Unsexy workhorses lead market rally

Posted Nov 21st 2006 2:10PM by Maura McCormack
Filed under: Earnings Reports, Good news, From the Boards, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Market Matters, OfficeMax Inc (OMX)

It's not only the fun tech stocks that are responsible for the markets' soaring heights. It may be fun to watch Google, Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) soar to $505 and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) inch to $30 per share, as it did yesterday and was rewarded by Credit Suisse with an upgrade from neutral to outperform. But there are plenty of less glamorous leaders driving the markets ever upwards.

As Alexandra Twin points out at CNNMoney.com, Allegheny Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ATI), for example, is up a whopping 112% year-to-date. There's also a lot of strength in the steel sector, as Tom Taulli points out today with his post on the Oregon Steel Mills (NYSE:OS) deal.

Steel not boring enough? Pactiv Corp. (NYSE:PTV), the maker of Hefty trash bags and a variety of take-out containers, is up 52.3%. Now there's a social trend reflected in the markets!

Other market workhorses include OfficeMax, Inc. (NYSE:OMX) and Big Lots, Inc (NYSE: BIG) both up 93.2% in the 2006 S&P.

Tags: Allegheny Tech, AlleghenyTech, Google, Microsoft, OfficeMax, Pactiv