The Fed Meets Tomorrow. Here’s What To Expect

Stocks were higher on a good sales number and Wall
Street approval of a big merger.
The Dow closed at its high and the
S&P made a 3-year closing high.

Retail sales for November rose +0.1%, better than expected; +0.5% ex
auto.

Peoplesoft
(
PSTFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
accepted Oracle’s sweetened $10.3
billion bid ($26.50/share). The deal is expected to be completed early January.

Sprint is in talks to buy Nextel for $26 billion.
The Wall Street Journal said an announcement could come as
early as Wednesday. The New York Times reported that Verizon
(
VZ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)

and Vodafone
(
VOD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
could make a higher bid.

Twenty-one IPOs are coming to market this week–the largest number highest since
since September 2000. Of note: Blue Linx (BXC) will offer 9.5 million
shares between $15-$17; the company is the largest distributor of  building
products in the US. Las
Vegas Sands
, expected to offer 23.8 million shares at $24-$26, up from the
original $20-$22. Proposed
symbol: LVS.

The Fed meets tomorrow and is widely expected to raise rates by 1/4 point.

Remember: options and futures expire on Friday.

Strong sectors were: Natural Gas
(
XNG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+2.04%, Healthcare Providers
(
HMO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+1.88%, Oil
(
XOI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)

+1.71%.

Dow +95.10 10,638.32
S&P 500 +10.68 1,198.6
Nasdaq +20.43 2,148.50

The dollar was -0.43 at
82.18

Gold was +3.20 to 438.60

Crude Oil was +0.45 at 41.16

ce=”Arial” size=”2″ face=”Arial”>Volume was 1.4 billion on the NYSE and 2 billion on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth was positive.

NYSE Issues
Advancing 2222 Up Vol 948
Declining 1088 Down Vol 331
Ratio 1.34 1.89
Nasdaq
Advancing 1937 Up Vol 1420
Declining 1208 Down Vol 481
Ratio 1.02 2.15

Stocks in the News

Conextant
(
CNST |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
guided lower but is now trading up over 3%.

Taser
(
TASR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
said an independent investigation found that its
technology reduced deadly force litigation and caused fewer injuries.

IMAX
(
IMAX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
guided higher.

JP Morgan upgraded the video game group, which includes ERTS, THQI and TTWO.

Brice Wightman