Trading Where the Action Is

Stocks were up strongly across the board after oversold conditions, especially in the Dow industrials and S&P 500, created buying and short-covering

opportunities for traders. Today’s rising markets provide a short term bullish context for the FOMC Fed funds rate announcement today at 2:15 p.m. Eastern.

Among the leading sectors climbing on Tuesday were financials and airlines.
Wachovia
(
WB |
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and Lehman Brothers Holdings
(
LEH |
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were both
up more than 6% by midday, while both UAL Corporation
(
UAUA |
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PowerRating)
and
Continental Airlines
(
CAL |
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PowerRating)
are ahead by more than 8% so far.

Given the overall bullishness of the market at midday, it is ironic that the number of truly big midday movers up 20% or more is relatively small. The

consecutive days of selling have clearly enabled buyers to seek out bargains in a wider than normal range of stocks.

Here is a list of stocks that have gained 20% or more so far in trading today.

Name Symbol % Up
Castlepoint Holdings Inc. CPHL +26.46
Georgia Gulf Corporation GGC +22.38

Here is a list of stocks that have lost 20% or more so far in trading today.

Name Symbol % Down
Midway Games Inc. MWY -29.36
Global Industries Ltd. GLBL -26.19
Otter Tail Power Company OTTR -21.18
Numerex Corporation NMRX -20.00

Source: MarketWatch

For a list of today’s top-rated stocks, click here.

David Penn is Senior Editor at TradingMarkets.com.