S&P 500 1,125.29 -.98%
NASDAQ 1,969.99 -1.49%
Leading Sectors
Biotech -.27%
Hospitals -.46%
Airlines -.49%
Lagging Sectors
Semiconductors -2.27%
Homebuilders -2.34%
Disk Drives -3.04%
Other
Crude Oil 37.76 -2.30%
Natural Gas 6.25 +1.17%
Gold 383.70 -.75%
Base Metals 103.74 +.16%
U.S. Dollar 89.94 -.08%
10-Yr. T-note Yield 4.87% +1.47%
VIX 16.07 +6.85%
Put/Call 1.43 +22.22%
NYSE Arms 1.24 +56.96%
After-hours Movers
RHAT -10.58% after saying its CFO resigned.
YELL +4.91% after raising 2Q forecast on broad-based economic growth.
Recommendations
Goldman Sachs reiterated Outperform on IGT, DIS, FS, AET, AGN and HD. TheStreet.com has a positive column on ELN.
After-hours News
U.S. stocks finished lower today on rising interest rates, weekend violence in the Middle East and profit-taking. After the close, Credit Suisse First Boston, which lost nine members of its technology banking team in February, promised to pay an average of almost $1 million each to about 50 bankers in its California offices, Bloomberg reported. Rick Sherlund, software analyst at Goldman Sachs, said he thinks Microsoft will soon announce a $40 billion share buyback, CNBC reported. Cholesterol-lowering drugs such as Pfizer's Lipitor and Merck's Zocor may reduce glaucoma rates 40% in those with heart disease, according to a study in the June issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, Bloomberg said. Boeing beat Lockheed Martin for a contract worth as much as $3.8 billion to replace the U.S. Navy's fleet of Lockheed-built submarine-hunting planes, Bloomberg reported. Halliburton was "properly awarded" its open-ended contract to repair the Iraqi oil infrastructure, the General Accounting Office concluded in a report issued today. Computer Associates International said it restated revenue for the first three quarters of its 04 fiscal year, Bloomberg said. Munich may become the biggest Microsoft customer to switch to Linux personal-computer software this week, as the city decides whether to remove the Windows operating system from 14,000 municipal computers.
BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio was modestly higher today as my homebuilding and technology shorts fell more than my industrial and basic material longs. In the afternoon, I took profits in one of my tech shorts and added YZC short. I am using a stop-loss of $52.75 on this position. The Portfolio is still 25% net short. The bond market's reaction to tomorrow's economic reports will likely dictate the direction of U.S. equity indices in the short-run. I expect tomorrow's consumer confidence and inflation readings to exceed expectations, resulting in a further rise in interest rates and pressuring U.S. stocks in the morning.
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