TradingMarkets Mid-Day Movers

The U.S. stock
markets have shown a lack of direction over the course of morning trading on
Monday, with the major averages unable to sustain any significant moves.

The choppy trading comes amid significant volatility in the price of oil.

After seeing substantial strength in early
trading on Monday, the price of oil has pulled back sharply as the day has
progressed. Crude for February delivery is currently down $1.04 at $55.27 a
barrel after reaching a high of $57.72 a barrel.

Despite the lackluster performance by the
broader market, significant weakness remains visible in the housing sector. Gold
stocks are also seeing some weakness, as the price of gold has moved well off
its best level of the day currently trading at $606.80.


From a quick glance at our new
PowerRatings
Heat Maps*,
we are continuing to see potential weakness in the Drug and Health Services
sectors, while no particular sector seems to offer great upside potential.

Stocks on the Move

GE
(
GE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
To Buy Vetco Gray For $1.9 Bln From Candover, 3i & JP
Morgan Partners; Deal Expands GE’s Presence In Global Oil And Gas Industry (full
story
).  GE shares are trading lower by 0.5%.

RadioShack
(
RSH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Sees Higher Q4 Profit, But 7.8% Decline In Comp.
(full
story
).  RSH shares rise by over 11%.

St. Jude
(
STJ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Expects Higher Q4 Earnings; Sees Sales Above Street
View (full
story
).  STJ shares jump by 6%.

Forest Oil
(
FST |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
To Acquire Houston Exploration
(
THX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)

For $1.5 Billion In Cash And Stock; Deal To Close In Q2 FY07 (full
story
).  THX shares rise by 4%, while FST shares fall by 3.3%.

Caremark
(
CMX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Confirms Commitment To CVS
(
CVS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Merger
Deal; Rejects Express Scripts’
(
ESRX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Proposal (full
story
).  CMX shares fall by 2%, while CVS and ESRX shares each drop 1%.

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

Market Snapshot

Dow


-15.22

12,382.79

NASDAQ

+2.97

2,437.22

S&P 500


-0.62

1,409.09

NYSE


NASDAQ

Volume


1,166,978,000

874,777,000

Advances


1400

1346

Declines


1684

1540

Up Volume


454

544

Down Volume


576

266

New Highs


76

61


New Lows


15

40


Strongest/Weakest Sectors



Strongest Sectors

Weakest Sectors

GSTI Semiconductor Index (GSM)


GSTI Internet Index (GIN)

Morgan Stanley Healthcare Providers Index (RXH)

Amex Pharmaceutical Index (DRG)

GSTI Hardware Index (GHA)

Dow Jones Internet Commerce Index
(ECM)


Economic News

No economic data released
today.

Darren Wong
darrenw@tradingmarkets.com



P.S.

Click here
to use PowerRatings to identify stocks that could potentially
move higher in the next few days.


* PowerRatings Heat Maps is a powerful tool, which can help you make sense of
the markets in an instant.  For a free trial to PowerRatings Heat Maps
click
here
.Â