TradingMarkets Mid-Day Movers

After showing a notable
decline in the first half-hour of trading, stocks are regaining
ground. The major averages have moved off the lows of the day and
are back in positive territory.

While weakness remains
visible among resource stocks, a notable decrease by the price of
oil is contributing to some strength among oil-sensitive airline
stocks. Nonetheless, a steep decline by shares of JetBlue
(
JBLU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)

is helping to limit the upside for the sector.

Gold for immediate delivery is
pulling back after reaching a 7-month high in yesterday’s session. 
Currently gold is trading down 0.6% to $666.45.

Crude for March delivery has moved
lower by 3.4% to $57.40 a barrel as warmer weather is slowing
heating-fuel usage.

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

Wal-Mart
(
WMT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Q4 Profit Up 9.7% On
Strong Top Line Growth, 1.6% Rise In Comps.; Guides Q1, FY08 (full
story
).  WMT shares rise by 2.8% in early trading.

XM
(
XMSR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, Sirius
(
SIRI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)

Agree To Merge (full
story
).  XMSR shares jump 12%, while SIRI shares rise by over 8%.

Home Depot
(
HD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Q4 Profit Falls 28%; Adj.
EPS Matches Estimate; Sales Up 4% (full
story
).  HD shares are trading flat through the morning.

Boyd Gaming
(
BYD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Q4 Profit More Than Doubles On Insurance Gain,
Lower Costs; Revenue Drops 4.2% (full
story
).  BYD shares rise by 6.4%.

Vulcan Materials
(
VMC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
To Acquire
Florida Rock

(
VMC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
In $4.6 Bln Cash And Stock Transaction (full story). 
VMC shares lose 0.7%, while FRK shares jump 42%.

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

Market Snapshot

Dow

+4.17 12,771.74

NASDAQ

+8.74 2,505.00

S&P 500

+1.64 1,457.18

 

NYSE NASDAQ

Volume

923,477,000 1,021,067,000

Advances

1527 1601

Declines

1575 1306

Up Volume

366 603

Down Volume

424 285

New Highs

214 157

New Lows

14 30



Strongest/Weakest Sectors

Strongest Sectors

Weakest Sectors

S&P Retail Index (RLX) Amex Gold Bugs Index (HUI)
GSTI Internet
Index (GIN)
CBOE Oil Index (OIX)
Nasdaq Transportation Index (TRANX) Deutsche Bank Energy Index (DXE)


Economic
News

No economic reports released
today.

Darren Wong

Associate Editor

darrenw@tradingmarkets.com