TradingMarkets Mid-Day Movers

  • February 1, 2007
  • Darren Wong

After seeing some early strength, the U.S.
stock markets have seen some choppy trading over the course of morning trading
on Thursday. The major averages have been unable to sustain any significant
moves.

The price of oil is giving back some
ground in morning trading on Thursday. Crude for March delivery is currently
down $0.89 at $57.25 a barrel after rising more than $4 a barrel over the two
previous sessions.

Profit taking has contributed to the
pullback by the price of oil, as traders cash in on some of the recent gains.
Nonetheless, lingering concerns about colder weather and a production cut by
OPEC have helped to limit the downside.

The
PowerRatings
Heat Maps*
from Wednesday’s close is showing action that has historically led to weakness
in the overall markets.  The Energy and Metals and Mining sectors look the most
vulnerable.

Stocks in
Motion

Google
(
GOOG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q4 Profit Nearly Triples (full
story).  GOOG shares fall by 2% in morning trading.

Starbucks
(
SBUX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q1 Profit Up 18%, EPS Matches
Estimate; Continues To Expect FY07 Revenue Growth Rate Of 20% (full
story).  SBUX shares loses 0.7%.

Exxon Mobil
(
XOM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q4 Profit Down 4% On Lower Natural
Gas Prices And Profits From Gasoline Sales, Revenue Down 9.4%, EPS Tops
Consensus (full
story).  XOM shares rise by 0.6%.

Pulte Homes
(
PHM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Posts Q4 Loss (full
story).  PHM shares gains 0.7%.

Gilead Sciences
(
GILD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Posts Q4 Loss On Charges; EPS
Beats View (full
story).  GILD shares jump 11%.

Monster Worldwide
(
MNST |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q4 Profit Rises; Guides Q1,
FY07; Jan. Employment Index Rises One Point (full
story).  MNST shares gain 4%.

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

Market Snapshot

Dow

 +15.78 12,637.47

NASDAQ

 -0.75 2,463.18

S&P 500

 +3.14 1,441.38

 

 NYSE NASDAQ

Volume

 1,242,100,000 998,607,000

Advances

 2083 1516

Declines

 1011 1324

Up Volume

 656 355

Down Volume

 372 505

New Highs

 304 159

New Lows

 14 27


Strongest/Weakest Sectors

Strongest Sectors

Weakest Sectors
Nasdaq Transportation Index (TRANX) GSTI Hardware Index (GHA)
Amex Gold Bugs Index (HUI) Amex Computer Technology Index (XCI)
Amex Oil Index (XOI) Computer Hardware Index (HWI)

Economic
News

Natural Gas Inventory fell 186
bcf to 2571 bcf

ISM Index 49.3 vs 51.5 consensus

Initial Claims 307K vs 315K consensus

Personal Income +0.5% vs +0.5% consensus

Personal Spending +0.7% vs +0.7% consensus

Darren Wong

Associate Editor

darrenw@tradingmarkets.com