TradingMarkets Mid-Day Movers

  • January 5, 2007
  • Darren Wong

After seeing some early weakness, the U.S.
stock markets have continued lower over the course of the trading session on
Friday. The major averages have all moved firmly into negative territory.

The weakness in the market is partly due
to the release of stronger than expected December employment data, which has led
many traders to believe that the Federal Reserve is not likely to lower interest
rates in the near future.

After posting steep losses in two previous
sessions, the price of oil has seen some volatility over the course of morning
trading on Friday.

The price of oil extended the recent
downward move in early trading, falling to an 18-month low of $54.90 a barrel.
It staged a recovery shortly afterward, however, climbing into positive
territory.

Nonetheless, the price of oil has moved
back to the downside since then, with crude for February delivery currently down
$0.22 at $55.37 a barrel.

The price of gold has moved substantially
lower in morning trading on Friday, extending the downward move that was seen in
the two previous sessions. Gold for February delivery is currently down $21.10
at $605.10 an ounce.


From a quick glance at our new
PowerRatings Heat Maps*,
we are continuing to see overall weakness in the market with the Drug and Health
Services sectors showing the most weakness.  No particular sector is
looking particularly strong at this point.


Stocks on the Move

Wendy’s Says Sales At Company-owned Restaurants Rose 3.1%
In Q4 (full
story).  WEN shares rise by 0.4%.

Southwest Airlines Dec. Traffic Up 10.3%; Load Factor
Rises (full
story).  LUV shares fall by 1.5%.

Best Buy December Revenues Grow 15%, Boosts FY07 Earnings
View (full
story).  BBY shares rise by 1.7%.

Freddie Mac Forecasts Net Loss For Q3 And Q4, Hurt By
Lower Long-term Interest Rates (full
story).  FRE shares fall by 1.7%.

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

Market Snapshot

Dow


-88.84
12,391.85

NASDAQ
-29.00
2,424.43

S&P 500


-10.22
1,408.12

NYSE


NASDAQ

Volume
1,276,792,000
949,062,000

Advances
595
650

Declines
2540
2248

Up Volume
157
208

Down Volume
965
662

New Highs
65
56


New Lows
30
38


Strongest/Weakest Sectors



Strongest Sectors

Weakest Sectors

Morgan Stanley Healthcare Products Index (RXP)
GSTI Semiconductor Index (GSM)

CBOE Oil Index (OIX)
Amex Gold Bugs Index (HUI)

S&P Retail Index (RLX)

GSTI Multimedia Networking Index (GIP)


Economic News

Natural Gas Inventory fell 47 bcf to 3074 bcf

Unemployment Rate 4.5% vs 4.5% consensus

Nonfarm Payrolls 167K vs 115K consensus, 100K Bloomberg consensus

Hourly Earnings m/m +0.5% vs +0.3% consensus

Average Workweek 33.9 vs 33.9 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.

* 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