TradingMarkets Mid-Day Movers

The U.S. stock markets have
turned mixed in morning trading on Monday, as the Nasdaq has
pulled back into negative territory after seeing some early
strength while the Dow and the S&P 500 have managed to remain
above the unchanged line for much of the morning.

While utilities stocks have
benefited from news that TXU Corp.
(
TXU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
has agreed to
be acquired by a group of private-equity firms for about $32
billion, a continued increase by the price of oil is contributing
to some weakness among oil-sensitive transportation stocks.

The downward move by the
tech-heavy Nasdaq reflects weakness that has emerged among
computer hardware, networking, and software stocks, with traders
doing some profit taking following recent strength.

Crude prices continue advancing
currently up 1.3% to $61.56 per barrel.  Gold futures for
April delivery rose 0.3% to $688.60 an ounce in early trading.

The major Asian exchanges
closed Monday’s session mostly higher.  The Nikkei index
continued its advance rising 0.15%.  After returning from a
holiday the Taiwan and Shanghai exchanges moved strongly to the
upside each gaining over 1% in Monday’s session.

The
PowerRatings
Heat Maps*
from Friday’s close is showing action that has historically led to weakness with
the Energy and Metals and Mining sectors looking the most
vulnerable.



Stocks in
Motion

TXU
(
TXU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
To Be Acquired By Private Equity Firms For
$45 Bln (full
story
).  TXU shares jump 13%.

XM Satellite Radio
(
XMSR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Q4 Loss Narrows On Revenue
Growth, Lower Subscriber Acquisition Costs (full
story
).  XMSR shares gain 0.3%, while SIRI shares fall by 0.3%.

Station Casinos
(
STN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Accepts Revised Buyout Offer Of
$90 A Share, Deal Valued At $8.8 Bln (full
story
).  STN shares rise by 4%.

Itron
(
ITRI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
To Acquire Actaris Metering
Systems For $1.6 Bln; Reveals Private Placement For $235 Mln (full
story
).  ITRI shares jump 14.5%.

Hub International
(
HBG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
Agrees To Be
Acquired For US$1.8 Bln (full
story
).  HBG shares gain 0.8%.

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

Market Snapshot

Dow

+5.05 12,652.53

NASDAQ

-7.39 2,507.71

S&P 500

+1.38 1,452.27

 

NYSE NASDAQ

Volume

1,164,668,000 750,795,000

Advances

1653 1247

Declines

1420 1607

Up Volume

616 296

Down Volume

399 372

New Highs

245 150

New Lows

19 25



Strongest/Weakest Sectors

Strongest Sectors

Weakest Sectors

Deutsche Bank Energy Index (DXE) Amex Securities Broker/Dealer Index (XBD)
CBOE Oil Index (OIX) Nasdaq Transportation Index (TRANX)
S&P Chemicals Index (CEX) Amex Airline Index (XAL)


Economic
News

No economic reports released
today.

Darren Wong

Associate Editor

darrenw@tradingmarkets.com