LONDON (ShareCast) - Wall Street’s rally has fizzled out as profit-takers emerge to bank gains that looked unthinkable at the beginning of this turbulent week.

The Dow-Jones industrial average is down 8 at 12,369, and the S&P 500 is virtually unchanged at 1,351. As has been the case for most of this week, the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite is outperforming the other two indices, and is up 8 at 2,369.

Computer chip maker AMD is one of the worst performing blue-chips after credit ratings agency further downgraded its debt. Memory chip maker Micron retreats in sympathy.

Harley-Davidson hits the skids after announcing a 26% tumble in fourth quarter sales. The company indicated it expects earnings per share in 2008 to be at least $4; analysts had pencilled in EPS for 2008 of $3.86.

A response to what they see as mischaracterizations about the ENHANCE (Effect of Combination Ezetimibe and High-Dose Simvastatin vs. Simvastatin Alone on the Atherosclerotic Process in Patients with Heterozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia) trial seems to have backfired on drugs companies Merck and Schering-Plough, as both sink lower.

"While the ENHANCE trial was time consuming and took longer than originally anticipated to complete, our companies acted with integrity and good faith in connection with the trial,” maintained Thomas Koestler, president of the Schering-Plough Research Institute.

Business software supplier Compuware is on the up after Piper Jaffray upgraded the stock to ``buy'' from ``neutral'' after yesterday’s results.

Online brokerage E-trade reported a record loss in the fourth quarter but stormed higher after saying it expects to return to profitability in 2008.

Plastic bottle maker Eastman Chemical floated higher on the back of a bullish trading update in which it forecast it would double current EPS by 2012.

Bond insurer Ambac Financial continues its volatile week. The company, which had its AAA insurance rating downgraded last week by Fitch Ratings, is higher on hopes that a rescue package for the sector will be thrashed out by regulators and banks.

Diversified manufacturer Honeywell pleased the market with earnings at the top end of analysts’ estimates. Fourth-quarter earnings jumped 18%, helped by strong demand for airplane parts, thermostats and security systems.

Bulldozer maker Caterpillar is little changed in early trade after earnings that were in line with expectations. The company said international sales had offset poor US demand and enabled it to post a 10% rise in fourth quarter earnings and sales.

New Jersey bank Commerce Bancorp said delays in receiving loan repayments contributed towards a 47% decline in fourth quarter profits. The bank, which is in the process of being acquired by Toronto-Dominion Bank, said profit for the full year was down 53% to $140.3m.

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