Daily Market Summary 2/23/07

[Portfolio Crafter]

End of Day Market Summary Friday, February 23, 2007
by Portfolio Crafter
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U.S. stocks closed lower, putting in a mixed performance for the week, amid heightened jitters about the sub-prime mortgage market, rising oil prices and a court ruling against Microsoft Corp. Investors are displaying signs of stress and fatigue and they're locking in profits as they become more concerned about the market being at high levels. The Dow Jones industrial average down for the third straight session, as investors focused on higher oil and gold prices.

Today, the Dow closed down 38.54 or 0.30% to 12,647.48, the broader S&P 500 closed down 5.19 or 0.36% to 1,451.19, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq closed down 9.84 or 0.39% to 2,515.10. For the week, the Dow fell 0.9%, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% and the Nasdaq gained 0.7%. But for the month, the Dow, S&P and Nasdaq are all on track to end slightly higher.

Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers edged out winners on volume of 1.4 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, decliners topped advancers by a margin of 9 to 7 on volume of 2.1 billion shares.

Higher oil prices lead to a decline in blue chip stocks. The geopolitical unrest in the Middle East added fuel to fire. In the absence of any economic news, and with oil and gold prices continuing to move higher, investors are becoming a little skittish.

Stock of Microsoft closed down $0.49 or 1.5% to $28.90, after a U.S. federal jury ruled that the software leader infringed on audio patents held by Alcatel-Lucent and should pay $1.52 billion in damages. Microsoft plans to seek relief on the verdict from the trial court, as the verdict is unsupported by the law or facts. Shares of Alcatel-Lucent closed up $0.21 to $13.28.

Shares of Lowe's closed up $1.30 to $34.93, after reporting lower fourth-quarter earnings that nonetheless topped estimates and also issuing a first-quarter and full-year forecast that is in line with analysts' estimates. It reported a 11.5% drop in fourth-quarter earnings as the battered U.S. housing market hurt sales. Total sales fell about 4% to $10.4 billion in the quarter, better than analyst estimates, while sales at stores open at least a year declined 5.3%.

Shares of Yum Brand closed down $0.55 or 1% to $60.51, after a pack of rats were seen scurrying around a closed KFC/Taco Bell restaurant in New York City. The restaurant had been cited in December for a number of health code violations, including evidence of rodents and live cockroaches.

U.S. light crude oil for April delivery rose 19 cents to $61.14 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, giving back bigger gains. This was after the United States reported an unexpected drop in gasoline stocks and Iran said it would show "no weakness" regarding its nuclear program.

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