TradingMarkets Mid-Day Movers
The U.S. stock markets have turned mixed
over the course of morning trading on Thursday, with the Nasdaq climbing well
above the unchanged line while the Dow and the S&P 500 are currently in negative
territory.
The upward move by the tech-heavy Nasdaq
is partly due to strength that has emerged in the semiconductor sector. Intel
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
has helped to lead the sector higher after Banc of America raised its earnings
estimates for the semiconductor giant.
Additionally, oil service stocks continue
to see some weakness in late morning trading amid a continued decrease by the
price of oil. After ending the previous session down more than $2 a barrel,
crude for February delivery is currently down $1.52 at $56.80 a barrel.
The price of gold is seeing some weakness
in morning
trading on Thursday, extending the steep downward move that was seen in the
previous session. After ending Wednesday’s trading down more than $8 an ounce,
gold for February delivery is down $1 at $628.80 an ounce.
Once again
our new PowerRatings Heat Maps* are continuing to show potential weakness in the
overall markets with the Drug and Health Services
sectors showing the most weakness. No particular sector seems to offer great upside potential.
Stocks on the Move
Hot Topic
(
HOTT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) December Comps. Decline 5.1%, Cuts Q4 Outlook (full
story). HOTT shares drop 20% in early trading.
Constellation Brands
(
STZ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q3 Profit Up, Adj. Profit Down, Sales
Grow 18%, Trims Q4 EPS View On Weak U.K. Sales (full
story). STZ shares drop over 10%.
Costco
(
COST |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Dec. Comps Up 9%; Total Net Sales Grow 14% (full
story). COST shares rise by 2%
General Motors
(
GM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) U.S. December Sales Fall 13% Hurt By Decline In
Truck Sales, Lowers Q1’07 Production Forecast (full
story). GM shares gain 1.6%.
Gap
(
GPS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Dec. Net Sales Decline 4%, Comparable Sales Fell 8%;
Cuts Full Year EPS Forecast (full
story). GPS shares rise by 0.4%.
For more stories as they happen, go to our
Breaking News section.
Market Snapshot
|
Dow | -4.73 | 12,469.79 |
| NASDAQ | +18.46 | 2,441.51 |
|
S&P 500 | +1.09 | 1,417.69 |
|
NYSE |
| |
|
Volume | 1,241,002,000 | 888,021,000 |
|
Advances | 1201 | 1271 |
|
Declines | 1907 | 1624 |
|
Up Volume | 425 | 551 |
|
Down Volume | 677 | 255 |
|
New Highs | 94 | 63 |
|
| 24 | 31 |
Strongest/Weakest Sectors
| Strongest Sectors | Weakest Sectors |
|
GSTI Multimedia Networking Index (GIP) | S&P Chemical Index (CEX) |
GSTI Semiconductor Index (GIP) | Amex Disk Drive Index (DDX) |
Amex Pharmaceutical Index (DRG) | CBOE Oil Index (OIX) |
Economic News
The E.I.A. reports that crude oil inventories had a draw of 1.299 mln barrels
Factory Orders +0.9% vs +1.4% consensus
ISM Services 57.1 vs 57.0 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