TradingMarkets Mid-Day Movers

With traders picking up
stocks at reduced levels following recent weakness, the U.S. stock
markets moved higher in early trading on Tuesday. The major
averages all moved into positive territory, benefiting from early
strength among resource stocks.

Buying interest has waned
somewhat since the morning, however, as traders look ahead to
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s testimony before Congress
as well as some key economic data that is due to be released later
this week.

Our
PowerRatings
Heat Maps*
from Monday’s close has started to become more neutral after
looking bearish over the last several sessions.  While no
particular sector is showing a majority of high PowerRated stocks,
it will be interesting to see if we continue seeing upside
momentum after the last week’s selling.

Click here
for a free trial to our PowerRatings Heat Maps.

Crude for March delivery
rose 1.5% to $58.65 a barrel as the International Energy Agency
has increased its forecast for global oil consumption this year.

Gold for April delivery is
moving higher this morning up 0.7% to $671.80.  Weakness in
the dollar is being cited for today’s rise in gold.



Click here
to see our new list of indicators that includes

Gaps Down 5% or More
,

2-Period RSI Below 2
,

Stocks Up 10% or More
.  Historically proven edges make
these a great place to start making a watch list.
 


Stocks in
Motion

BHP Billiton
(
BHP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, Rio Tinto
(
RTP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)

Mulling $40 Bln Alcoa
(
AA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Takeover – Reports; Stock Up On Takeover
Speculation (full
story
).  AA shares jump 6%, BHP shares rise 1.3%, and RTP shares gain
2%.

Coca-Cola
(
CCE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Q4 Loss Widens On
Franchise Impairment Charge; Adj. EPS Beats Estimate; To Cut 3,500 Jobs; Sees 5%
– 10% Decline In FY07 (full
story
).  CCE shares rise by 2%.

KB Home
(
KBH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Swings To A Loss In Q4 On
Charges, Weak Housing Demand; Revenue Up 13% On Growth In Revenue From
Homebuilding Operations (full
story
). KBH shares rise by 2.7%.

Market Share Gains, Top Line Growth Lift Nasdaq
(
NDAQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Q4 Profit Up, Adj. EPS Matches Estimate (full
story
).  NDAQ shares lose 8.5%.

Priceline.com
(
PCLN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Q4 Profit More Than
Triples, Pro Forma EPS Tops Consensus, Revenue Up 27.5%; Sees Year-over-year
Increase In Q1 Revenue Of 15% (full
story
).  PCLN shares gain 10% through the morning session.

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

Market Snapshot

Dow

+84.04 12,636.59

NASDAQ

+8.16 2,458.44

S&P 500

+8.34 1,441.69

 

NYSE NASDAQ

Volume

1,052,478,000 802,637,000

Advances

2103 1637

Declines

974 1211

Up Volume

660 489

Down Volume

255 240

New Highs

123 103

New Lows

20 36



Strongest/Weakest Sectors

Strongest Sectors

Weakest Sectors

Amex Gold Bugs Index (HUI) Nasdaq Transportation  Index (TRANX)
GSTI Internet Index (GIN) Amex Disk Drive Index (DDX)
Dow Jones Internet Commerce Index (ECM) Nasdaq Other Finance Index (OFINX)


Economic
News

Trade Balance
-$61.2 bln vs -$59.5 bln consensus

Darren Wong

Associate Editor

darrenw@tradingmarkets.com