Wednesday, June 02, 2004

Wednesday Close

S&P 500 1,124.99 +.34%
NASDAQ 1,988.98 -.09%


Leading Sectors
Airlines +4.28%
Fashion +1.10%
Transports +1.07%

Lagging Sectors
Disk Drives -.98%
Nanotechnology -1.07%
Semis -2.26%

Other
Crude Oil 39.87 -.23%
Natural Gas 6.52 +.06%
Gold 392.00 -.13%
Base Metals 108.43 -1.80%
U.S. Dollar 88.84 -.05%
10-Yr. T-note Yield 4.73% +.67%
VIX 16.08 -1.35%
Put/Call .94 -1.05%
NYSE Arms 1.12 +.90%

After-hours Movers
ARO +6.13% after May same-store sales beat estimates substantially.
CMVT +4.36% after beating 1Q estimates and raising 2Q and 05 forecasts.
CVTX +5.60% after saying it has reached an agreement with the FDA on a protocol for a clinical trial of Ranexa, a treatment for chronic angina.

Recommendations
Goldman Sachs reiterated Outperform on CSCO, HD, WAG, NT, EPD and GTM. Goldman reiterated Underperform on HRB.

After-hours News
U.S. stocks finished mostly higher Wednesday as falling energy prices propelled airline and consumer discretionary shares higher. After the close, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler said sales in May rose as higher gasoline prices failed to curb demand for trucks, Bloomberg reported. Tyson Foods workers in Nebraska said they are preparing for a possible strike at the company's largest beef plant later this month unless a new contract is approved, the Omaha World-Herald reported. OPEC ministers said they will increase oil production, allowing members to pump at will and bypass the quota system that has governed supplier for most of the last two decades, Bloomberg said. Osama bin Laden and other leaders of al-Qaeda were close to being captured in Afghanistan on at least 2 separate occasions since 2002, Agence France-Presse reported. China is set to raise interest rates and electricity prices in a continuing effort to cool an overheating economy, the South China Morning Post reported.

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio fell slightly today on weakness in a few of my internet and security long positions. I took profits in some of my internet longs in the afternoon, leaving the Portfolio with 100% net long market exposure. I was a little disappointed in today's action, considering the fall in oil. However, I am trying not to read too much into it at this point as I think Intel's mid-quarter update, Bush's trip to Rome and the employment numbers on Friday are leaving traders and investors a bit hesitant.

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