Top Ranked Stocks

Here are some of the top ranked stocks in The PPT, click here for charts.

via The PPT:

via The PPT

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — China’s manufacturing activity improved for a fifth straight month in April, signaling that economic conditions at factories were stabilizing, according to the result of an official survey released Tuesday.

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Via Yahoo

$BWLD Buffalo Wild Wings beats by $0.02, reports revs in-line; reaffirms FY12 EPS guidance

Today’s Industry Highlights via Yahoo

The results were included in an updated S-1 filing for Facebook’s FB 0.00%  planned initial public offering on Monday afternoon. No date, share amount or price range has been set yet for the offering, which is widely expected to take place sometime next month.

The filing added the company’s operating results for the first quarter, ended March 31. Overall revenue jumped to $1.06 billion from $731 million in the same period last year. Advertising revenue made up 82% of the total, with the remainder coming from payments and other fees generated over the social network.

Net income for the quarter was $205 million, down from $233 million in last year’s first quarter as total costs rose to account for 64% of overall revenue compared with 47% in the same period last year.

The filing also noted an increase in monthly active users to 901 million, up from 845 million as of the company’s last filing on March 27. Average revenue per user, or ARPU, was up 6% from last year’s first quarter, though down 12% from the December period.

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The S&P 500 continues to dance along the 1365 line with 1% loss. Such weakness has caused the Volatility Index to rise sharply. Euphemistically labeled the Fear Gauge, it is currently up more than 11%, but still shy of its monthly high.

Energy stocks have rolled back into the red. The sector, which was recently at the flat line after it had been down well in excess of 1% this morning, is now back to a 0.3% loss. It is still today’s top performing sector, however.

Materials stocks are at the opposite end of the spectrum today, even though resource-related stocks often trade in close correlation. As a group, Materials stocks are down 1.8%, largely because of weakness in metals and mining plays. DJ30 -142.66 NASDAQ -36.20 SP500 -14.83 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 520/1.07 bln/1955 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 650/400 mln/2325

Market Update

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund is likely to achieve the touted $400 billion boost to its financial firepower as more countries signaled readiness to contribute funds, Japan’s finance minister said, in a sign the G20 has made progress in building up a global firewall to contain the euro zone debt crisis.

The IMF may even manage to collect more than the $400 billion target when including countries that cannot make a firm commitment now but are willing to contribute later, Jun Azumi told reporters after attending the Group of Seven and Group of 20 gatherings in Washington on Thursday.

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SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — Asian shares fell Monday after last week’s surge in Spanish borrowing costs brought concerns about Europe’s fiscal situation back to the fore, overshadowing a loosening of China’s currency controls.

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Today’s Industry Highlights via YAHOO

Wow, unbelievable clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E57VQut6lZQ

A flurry of selling pressure has undercut the major equity averages. The action has taken the Dow down to a new session low. Still, its loss remains only modest in size.

Financials and Energy stocks are leading the downside action. Both sectors are grappling with losses of 0.8%, which makes them today’s poorest performing groups. Energy stocks, in particular, have been hurt by players in the oil and gas drilling industry, whereas Financials have been hampered by losses among the likes of Bank of America (BAC 9.56, -0.12), JPMorgan Chase (JPM 45.38, -0.44), Morgan Stanley (MS 19.52, -0.29), and Goldman Sachs (GS 123.15, -1.75). DJ30 -38.15 NASDAQ +1.41 SP500 -3.76 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 930/515 mln/1400 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1235/190 mln/1600

Market Update

Crude and precious metals rallied in recent trade, while the dollar index only drifted lower.

In the energy space, May crude oil gained steam about an hour ago and rallied from just above the $102 level to a new session high of $103.50/barrel. In current trade, crude has pulled back, but just modestly and is now +0.4% a t$103.432/barrel.

Apr natural gas began to sell-off around 8am ET, which pulled nat gas into negative territory and down over 3% to a new session low of $2.07. The energy component has since erased more than half of its losses and is -0.9% at $2.11/MMBtu.

In metals, Apr gold and May silver rallied sharply in recent trade to new session highs (Gold $1679.90, Silver $33.07), only partially driven by the dollar index. The index is still in positive territory, but has been drifting lower for just over an hour now. In current trade, both precious metals remain near their session highs. Gold is +0.5% at $1678.10/oz and silver is +1.8% at $33.06/oz.DJ30 -2.65 NASDAQ +7.08 SP500 +2.87 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1291/430 mln/1026 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1841/160 mln/985

Market Update

Energy stocks recently staged a strong run that has the sector sporting a 0.6% gain. Although that isn’t quite as strong as the 0.7% gains currently displayed by Consumer Staples stocks and Health Care stocks, the Energy sector carries much more influence because of its market weight.

Still, overall gains remain only modest as stocks chop along in the final session of March. As things currently stand, the S&P 500 will book a first quarter gain of 12%, which is owed to an impressive run that has taken the broad market to 11 weekly gains in 13 tries.

Financials and Tech have been integral in the stock market’s first quarter performance, but both sectors have been relatively quiet today. While Financials have at least worked their way up to a 0.3% gain, the Tech sector remains mired in negative territory with a narrow loss of 0.1%.

Corporate news has been without any real consequence and economic data has hardly been influential in today’s trade.

Personal income increased in February by slightly slower-than-expected 0.2%, but personal spending proved better than expected by climbing 0.8%. Separately, the Chicago PMI slipped more than expected to 62.2 in March, while the final reading on consumer sentiment in March from the University of Michigan improved unexpectedly to 76.2. DJ30 +52.48 NASDAQ +1.70 SP500 +4.97 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1305/835 mln/1125 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1895/295 mln/990

Market Update

Action was mostly mixed this morning, but a lack of positive leadership has allowed stocks to descend to sizable losses.

The tepid tone to premarket trade came amid moderate weakness abroad, along with news that overall durable goods orders increased by 2.2% in February and an even softer 1.6% when excluding transportation items. Many economists had expected stronger growth.

Without any directional cues in the early going, stocks stayed near the neutral line. However, without anything to drive stocks to new heights — just yesterday morning the S&P 500 set an incrementally improved multi-year high — participants have been compelled to pocket profits.

Selling interest has been especially pronounced among natural resource plays. The action has exacerbated weakness among commodities, which are being clipped in response to concerns about softer demand. With the CRB Index down 1.2% and oil off by 2.1% at $105.05 per barrel following a bearish inventory report, both the Energy sector and the Materials sector are down 1.9%.

Tech and Financials, arguably the two most influential sectors in broad market trade, attempted to provide some support through mid-morning trade, but they have since succumbed to the efforts of sellers. That said, the pair has managed to limit losses to 0.5%, which isn’t much worse than the 0.3% loss collectively displayed by Consumer Staples. Consumer Staples currently make up the best performing sector.

The dollar has attracted only a modest bid. It is currently up 0.2% against a collection of competing currencies. The sterling pound is under considerable pressure, though; it was last quoted with a 0.6% loss at $1.59 following news that the United Kingdom reported downwardly revised data that showed its economy contracted by 0.3% during the fourth quarter.

Treasuries have had a quiet day with the 10-year Note dancing along the neutral line. However, action could heat up with the imminent release of results from an auction of 5-year Notes. DJ30 -85.14 NASDAQ -24.46 SP500 -11.52 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 670/895 mln/1750 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 845/325 mln/2105

Market Update

Magic Johnson is in as part owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers — and Frank McCourt is out — after sealing a TWO BILLION dollar deal to purchase the team!! And the crowd went wild.

Magic and McCourt announced the record-setting deal late Tuesday night that should transfer ownership of the team to an investment group led by the former NBA great by the end of April.

The deal still has to be approved in federal bankruptcy court.

The $2 billion price tag would be a record for the sale of any American sports franchise.

As part of the deal McCourt would get to buy the land around Dodgers Stadium — mainly the overpriced parking lots — for around $150 million. Face it Dodger fans … he’s never leaving.

But at least ya got Magic!

TMZ

The broad market made a modest move to an incrementally improved multi-year high, but listless action has left stocks to remain near the neutral line as they chop along with little direction.

Tech stocks are up a solid 0.4% today, but the largest sector by market cap has been unable to inspire meaningful interest in the rest of the market. Although Tech has helped the Nasdaq move narrowly higher, both the Dow and S&P 500 have been bouncing along the neutral line for the better part of the day.

Data has been relatively underwhelming in that the latest Consumer Confidence Index fell on the order of what had been widely expected. Germany’s latest reading on consumer confidence also turned lower from the prior month.

Energy stocks have been a drag on trade. The sector has drifted down to a 0.7% loss, although oil prices have generally oscillated along the flat line for the second straight session. Oil was last quoted with a fractional loss at $106.95 per barrel.

Despite the generally quiet tone of trade, the Volatility Index is up more than 5% today. It dropped sharply during the stock market’s rally in the prior session.

The lack of action among stocks has been mirrored by currencies, such that the dollar has spent its day mired near the neutral line. Neither the euro, sterling pound, nor the Japanese yen have attempted any sort of dramatic move. DJ30 +2.73 NASDAQ +7.47 SP500 +0.63 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1130/825 mln/1325 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1440/290 mln/1450

Market Update