US Stock Market Wrap (DEC 14, 2006)

December 14, 2006 by Douglas A. McIntyre

DJIA    12,416.76; Up 99.26 (0.81%)
Nasdaq    2,453.85; Up 21.44 (0.88%)
S&P500    1,425.49; Up 12.28 (0.87%)
10YR-Bond    4.595%; Up 0.018
NYSE Volume    2,624,512,000
NASD Volume    1,858,162,000

The market rallied additionally after the better than expected Empire State Manufacturing Index being released one day early down from 26.7 the month before to a December reading of 23.1.  Watch for CPI tomorrow.

The Oil Service HOLDRs (OIH) rose 1.4% to $150.21 after OPEC cut production by 500,000 barrels/day and after Nat Gas inventories were released.  Valero (VLO) rose 0.75% to $54.95 despite a downgrade to Hold from Deutsche Bank.

Gap Inc. (GPS) rose 3.6% to $20.28 after Womensweardaily.com reported that Eddie Lampert may be interested in acquiring the lagging company.

Ciena (CIEN) rose 11.5% to $27.83 after beating earnings and guiding up for another profitable quarter.

Medimmune (MEDI) fell 0.4% to $32.25 despite shareholders asking the company to seek a buyer.

Charles River (CRL) rose 5% to $44.01 after reaffirming its 2006 financial targets.

United Tech (UTX) fell 3% to $62.06 after its guidance failed to impress the street.

Time Warner (TWX) rose another 1.3% to $21.65 after Cramer said it had more upside than Comcast and after Faber said Icahn wasn’t selling yet.

Netflix (NFLX) fell 2% to $27.76 after Bank of America started the company with a Sell rating.

Forest labs (FRX) fell 0.4% to $51.11 after paying $480 million cash to acquire Cerexafor its antibiotics.

Ford (F) rose 3% to $7.11 after Merrill Lynch raised Ford to a Neutral from a Sell 

F5 Networks (FFIV) rose 3.5% to $76.94 after Cramer said this was a hot way to play bandwidth use growing in 2007.

CostCo (COST) rose 1.8% to $54.10 after posting EPS of $0.51 versus $0.50 estimates.

Southwest Air (LUV) fell 1% to $15.75 after offering $300M in notes.

Jon C. Ogg
December 14, 2006

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