Wednesday Close

S&P 500 1,140.75 +.40%
NASDAQ 2,047.79 +.63%

Leading Sectors
Hospitals +2.10%
Homebuilders +1.87%
Oil Service +1.75%

Lagging Sectors
Fashion -.44%
Restaurants -.48%
Disk Drives -.64%

Other
Crude Oil 36.98 -.13%
Natural Gas 6.14 -.24%
Gold 394.80 +.46
Base Metals 109.32 +1.34%
U.S. Dollar 88.76 -.73%
10-Yr. T-note Yield 4.59% -2.03%
VIX 14.34 -7.30%
Put/Call .78 -15.22%
NYSE Arms 1.07 +27.38%

After-hours Movers
DRS +16.05% after CNBC reported that LLL offered to buy the company.
CPKI +4.23% after raising 2Q forecast.
ABC -4.45% on CAH news.
MCK -5.36% on CAH news.
MERX -9.61% after missing 4Q estimates and lowering 1Q forecast.
CAH -13.20% after saying federal regulators are investigating its accounting and the company cut its fiscal 05 forecast.
ELX -13.99% after cutting 4Q and 1Q forecasts.

Recommendations
Goldman Sachs reiterated Underperform on S and Outperform on ADP.

After-hours News
U.S. stocks finished higher today, led by homebuilding and energy-related shares. Federal Reserve policy makers raised the U.S. benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 1.25% and reiterated that further increases can come at a "measured" pace, Bloomberg reported. After the close, the SEC said it knows of more than 40 hedge funds that were involved in trading abuses at mutual funds, SEC Chairman Donaldson said without naming them. More than 200,000 current and former employees at Boeing stood to receive a stock distribution today if the price remained above $44 a share, the Seattle Times reported. The al-Qaeda terrorist network plotted to bomb the Panama Canal, one of the world's most important shipping routes, Agence France-Presse reported. Texas Instruments may accelerate plans to build a new factory, the Dallas Morning News reported. Syngenta AG, the world's biggest maker of crop chemicals, said it will move its U.K.-based biotechnology research facilities to the U.S., the Financial Times said. Whitehouse.com, a pornography Web site that included parodies about first ladies and interns, removed all political references to quality for a trademark, the AP reported. Barneys New York may put itself up for sale as the company seeks to expand its chain of namesake stores, Bloomberg reported. Japan's Tankan survey showed executives at Japanese manufacturers are the most confident since the nation's asset-price bubble burst in 1991, helped by surging demand from China and the U.S., Bloomberg reported.

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio finished slightly higher today and I did not trade in the afternoon, thus leaving market exposure at 150% net long. While I was a little disappointed in the market's muted reaction to a break-down in the 10-yr T-note yield, a stronger upwards move may materialize over the course of a few days. Investor apprehension over tomorrow's ISM report, Friday's employment data and the possibility of terrorism over the July 4th holiday weekend may lead to a delayed positive response to the fall in interest rates. As well, it was positive that the CRB Index broke down through its recent trading range today. The recent fall in gas prices, subsiding inflation fears, rising consumer confidence, falling interest rates and exceptional fundamentals should provide the catalysts for a continuation of the recent rally.