STOCKS NEWS US-Wall St rises as technology shares gain

Stocks on the move [HOT-RTRS] Real-time Equity news [U E] [RESF/US]
U.S. stock market report [.N]
1500 ET 19May2009-US STOCKS SNAPSHOT-Wall St rises as technology shares gain
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U.S. stocks rose as investors snapped up shares in the technology sector
ahead of results from Hewlett Packard (HPQ.N), betting it may be the latest
company to beat estimates.

* The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 27.72 points, or 0.33
percent, to 8,531.80. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX gained 6.27
points, or 0.69 percent, to 915.98. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC climbed
16.77 points, or 0.97 percent, to 1,749.13.

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Reuters Messaging rm://caroline.valetkevitch.reuters.com@reuters.net
1423 ET 19May2009-Gold prices help lift mining stocks
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Gold miner shares rose on Tuesday as an unexpected fall in U.S. housing
starts to record lows in April sharpened risk aversion, increasing the appetite
for gold as a safe store of value. [ID:nLJ936150]

U.S. gold futures for June delivery on the COMEX division of the New York
Mercantile Exchange GCM9 rose $6.30 to $928.10 an ounce.

Newmont Mining Corp (NEM.N) gained 3.3 percent to $43.78 while
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc (FCX.N) added 2.8 percent to $50.02. The
SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF (XME.P) climbed 5 percent.

Reuters Messaging:rm://Charles.mikolajczak.reuters.com@reuters.net
1255 ET 19May2009-Hewlett-Packard up ahead of results
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Shares of Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N) rallied on Tuesday ahead of the
release of the company's second-quarter results.

The mean estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters is for earnings of
86 cents a share and revenue of $27.46 billion. In the year-ago period, it
reported a profit of 87 cents a share and revenue of $28.26 billion.

Shares of the Dow component rose 2.6 percent to $36.64.

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net
1155 ET 19May2009-Bank of the Ozarks stock climbs on index inclusion
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Shares of Bank of the Ozarks Inc (OZRK.O) rose on Tuesday after Standard &
Poor's said the bank will replace Flagstar Bancorp Inc (FBC.N) in the S&P
SmallCap 600 after the close of trading on May 26.

S&P also said that Genoptix (GXDX.O) will replace Provident Bankshares
(PBKS.O) in the SmallCap 600 after the close of trading on a date to be
announced.

Flagstar has been deemed ineligible for continued inclusion in the index
after a capital investment from MattlinPatterson Global Advisors LLC reduced
the public float while Provident is being acquired by S&P 500 constituent M&T
Bank Corp (MTB.N).

Bank of the Ozarks shares climbed 6.5 percent to $26.79 while Flagstar
Bancorp fell 4.4 percent to $1.31.

Genoptix shares gained 6.3 percent to $26.75 Provident shares jumped 7.2
percent to $8.93.

Reuters Messaging:rm://Charles.mikolajczak.reuters.com@reuters.net
1148 ET 19May2009-Steel index rises after production data
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The Dow Jones U.S. Steel index .DJUSST rose on Tuesday, advancing after
weekly data showed that production rose.

According to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), domestic raw
steel production in the week ending May 16 was 1.06 million net tons. That was
a 51.3 percent drop from the same period in 2008, but an increase of 3.7
percent from the week ending May 9, AISI figures showed.

For details, see [ID:nN19427242]

The index gained 4.4 percent to $193.79. Among specific companies, U.S.
Steel (X.N) rose 5.6 percent to $30.13, Reliance Steel (RS.N) was up 4.3
percent to $37.33 and AK Steel (AKS.N) advanced 7.7 percent to $13.59.

The only component in the index to fall was Worthington Industries (WOR.N),
which sank 2.4 percent to $13.62 after Goldman Sachs added it to its Conviction
Sell List. [ID:nBNG372269]

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net
1137 ET 19May2009-Citigroup downgrades discretionary stocks
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Citigroup on Tuesday downgraded both small- and mid-cap consumer
discretionary stocks, lowering them to market weight from overweight.

"We like the solid track record late in recessions, and positive reading on
our economic model, but valuations have turned unattractive," the firm wrote
about the mid-cap group. "Despite a 5.1 percent decline in May, relative
price/book is well above its 10-year average."

Writing about small-cap stocks, Citi argued that "early 2009 leadership was
driven in large part by the recovery in sell-side earnings estimate revisions
trends, but ... this indicator is closing in on typical peaks suggesting that
the 'surprise' element of this story has been largely played out."

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net
1124 ET 19May2009-Citi upgrades small-, mid-cap material sectors
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Citi on Tuesday upgraded the small- and mid-cap material sectors, raising
both to overweight.

Writing about the groups, the firm wrote that "valuations are not as
attractive as they were in the first quarter, but remain reasonable, and the
earnings estimate revisions recovery is in its early stages."

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net
1113 ET 19May2009-Gymboree shares rise after upgrade
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Shares of Gymboree Corp (GYMB.O) rose on Tuesday after Susquehanna
Financial Group upgraded the company to "positive" from "neutral," saying that
safety issues that had been plaguing the children's clothing retailer were no
more a concern.

Gymboree's positioning to maintain and expand its market share could offset
negative comparable store sales, it said.

For details, see [ID:nBNG162687]

The stock rose 2.9 percent to $36.02.

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net
1057 ET 19May2009-Verizon expects to beat wireless margin target
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John Killian, the chief financial officer of Verizon Communications Inc
(VZ.N), on Tuesday said the company expects to beat its wireless quarterly
profit margin target of 43 percent to 45 percent.

He didn't establish a new margin target, but noted that Verizon Wireless
was able to beat the target in the last few quarter even before an expected $1
billion in savings from its recent purchase of Alltel.

For details, see [ID:nN19413863]

Shares of Verizon rose 0.4 percent to $29.81 while AT&T Inc (T.N) rose 0.6
percent to $24.74. Both companies are Dow components.

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net