2:30PM NY, U.S. Market Movers

BCE Inc. (BCE: chart) confirmed that it is in discussions to sell the company to a group of pension fund managers that would take the telecom private. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and three Canadian pension funds acknowledged in statements that they are interested in what would be the country''s largest buyout ever. Shares of the Canadian telecommunication company climbed 7.2%.

Black & Decker Corp. (BDK: chart), whose products include power tools, hardware and home improvement tools, shares climbed 6.1% after the company reported that its first-quarter sales and earnings would exceed expectations. The consumer products company said after the market closed Monday that it expects to earn $1.60 per share in the quarter, well ahead of both its prior predictions and the consensus estimate of Wall Street analysts who are looking for $1.26 per share.

East West Bancorp. (EWBC: chart) shares jumped 6.7% after the company posted income that shot up 23.6% to 68 cents per share, beating per-share estimates by 8 cents. The company reported first-quarter earnings of $42.1 million, or 68 cents per share, up from a year-ago profit of $32.1 million, or 55 cents per share. East West said it now expects earnings of $2.56 to $2.60 a share for fiscal 2007, up from a previous projection for a profit of $2.48 to $2.52 a share.

Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. (JOSB: chart) reported a 21% rise in earnings for 2006, beating analyst expectations. The men''s clothing retailer reported earnings of $2.36 per share, or $43.2 million, for 2006, compared with $1.95, or $35.3 million, in the previous year. Shares climbed 11.3%.

Point.360 (PTSX: chart) shares soared 44.4% on deal with DG Fast channel. Upon completion of the spinoff, Point.360 shareholders will receive one share of the new company for each Point.360 share held. DGFC, which owns roughly 1.6 million shares of Point.360 stock, will not participate in the ownership of new company.

24/7 Real Media (TSFM: chart) shares were hurt 11.4% by the downgrade. The company fell after RBC Capital cut its rating on the stock to sector perform from top pick. RBC also cut its price target on the stock to $10 from $12.

Fair Isaac Corp. (FIC: chart) shares fell 9.5% after the provider of credit scoring systems cut its second-quarter guidance and warned that results would be below forecasts. The company expects second-quarter earnings of 35 cents to 37 cents per share, below its previous forecast of 48 cents per share. The company sees revenue of $200 million to $202 million, below its previous forecast of $215 million.

KeyCorp (KEY: chart) reported lower-than-expected first-quarter earnings and cut its 2007 earnings forecast, sending shares of the large U.S. Midwest bank down 6.1%. The company said its first-quarter net income increased to $350 million, or 87 cents per share compared with $289 million, or 70 cents per share, a year ago. Net interest income dipped to $679 million, from $694 million last year. On a continuing operations basis, earnings per share were 89 cents, up from 66 cents a year ago. It expects to report earnings in a range of $2.80 to $2.95 a share for the year.

Netlist (NLST: chart) shares of Netlist Inc. plummeted 28.6% after the company said customers are delaying orders for memory systems and prices for those systems are falling. The company, which makes systems used to store memory in products like computers and telecommunications devices, said it will fall well short of Wall Street''s expectations for the first half of 2007.

Universal Forest Products (UFPI: chart), wood production company, said that its first-quarter net earnings declined to $3.9 million, or 20 cents per share, compared with $15.9 million, or 82 cents per share, in the year-ago period. The company said that its revenue declined to $549 million versus $665.6 million in the comparable period last year.

1:00AM NY, 5:00 PM Frankfurt European stocks closed mixed.

European stock markets ended mixed on Tuesday, as gains in the shares of oil producers, supermarket group Tesco and automaker Peugeot helped offset weakness in the technology-sector. Among earnings-related stocks, Tesco rose 1.3% after Britain''s largest supermarket chain said fiscal-year net profit rose 20.5% to 1.9 billion pounds as it continued its international expansion. However, department-store operator Debenhams dropped 15% on profit warning. Shares of Peugeot rose 3.2% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the company to overweight from equal weight. Also in the sector, Volkswagen gained 1.8% after it reported 8% increase in the sales of vehicles in the first quarter of 2007. On the merger-and-acquisition front, Telecom Italia shares lost 1.7% after AT&T Corp. ended talks late Monday on acquiring a stake in holding company Olimpia. Airline Alitalia was another decliner, falling 5.5%. The U.K.''s FTSE 100 index down 0.3% at 6,497.80 as the pound rose over $2 for the first time in 15 years against the dollar after stronger-than-expected inflation data. The German DAX Xetra 30 rose 0.2% at 7,348.83, while the French CAC-40 lost 0.1%.


11:30AM U.S. market averages rebounded. The Dow rallied.
U.S. stocks took the upward direction on late Tuesday morning, with the Dow Jones hitting a record-high intraday on the back of upbeat economic data and earnings from Coca-Cola and Johnson & Johnson. Tech stocks traded in the positive ahead of earnings reports from IBM, Intel, and Yahoo, due out after market close. All three stocks gained about 1%. The Nasdaq rebounded from earlier decline, weighed down by Ameritrade. Banking stocks advanced, helped by gains for Wells Fargo (WFC: chart) and Mellon Financial (MEL: chart), although a 7% drop for Ameritrade (AMTD: chart) helped limit gains.

Weakness in the semiconductor and disk drive sectors also prevented the Nasdaq from moving more firmly into positive territory. Chip maker Novellus (NVLS: chart) fell 3.5% following a downgrade by Lehman Brothers. Housing, retail, and telecommunications stocks also posted some strength. The strength in the housing sector followed the release of a report showing an unexpected increase in housing starts in March. The Dow traded as high as 12,790.02, passing its closing high of 12,786.64, set on Feb. 20, and approached its trading high of 12,795.93, set the same day. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index rose 4.89, or 0.33%, to 1,473.36, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 2.13, or 0.08%, to 2,520.46.

Industrial production fell 0.2%.
The Federal Reserve released its report on industrial production and capacity utilization in the month of March on Tuesday, showing that industrial production unexpectedly decreased compared to the previous month. The report showed that industrial production fell 0.2 percent in March following a revised 0.8 percent increase in February. Economists had expected production to edge up 0.1 percent compared to the 1.0 percent increase originally reported for the previous month. The unexpected drop in industrial production was largely due to a 7.0 percent drop in utilities output, which largely offset a 7.6 percent increase in the previous month. The drop came as temperatures swung from below seasonal norms in February to above seasonal norms in March.

At the same time, output in the manufacturing sector rose 0.7 percent in March after edging up 0.1 percept in February, benefiting from an increase in the production of durable goods. Mining output edged up 0.1 percent in March after rising 0.3 percent in the previous month. The Federal Reserve also said that the capacity utilization rate fell to 81.4 percent in March from a downwardly revised 81.6 percent in the previous month. Economists had expected the rate to come in at 81.9 percent compared to the 82.0 percent originally reported for February. Capacity utilization in the utilities sector fell to 83.5 percent in March from 89.8 percent in February, while capacity utilization in the manufacturing sector rose to 80.1 percent from 79.7 percent. The capacity utilization rate for the mining sector was unchanged at 90.9 percent.


9:45AM U.S. markets opened lower on lower industrial output and weak dollar.
U.S. stocks turned flat after opening lower on Tuesday. Market sentiment was helped by a rise in home construction and a mild reading on consumer inflation, but a falling dollar and industrial output limited buying interest. The Federal Reserve said that industrial output dropped 0.2% in March as utility production fell 0.7%, offsetting a rise in factory production. Investors were also cautious ahead of a new batch of earnings reports. Nearly half of the Dow components release earnings this week.