STOCKS NEWS US-Gas prices rise on Sunoco refinery fire

Stocks on the move [HOT-RTRS] Real-time Equity news [U E] [RESF/US]
U.S. stock market report [.N]
1028 ET 18May2009-Gas prices rise on Sunoco refinery fire
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gasoline prices rose on Monday, after an explosion at Sunoco Inc's (SUN.N)
oil refinery in Pennsylvania cut fuel production.

"The fire is under control and is contained and I don't know when it will
be out and will not speculate on that," said Sunoco spokesman Thomas
Golembeski.

"Some production has been shut in," he said.

For details, see [ID:nN18302858]

Shares of Sunoco rose 2.1 percent to $28.77 on Monday.

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net
1019 ET 18May2009-BMO upgrades banking sector to outperform
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BMO Capital Markets on Monday upgraded the U.S. banking sector to
outperform, saying "We believe significant upside still exists in the bank
group based on 'normalized' earnings power, even after factoring any dilution
from capital raises."

"Looking through to 2011," it added, "we expect investors to begin valuing
banks on price/earnings based on 'normalized' earnings per share."

As part of its call, BMO upgraded BOK Financial Corp (BOKF.O), East West
Bancorp Inc. (EWBC.O), TCF Financial Corp (TCB.N) and U.S. Bancorp (USB.N) to
outperform from market perform.

The KBW Banks index .BKX rose 5.7 percent to 38.73 on Monday.

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net
1015 ET 18May2009-DA Davidson: analysts may be overly enthusiastic
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DA Davidson on Monday wrote that analysts "have have become just a little
too enthusiastic about the timing of the bottom of the current recession,"
noting that projecting earnings estimates for the next 12 months had cone up
about 15 percent over the past eight weeks.

"While the reaction may have been overdone, we still believe the stock
market remains undervalued," it wrote. "Investors should react patiently as we
believe the current market consolidation will be fairly shallow and short-term
in duration."

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net
1010 ET 18May2009-World Bank sees return to growth in '09 or '10
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The global economy may return to growth in late 2009 or in 2010, World Bank
President Robert Zoellick said on Monday, indicating that the pace of decline
in the global economy was set to slow.

"The question is when we will return to growth in the global system and
that could be late 2009 or 2010. I don't think this will be 2011," he said.
Last week, Zoellick stressed the high degree of uncertainty still coloring
the outlook for the global economy.

For details, see [ID:nSP475971]

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net
1003 ET 18May2009-Stifel ups semiconductor capital equipment group
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stifel Nicolaus on Monday upgraded the semiconductor capital equipment
sector to overweight from neutral and recommended that investors "be aggressive
in taking a position in the group at current price levels."

"While we suspect that there may be some choppiness near term, we are more
comfortable now (following the recent earnings season) that over the next 12-18
months, there is much more potential for upside than downside to current stock
prices," the firm wrote. "In fact, we believe that stocks in general are
finding new bottoms, with which to support higher trading ranges."

As part of its call, Stifel upgraded Cymer Inc (CYMI.O), Novellus Systems
Inc (NVLS.O) and Photronics Inc (PLAB.O) and Teradyne Inc (TER.N). All of the
companies were raised to buy from hold.

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