DJIA    12,471.32;    Up 30.05  (0.24%)
NASDAQ    2,429.55    Down 6.02 (0.25%)
S&P500    1,425.52    Up 3.04 (0.21%)
10YR-Bond    4.599%     Up 0.012
NYSE Volume    2,602,513,000
NASD Volume    1,922,578,000

PPI….Schme….Schpee..Schie….Don’t be spooked by inflation was the message of the day. If Thailand causing a mini-Asian Contagion was going to jeer US investors you would have never known it.

Circuit City (CC) fell 16.5% to $19.01 after missing estimates with a loss instead of a gain.  If it sounds like Best Buy, the guys on the street sure didn’t know how to account for it.

Endeavor Acquisition (EDA) rose 15% to $8.70 after the company is acquiring American Apparel.

Northfield Labs (NFLD) fell 20% to $11.66 after concerns that the FDA won’t allow its blood substitute product.

Morgan Stanley (MS) rose 1.7% to $81.70 after beating earnings, but the Discovery Card unit spin-off was the real bonus.

Biogen-Idec (BIIB) fell 1.4% to $49.52 (had been -5%) after reports of 2 deaths from its Rituxan in a non-approved usage for Lupus.

Ford (F) rose 2% to $7.18 after Morgan Stanley raised the rating to Overweight, although Cramer called this flawed research.

Pfizer (PFE) rose 1.5% to $26.20 after naming its new CEO as Chairman and increasing the dividend.

Syntroleum (SYNM) soared 45% to $4.10 after a successful B-52 engine test for its fuel.

UST (UST) rose almost 2% to $57.94 after hiking its dividend and maintaining its buyback plan.

Hovnanian (HOV) fell 2% to $34.56 after forecasting a weak 2007 and a premium forward earnings multiple.

Gmarket (GMKT) rose 14% to $23.47 after Cramer said it was the ebay of Korea and beating them on that front and even noted it was cheap.

Melco PBL (MPEL) rose 13% to $21.55 in its IPO debut on 52+ million shares after its IPO scorched Wall Street as another hot casino operator play in Macau.

Jon C. Ogg
December 19, 2006