MORNING BUSINESS MINUTE, TUES. MAR. 28, 2006

Investors took a breather Monday, waiting for today`s meeting of the Fed`s Open Market Committee. Investors expect to see the overnight lending rate go up a quarter point to %4.75. They truly want to see what new Fed Chair Ben Bernanke has to say during this, his first meeting as the chair. So -- we saw the Dow lose -29.86 (-0.26%) to close at 11,250.11. The NASDAQ gained +2.76 (+0.12%) to finish at 2,315.58. The S&P 500 lost -1.34 (-0.10%) to finish at 1,301.61. In terms of local stocks, we saw mixed numbers. Tyson Foods (TSN) lost -0.22% to close at $13.75. JB Hunt (JBHT) stayed flat at $22.10. Acxiom (AXCM) added +1.22% to close at $26.45. Wal-Mart (WMT) lost -0.50% to close at $47.95 and AllTel (AT) added +0.28% to close at $64.30. We`ll see two economic figures out today -- first, the aforementioned Fed meeting will provide us with a policy statement, we`ll also see March Consumer Confidence numbers. We have no major earnings to report today. Overseas in Asia last night, the Nikkei lost -95.54 (-0.6%) to reach 16,554.56 at the mid-day break in Tokyo -- the broader Topix lost -8.38 (-0.5%) to reach 1,685.46. Back in the U.S., in extended hours trading, the NASDAQ 100 Afterhours Indicator rose +0.17 (+0.01%) to close at 1,680.8.