Traders Ponder Dip in Jobless Claims

  • May 17, 2007
  • Darren Wong

Stocks hover around the flatline this morning as
traders digest a dip in jobless claims.   Alliance Data
agrees to become acquired by private equity firm Blackstone in a
$7.8 billion deal.  ADS shares jump nearly 25%.

June crude futures are higher this
morning by 1.4% to $63.43 a barrel on speculation that gas
supplies won’t be high enough to meet this summer’s demands. 
June gold futures continue to slide currently down 0.4% to $659.20
an ounce.

Around Asia, Shanghai’s Composite
Index jumped 1.6% to 4,048.29, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose
0.3% to 20,994.61, and Tokyo’s Nikkei Index fell 0.2% to
17,498.60.

Today’s

PowerRatings Heat Map is starting to show bullish sectors after yesterday’s
session that pulled back from highs.  There are still several
sectors that contain many stocks with low PowerRatings. 
These include Transportation, Drugs, and Manufacturing. 


Click here to see our new list of indicators that includes

Gaps Down 5% or More,

2-Period RSI Below 2,

Stocks Up 10% or More.  Historically proven edges make
these a great place to start making a watch list. 


Stocks in
Motion

Hewlett-Packard
(
HPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q2 Earnings Decline, Top
Estimate; Boosts FY07 Outlook (full
story).  HPQ shares move lower by 0.7%.

J.
C. Penney
(
JCP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q1 Profit Increases; EPS From Cont. Ops Tops Consensus;
Guides Q2; Raises FY08 Outlook (full
story).  JCP shares rise nearly 5%.

Alliance Data
(
ADS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Agrees To Be Acquired By
Blackstone Group For $7.8 Bln (full
story).  ADS shares jump 24%.

Napster
(
NAPS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q4 Loss Widens, Excl. Gain Loss
Narrower Than Consensus, Revenue Up 9%; Sees Q1 Revenue Of About $31Mln (full
story).  NAPS shares drop nearly 8%.

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

Market Snapshot

Dow

 +1.87 13,489.40

NASDAQ

 -4.89 2,543.78

S&P 500

 -0.54 1,513.60

 

 NYSE NASDAQ

Volume

 1,123,980,000 771,076,000

Advances

 1144 976

Declines

 1928 1869

Up Volume

 485 326

Down Volume

 510 370

New Highs

 121 84

New Lows

 31 71


   



Strongest/Weakest Sectors

Strongest Sectors

Weakest Sectors
Amex Oil Index (XOI) Dow Jones Equity REIT Index (DJR)
CBOE Oil Index (OIX) Amex Disk Drive Index (DDX)
Deutsche Bank Energy Index (DXE) Nasdaq Other Finance Index (OFINX)


Economic
News

Initial Claims 293K
vs 315K consensus

Darren Wong

Associate Editor

darrenw@tradingmarkets.com