TradingMarkets Mid-Day Movers

After turning lower over the
course of the previous session, stocks have seen some further
downside in morning trading on Tuesday. The major averages are all
moving sharply lower, with the Dow and the S&P 500 moving lower
for the fifth consecutive session.

A variety of sectors are
seeing substantial weakness, as a steep decline by the Chinese
stock market has raised some concerns about the strength of the
Chinese economy. Many traders are using the opportunity to cash in
on recent gains.

Gold stocks are posting some
particularly steep losses amid a significant decline by the price
of gold, with some airline, brokerage, and housing stocks also
posting considerable losses.

Crude prices continues to move
higher touching a high of $62.14 earlier in the session. 
Crude for April delivery is currently trading higher by 0.8% at
$61.86 per barrel.  Gold futures for April delivery is moving
lower after posting 9-month highs in yesterday’s session. 
Gold for April delivery is lower by 1.3% to $680.60 an ounce.

Asian markets closed
Tuesday’s session sharply lower.  The Shanghai Composite
posted a loss of nearly 9%.  Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index and
Tokyo’s Nikkei index posted losses of 1.8% and 0.5% respectively.

Our

Daily Market Bias
page has been updated with new indicators to
determine if there is a strong bias for the market to move higher
(or lower) the following day.  These tables can help you to
pinpoint market conditions that have historically led to
significant up or down moves over the next 1 to 5 days. 

Click here
for more information on our Daily Market Bias
indicators.



Stocks in
Motion

Target
(
TGT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Q4 EPS Jumps 22%, Tops Street View;
Revenues Rise 16%, Comps Up 4.8% (full
story
).  TGT shares are trading lower by 1.7%.

Brocade
(
BRCD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Q1 Profit More Than Triples, Beats
Estimates (full
story
).  BRCD shares gap higher up 6.2%.

TXU
(
TXU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Q4 Profit Rises Despite Lower Revenues (full
story
).  TXU shares are moving lower this morning by 0.5%.

El Paso
(
EP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Reports Wider Q4 Net Loss On Charges
Related To Asset Sale (full
story
).  EP shares are trading fractionally higher through the morning.

Harley-Davidson
(
HOG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Lowers Q1 Shipment Outlook Due
To Strike; Expects Moderate Revenue Growth, Lower Margins In 2007 (full
story
).  HOG shares drop nearly 3%.

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

Market Snapshot

Dow

-138.67 12,493.59

NASDAQ

-42.49 2,462.03

S&P 500

-16.86 1,432.67

 

NYSE NASDAQ

Volume

1,538,154,000 1,041,442,000

Advances

463 335

Declines

2679 2597

Up Volume

58 88

Down Volume

1332 879

New Highs

70 47

New Lows

77 50



Strongest/Weakest Sectors

Strongest Sectors

Weakest Sectors

Deutsche Bank Energy Index (DXE) Amex Gold Bugs Index (HUI)
Amex Oil Index (XOI) Nasdaq Transportation Index (TRANX)
Amex Natural Gas Index (XNG) Amex Airline Index (XAL)


Economic
News

Consumer Confidence 112.5 vs
109.0 consensus

Existing Home Sales 6.46 mln vs 6.24
mln consensus

Durable Orders -7.8% vs -3.0% consensus, prior +2.9%

Darren Wong

Associate Editor

darrenw@tradingmarkets.com