U.S. MARKET AVERAGES

Apple Computer Inc at Macworld Expo announced that first quarter revenue reached $5.7 billion on iPod sales growth of 300% and Macintosh computer sales crossed one million units for the fifth quarter in a row.

Apple sold 14 million iPod music players and 1.25 million and attracted 26 million visitors to its stores which generated $1 billion in sales for the first time, Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs said at the gathering in San Francisco today. Apple Computer stock jumped 6% as Mr. Jobs spoke at the gathering.

Apple (AAPL: chart) also released ahead of schedule its Intel chip based Macintosh line of computers. Sales of Macintosh line had jumped 43% in third quarter of 2005.

Mr. Jobs also said that the company sold more than 8 million videos since its launce on October 12th, 2005 and 850 million songs through its iTunes web based service in the first fiscal quarter ending in December 2005.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

Planar Systems (PLNR: chart), flat-panel-display-systems maker, raised its Q4 sales and earnings forecast on higher-than-expected sales of some higher margin display products in its industrial and medical divisions. The company expects revenue of $56 million to $57 million and earnings of 8 cents to 10 cents a share. The company’s shares climbed 23.8%.

Home Depot Inc (HD: chart) agreed to buy Hughes Supply Inc., a distributor of construction, repair and maintenance products, for $3.47 billion, or $46.50 a share, assuming $285 million in debt. The stock rose 2.5%.

Bell Microproducts Inc (BELM: chart), provider of semiconductors, computer platforms, peripherals, storage products, as well as tech services, expects to report a fourth-quarter loss of 23 cents to 30 cents a basic share. Fourth-quarter adjusted net should come in at $1.8 million to $2.7 million, or 6 cents to 9 cents a share, lower than earlier projections of 14 cents to 18 cents. Revenue was around $845 million up, 5% from $808 million. The stock dropped 11.7%.

Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc (ENDP: chart) forecast 2006 earnings of $1.75 to $1.80 a share, excluding some items, on sales of $860 million to $880 million. Analysts forecast 2006 earnings of $1.65 to $1.95 a share on sales of $820 million. The stock fell 4.4%.

ECONOMIC NEWS

The Department of Commerce released its report on wholesale inventories in the month of November on Tuesday, showing that inventories rose slightly less than economists had been expecting.

The report showed that wholesale inventories rose 0.4 percent in November following a 0.2 percent increase in October. Economists had been expecting inventories to increase by about 0.5 percent.

The increase was partly due to a 0.6 percent increase in inventories of durable goods, which reflected a 1.5 percent increase in inventories of machinery, equipment, and supplies. Inventories of non-durable goods rose 0.1 percent in November.

The report also showed that wholesale sales fell 0.7 percent in November after increasing by 0.9 percent in October. The decrease reflected a 0.5 percent drop in sales of durable goods and a 1.0 percent drop in sales of non-durable goods.

The Commerce Dept. added that the inventories-to-sales ratio edged up to 1.15 in November from 1.14 in October. The ratio came in at 1.18 in November of 2004.

INTERNATIONAL MARKETS NEWS

Most Asian-Pacific benchmarks lost ground Tuesday, posting heavy losses on worries that recent rally may have gone too far, especially currency-rate gains with exporter issues benefiting from them. The decliners were led by The Nikkei which tumbled 1.9% to 16,124.35, followed by South Korea’s Kospi, down 0.9%, and Taiwan’s Weighted index, down 0.5%. China’s Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng reversed from recent weakness to finish higher by 0.4% each.

European stocks finished in the red with investors selling sensitive stocks like insurers after the Dow Jones Industrial average crossed the 11,000 level for he first time in four years and a half. The German DAX 30 lost 0.7%, the French CAC 40 slipped 0.3%, and London’s FTSE 100 declined 0.75%.

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