Monday Close

S&P 500 1,100.90 -.04%
NASDAQ 1,883.83 +.04%
 
Leading Sectors
Airlines +1.46%
Computer Services +.80%
Restaurants +.73%
 
Lagging Sectors
I-Banks -1.57%
Homebuilders -1.57%
Gaming -1.61%
 
Other
Crude Oil 41.37 -.17%
Natural Gas 5.80 -.22%
Gold 406.40 +.15%
Base Metals 112.61 -.37%
U.S. Dollar 87.16 +.02%
10-Yr. T-note Yield 4.35% +.13%
VIX 15.17 +5.79%
Put/Call .68 -37.61%
NYSE Arms 1.44 -21.74%
 
After-hours Movers
JCOM +4.92% after beating 2Q estimates and boosting 3Q and 04 guidance.
SSNC +7.42% after beating 2Q estimates and boosting 3Q and 04 guidance.
GLW +6.48% after beating 2Q forecast, raising 3Q guidance and saying it is encouraged by Fiber-to-the-premises sales.
CYTK +4.2% after CSFB initiated with Neutral rating, $16 target.
FLEX -10.03% after missing 2Q estimates and lowering 3Q guidance.
CGNX -6.93% on profit-taking after meeting 2Q estimates and boosting 3Q guidance.
RLRN -4.25% after missing 2Q forecast and making negative comments on future growth.
 
Recommendations
TheStreet.com has a positive column on SYK.  Jim Cramer, of TheStreet.com, thinks the selling is overdone in net stocks, he is nibbling at YHOO.  Goldman Sachs reiterated Outperform on KO, STZ and Underperform on RKY, PBG.
 
After-hours News
U.S. stocks finished mixed today as a late-afternoon surge boosted technology shares.  After the close, Sony and Bertelsmann's planned merger of their music businesses was approved by the European Commission a day earlier than expected, Dow Jones Newswires reported.  Northwest Airlines may get competition in Detroit, its biggest airport hub, from discount carrier JetBlue, the Detroit News reported.  U.S. investors should consider putting money into loan funds instead of bonds as interest rates rise, Christine Benz, associate director of fund analysis at Morningstar told CNN.  Corning, the world's largest maker of fiber-optic cable, reported that sales rose 29% to $971 million on increased purchases of glass used in liquid-crystal displays, Bloomberg said.  Allstate, the second-largest U.S. auto and home insurer, said second-quarter earnings rose 76% as losses from natural catastrophes fell and it targeted clients that file the fewest claims, Bloomberg reported.  Halliburton said the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas subpoenaed documents related to the company's operations in Iran, Bloomberg said.  Documents obtained by Human Rights Watch show that Sudanese government officials helped recruit and arm an Arab militia group responsible for abuses in the country's western Darfur province, Bloomberg reported.  Researchers have discovered a genetic defect that may cause sudden infant death syndrome in some children, according to a National Academy of Science study.  Molson and No. 3 U.S. brewer Coors confirmed media reports that they are in advanced discussions about a possible merger, Bloomberg reported.  Winn-Dixie Stores agreed to include protections for gay and lesbian workers after a request from two of New York City's five public employee pension funds, which hold $1.57 million in the supermarket chain's stock, Bloomberg said.
 
BOTTOM LINE:  The Portfolio finished higher today on strength in my Chinese ADR longs and weakness in my medical shorts.  I took profits in a few retail shorts in the afternoon and added a some beaten up technology longs, bringing the Portfolio's market exposure to 50% net long.  One of my new longs is DITC and I am using an $18 stop-loss on this position.  The Advance/Decline line improved in the afternoon as well as the overall tone of trading.  Many technology stocks have reached levels that should prompt more bargain-hunting later this week.  I expect positive reports from Motorola, Microsoft, Amazon, Broadcom, SAP and Qualcomm to also provide catalysts for positive performance by tech stocks in the near-term.  However, any rally will likely be short-lived as I expect more weakness later in the month on earnings worries, political fears and relatively high investor complacency.