRating) will repurchase $3 billion in stock over the next
five years.

So far in Q1, the Nasdaq is down 8%, The SOX is off 3%, Internets are 14%
lower, and Biotech has fallen 7%.

PBS’ Wall $treet Week With Fortune is being cancelled after
three years on the air; the last show airs in June. The show replaced Wall $treet
Week With Louis Rukeyser after the host was fired after 32 years.

Stocks in the News

Applied Materials (AMAT)
declared a 0.03 dividend and announced a $4 billion stock buyback.

Darden Restaurants
(
DRI |
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PowerRating) beat estimates and raised its 2005 view.

Seagate
(
STX |
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PowerRating) was raised to ‘overweight’ at Lehman Brothers.

Pixar
(
PIXR |
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PowerRating) announced a 2:1 stock split.