MORNING BUSINESS MINUTE, TUES. FEB. 28, 2006

Crude oil finished down $1.91 to close at $61 a barrel on Nymex. That came after a scare over terrorism that resulted in a big boost to prices Friday. On the flip side, we saw new home sales last month drop 5 percent -- something economists didn`t expect. The Dow added +35.70 (+0.32%) to close at 11,097.55. The NASDAQ added +20.14 (+0.88%) to finish at 2,307.18. The S&P 500 added +4.69 (+0.36%) to finish at 1,294.12. Local stocks posted positive results. Tyson Foods (TSN) finished unchanged at $14.07. JB Hunt (JBHT) added +1.17% to close at $24.18. Acxiom (ACXM) added +3.15% to finish at $25.84. Wal-Mart added +0.68% to finish at $45.76. Today we`ll see the Fourth Quarter Gross Domestic Product, along with the February Chicago PMI figures. Also out -- February Consumer Confidence and Existing Home Sales figures for January. Earnings today come from H J Heinz and Papa Johns -- food day. Overseas in Asia last night -- the Nikkei lost -0.7 percent and the Topix declined -0.5 percent at the mid-day break in Tokyo. Back in the U.S., in extended hours trading, the NASDAQ 100 Afterhours Andicator fell -0.49 (-0.03%) to close the night at 1,695.17.