STOCKS NEWS US-Citi upgrades small and mid-cap material sectors

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1124 ET 19May2009-Citi upgrades small and mid
cap material sectors

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.'

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1113 ET 19May2009
Gymboree shares rise after upgrade

Shares of Gymboree Corp 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.

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The stock rose 2.9 percent to $36.02.

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1057 ET 19May2009
Verizon expects to beat wireless margin target

John Killian, the chief financial officer of Verizon Communications Inc, 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.

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

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1047 ET 19May2009
Markets turn positive on banks, energy

Major U.S. indexes turned positive on Tuesday, rising on gains in energy and bank stocks, which overshadowed data showing that housing starts unexpectedly slid to record lows in April.

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The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.2 percent to 8,522.48 while the S&P 500 gained 0.4 percent to 913.27 and the Nasdaq was up 0.2 percent to 1,736.60.

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1037 ET 19May2009
Solarfun results lift solar companies

Shares of solar companies largely rose on Tuesday, after Solarfun Power reported a first-quarter loss that was narrower than expected. It also said that its chief executive officer had resigned.

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Shares of Solarfun rose 9.5 percent to $5.55 while Yingli Green Energy added 7.5 percent to $9.48, Canadian Solar was up 5.2 percent to $8.55 and Suntech Power gained 3.6 percent to $15.65.

Shares of JA Solar dropped 2.5 percent to $3.16. Earlier, the company reported a first-quarter loss and said it would fall short of its 2009 revenue outlook.

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1032 ET 19May2009
Firm: data suggests no bottom in housing market

DA Davidson on Tuesday wrote that the 12.8 percent drop in April housing starts compared with the prior month 'continues to suggest that the bottom in housing still hasn't been reached.'

'Although the credit picture is improving and the job loss rate appears to be showing signs of slowing, housing remains the weak link in the economic picture,' the firm wrote. 'We continue to believe that an economic recovery probably won't begin until the fourth quarter at the earliest.'

DA Davidson added that though it remained bullish on stocks, it expected periods of volatility and profit-taking.

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