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

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.