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Strategies & Market Trends : Can you beat 50% per month? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Smiling Bob who wrote (7916)	3/9/2005 1:11:37 PM
From: Smiling Bob	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 19256

Stocks Skid on Soaring Oil Prices Wednesday March 9, 12:15 pm ET By Meg Richards, AP Business Writer Stocks Slide on Soaring Oil Prices, Pressure by Higher Yields on Long-Dated Treasuries NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks skidded Wednesday, pressured by higher yields on long-dated Treasuries, and as oil prices climbed despite a government report that showed greater-than-expected domestic stores of crude. ADVERTISEMENT A gradual acceleration of inflation measures and a rally in commodities have combined to make investors nervous about stocks, as many on Wall Street predict a slowdown in corporate profits for 2005. The feeble U.S. dollar and bearish bond market, combined with a rise in gold prices, underscored those concerns Wednesday. "Profit margins have peaked, inflation is on the way up, and those aren't generally good things for stocks," said John Caldwell, chief investment strategist for McDonald Financial Group, part of Cleveland-based KeyCorp. "So weakness in the bond market on top of that tends to make people skittish. ... It just makes people question their thinking that much more." In early afternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 36.58, or 0.34 percent, at 10,876.04. The broader gauges were also lower. The Standard & Poor's 500 index declined 4.31, or 0.35 percent, to 1,215.12. The Nasdaq composite index fell 1.26, or 0.06 percent, to 2,072.29. Oil futures were up 41 cents at $55 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after the government's weekly supply data, which showed a better-than-expected rise in crude inventories, but declines in supplies of gasoline and distillate fuel, which includes heating oil. Some traders were betting oil prices would climb higher still, amid supply concerns and as cold weather causes shudders in the Northeast. Bond trading was also volatile, as the yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 4.46 percent, up from 4.39 percent late Tuesday. Bond traders have moved to bearish positions this week as the U.S. Treasury prepared to sell $15 billion in five-year notes Wednesday, followed by a $9 billion sale of 10-year notes Thursday. Some of the nervousness is related to an ongoing debate about the appetite among foreign buyers for the U.S. debt, especially in the face of a weaker dollar. Chip maker Xilinx Inc. added 21 cents to $31.67 after raising its revenue forecast for the March quarter. The company now expects sales to be up 5 percent to 8 percent sequentially, above prior estimates for 1 percent to 5 percent growth. Canadian mining company Noranda Inc. was down 28 cents at $18.97 after announcing plans to merge with Falconbridge Ltd., a major nickel and copper producer in a deal that would create one of the largest base-metal companies in North America. Noranda already owned 60 percent of Falconbridge. Polymer and specialty chemicals producer Crompton Corp. was up $1.27 at $14.73 after saying it had agreed to purchase Indianapolis-based Great Lakes Chemical Corp. in a stock swap transaction valued at $1.8 billion. Great Lakes gained 19 percent, or $5.22, to $32.40, on the news. Kmart Holding Corp. was up 7 cents at $109.31 after the retailer posted a $309 million profit for the fourth quarter, a 14 percent increase over the previous year, but said sales continued to fall, albeit at a lower rate than earlier periods. Kmart is expected to close its acquisition of Sears, Roebuck and Co. in the coming weeks. The Russell 2000 index, which tracks smaller company stocks, was down 2.27, or 0.36 percent, at 635.71. Decliners outnumbered advancing issues by more than 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume came to 669.80 million shares, compared to 655.12 million shares traded at the same point Tuesday. Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average added 0.67 percent. In afternoon trading in Europe, France's CAC-40 shed 0.33 percent, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.20 percent and Germany's DAX index declined 0.35 percent. New York Stock Exchange: nyse.com Nasdaq Stock Market: nasdaq.com