TradingMarkets Mid-Day Movers

The NASDAQ is leading to the downside once again, as a selloff in Apple
Inc.
(
AAPL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) ensues.  The Dow and S&P have been trading around the
flatline for most of the morning. 

After turning higher over the course of
the previous session, the price of oil has moved sharply lower in morning
trading on Thursday. Crude for February delivery is currently down $1.95 at
$50.29 a barrel after ending Wednesday’s trading up $1.03 a barrel.

The steep decline by the price of oil
comes after the Energy Department released a report showing a significant
increase in U.S. crude oil inventories. The report showed that crude oil
inventories rose by 6.8 million barrels in the week ended January 12.

After moving lower in early trading and
hitting a low of $631 an ounce, the price of gold turned higher and reached a
high of $637.40 an ounce. The price of gold has given back some ground since
then, and gold for February delivery is currently unchanged at $633.30 an ounce.

From looking at our new PowerRatings
Heat Maps*,
we are continuing to see widespread weakness.  As Energy and Health
Services have been continually showing the most weakness here are a few names
from each sector and their corresponding moves: Tetra Technologies
(
TTI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
down 1.2%, Zoll Medical
(
ZOLL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) down 3.8%.

Stocks on the Move

Apple
(
AAPL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q1 Profit Jumps 78% (full
story).  AAPL shares lose 3.8% in morning trading.

Lam Research
(
LRCX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q2 EPS Soars; Tops Estimates (full
story).  LRCX shares drop 13.6%.

Guess
(
GES |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Raises Q4 Forecast Above Estimates; Stock Up On Upbeat
Outlook (full
story).  GES shares rise nearly 4%.

UnitedHealth
(
UNH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Reports Q4 Profit Of $1.2 Bln; Revenue Surges
47%; Backs FY07 View (full
story).  UNH shares lose 2.2%.

Merrill Lynch
(
MER |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q4 Profit Vaults 68% On Strength In Global
Markets And Investment Unit, Revenues Surge 27% (full
story).  MER shares gain 0.5%.

Tribune
(
TRB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Gets Takeover Bid From Chandler Family (full
story).  TRB shares rise 2%.

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

Market Snapshot

Strongest/Weakest Sectors

Economic News

The E.I.A. reports that crude oil inventories had a build of 6.768 mln
barrels

Initial Claims 290K vs 315K consensus

CPI y/y +2.5% vs +2.4% Bloomberg consensus

CPI m/m +0.5% vs +0.4% consensus

Building Permits 1596K vs 1505K consensus

Core CPI y/y +2.6% vs +2.6% Bloomberg consensus

Core CPI m/m +0.2% vs +0.2% consensus

Housing Starts 1642K vs 1570K consensus

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.