Afternoon Spy: Aston Martin and Toyota? Pickens At It Again (UEC, URRE, REE, AVL, MCP, MRVL, TMRAY, CRMT, LAS, EP, BAC, MSFT, INTC, TM)

Markets are modestly higher ahead of the long Memorial Day weekend, the market shrugged off a better-than-expected consumer sentiment reading of 74.3, up from 69.8 in April. In other economic news, personal income increased by 0.4%. This is the third consecutive monthly increase.

Today’s Top tickerspy Indexes:

Uranium Stocks (up 6.4%, see graph): The Uranium Index continues to lead the way today, as investors begin to realize that China demand for the commodity may outweigh Japan’s woes. Uranium Energy (UEC) and Uranium Resources (URRE) are among the top movers today.

Rare Earth Stocks (up 3.1%, see graph): Rare Earth Stocks continue to impress today after China announced it intends to establish a rare earth exchange. Investors are viewing this effort as a positive, sending miners like Rare Element Resources (REE), Avalon Rare Metals (AVL), and Molycorp (MCP) higher.

Specialty Semiconductor Stocks (up 2.8%, see graph): Marvell Technology (MRVL) is the reason for this spike. The company reported earnings that bested analyst expectations.

Norway Stocks and ADRs (up 2.8%, see graph): The Index is being lifted by Tomra Systems (TMRAY), which announced it has been chosen as the main supplier of vending machines for a Dutch discount retailer. The retailer will implement the units in all 500 of their location.

Auto Dealer Stocks (up 2%, see graph): America’s Car-Mart (CRMT) is surging after reporting better-than-expected earnings late yesterday. Chinese micro cap Lentuo International (LAS) is also solidly higher on the day.

Today’s Top Market Headlines

El Paso Is Loving The Eagle Ford Shale: El Paso (EP) plans aggressive development of the Eagle Ford Shale in 2011 and beyond as the company works the various oil plays in its inventory of properties.

Stock ETFs Rise; Bank Of America Lifts Financials: Financial sector ETFs were set to end the week on a high note Friday heading into Memorial Day weekend thanks in part to Bank of America (BAC).

Pickens’ NAT GAS Act Losing Support: As T. Boone Pickens continues his push for his energy bill, some fiscal conservatives have been removing their names as supporters.

Microsoft: Win Tablet Can Be Winner, Says Caris: Caris & Co. analyst Sandeep Aggarwal this morning reiterates a Buy rating on shares of Microsoft (MSFT), writing that a sooner-than-expected introduction of a Windows-based tablet from Redmond could be a catalyst for the stock.

Intel: “Tough Decision” If Apple Wanted To Fab With Us, Per Reuters: Reuters’ Paul Sandle this morning reports from London that Intel (INTC) CFO Stacy Smith said during an investor meeting that the company would be willing to have “an in-depth discussion” on the merits of making chips with non-x86 architectures, if its customers so desired.

Aston Martin Leather Smell Converts Toyota Into New Sales: Cars: Aston Martin, the maker of sports cars favored by Prince Charles and driven by James Bond, is departing from tradition with a city car based on Toyota Motor’s (TM) iQ subcompact to broaden its appeal and boost revenue.

Tags: AVL, BAC, CRMT, EP, INTC, LAS, MCP, MRVL, MSFT, REE, TM, TMRAY, UEC, URRE