Wall Street Addict

Stock prices are higher in early trading today with the Dow Jones industrials up 22.43 to 13,655.51, the Nasdaq Composite higher by 11.11 at 2,603.70 and the Standard & Poor's 500 up 3.59 at 1,533.82. Wall Street received another batch of acquisitions but mixed news on the economy. Later Thursday morning, the Commerce Department will report on construction spending, which is expected to have slipped 0.1 percent in April after rising 0.2 percent in March. The Chicago Purchasing Managers will release its manufacturing index. Economists predict the Chicago PMI to have risen to 54.0 in May from 52.9 in April.
Investors hope the economy will keep expanding, but not so fast that it prevents the Federal Reserve from lowering interest rates later this year. Stocks soared Wednesday when minutes from the Fed's latest meeting indicated the central bank is not inclined to make a rate hike.
While Wall Street is unsure about the economic outlook, it remains buoyed by the unrelenting surge of takeover activity. On Thursday, banking company Wachovia Corp. said it would acquire A.G. Edwards Inc. for $6.8 billion in cash and stock to form one of the largest retail stock brokerages in the country. And payroll processor Ceridian Corp. said late Wednesday it will be bought out by investment firm Thomas H. Lee Partners LP and insurance provider Fidelity National Financial Inc. for about $5.3 billion.
Meanwhile Thursday, discount retailer Costco Wholesale Corp. and jewelry seller Tiffany & Co. released their financial results. Costco posted a fiscal third-quarter profit decline of 4.9 percent, while Tiffany reported a 15 percent rise in fiscal first-quarter profit -- indicating that consumer demand for big-ticket items remains robust.
Retailer Sears Holdings Corp. reported a solid 20 percent gain in earnings from the recent quarter, but said its U.S store sales dropped.
The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.
Crude oil futures fell 39 cents to $63.18 a barrel in preopening electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, ahead of data on U.S. petroleum inventories.
Chinese stocks rebounded a bit Thursday after a sharp drop a day earlier. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.4 percent.
Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 1.63 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 was up 0.51 percent, Germany's DAX index was up 1.47 percent, and France's CAC-40 was up 1.07 percent.
Source: AP

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