Stocks mixed ahead of CPI data

Stocks were mixed Thursday ahead of Friday's CPI report.

The trade deficit for August widened to $59 billion vs. $57.9 billion in July; jobless claims for the week of 10/8 fell 2000 to 389,000 vs. the 360,000 consensus. Job losses from the recent hurricanes jumped to 438,000.  Import prices rose +1.8%, the most in 15 years. Export prices rose 1.7%.

Oil inventories rose 1 million barrels, in-line, and the first build in seven weeks. Gasoline inventories fell 2.7 million barrels, also in-line. Distillates fell 3.4 million barrels. Natural gas added 58 billion cubic feet.

Refco (RFX | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) suspended all activities at its capital markets unit, including trading and account withdrawals. The company called the NYSE this morning, asking that the stock be halted, and later the NYSE said it will continue the halt on the stock. Speculation is the company may file for bankruptcy. S&P lowered the company's debt rating and the CME imposed new restrictions on the company. Refco is expected to meet with bankers on Friday to discuss options. CME fell 8.60 to 310.40 on the Refco news. Traders are wondering what exposure Refco's underwriters, Goldman (GS | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), Bank of America (BAC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) and Credit Suisse (CSR | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), have. The company went public in August.

Fairchild Semi (FCS | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) reported a wider than expected loss, missing by 0.02. Revenues were slightly above the consensus.

Lam Research (LRCX | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) beat by 0.05 but was light on revenues. Net income fell 45% from a year ago. The stock was upgraded to equal weight at Morgan Stanley, who also raised the target to $31.

Winnebago (WGO | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) reported better than expected earnings, beating by 0.04, but sales were less than expected..

Strong sectors were:   Computer Hardware (HWI | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) +2.22%     Semis (SOX | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) +2.14%     Biotech (BTK | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) +2.13%

Weak sectors were:   Natural Gas (XNG | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating)  -3.08%       Oil Services (OSX | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating)  -2.65%         Oil (XOI | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) -1.50%       

More stocks on the move:

Tribune (TRB | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) beat by 0.02.

XM Satellite (XMSR | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) said Honda will factory install XM Satellite Radio in over 500,000 2006 Honda cars.

Komag (KOMG | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) guided its Q3 revenue forecast higher.

Nabi Biopharmaceuticals (NABI | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) reported positive results from its StaphVAX vaccine.

Brice Wightman