Monday Close

S&P 500 1,122.20 -.56%
NASDAQ 1,908.07 -.11%

Leading Sectors
Semis +2.93%
Gaming +.89%
Disk Drives +.79%

Lagging Sectors
Airlines -1.49%
Homebuilders -1.85%
Tobacco -1.98%

Other
Crude Oil 46.53 +.39%
Natural Gas 5.33 +1.54%
Gold 407.00 unch.
Base Metals 111.05 +1.35%
U.S. Dollar 88.99 +.09%
10-Yr. T-note Yield 4.05% -1.22%
VIX 14.43 +2.85%
Put/Call .92 +12.20%
NYSE Arms 1.05 +43.84%

After-hours Movers
ADBE +3.73% after beating 3Q estimates and raising 4Q guidance.
SSTI +5.26% on bargain-hunting after lowering 3Q forecast.
PLMO -9.9% after substantially beating 1Q estimates, but giving conservative guidance on conference call.
POWI -4.53% after cutting 3Q forecast.

Recommendations
Goldman Sachs reiterated Outperform on INTC, DNA and CCL. Goldman rated RIMM new Outperform, sees 15-20% upside.

After-hours News
U.S. stocks finished modestly lower today on profit-taking, earnings concerns and higher oil prices. After the close, a video posted on an Islamist Web site showed a man identified as American Eugene Armstrong being beheaded by his captors, the AP reported. Dow Chemical has been raising prices to pass on the higher costs of raw products to its customers, CEO Stavropoulos said. China tested an advanced land-attack cruise missile capable of accurately striking targets 932 miles away, the Financial Times reported. People who suffered heart attacks in the U.S. in the early 1990's were more likely to survive than victims in Canada because they underwent aggressive treatment, according to a study in Circulation: the Journal of the American Heart Association. AOL said it started an Internet shopping service, seeking to lure customers and advertising revenue from Yahoo! and Microsoft's MSN service. Adobe Systems, the world's largest maker of graphic-design software, said third-quarter profit rose to $104.5 million as higher spending on advertising fueled demand for design and publishing programs, Bloomberg said. Citigroup shares had their biggest one-day drop in 18 months after Merrill Lynch cut its rating on the stock because Japanese regulators shut the bank's Tokyo-based private banking unit, Bloomberg reported. Delta Air's pilots union leaders approved a contract exemption to help the carrier avoid a pilot shortage because of increased retirements and to fend off a bankruptcy filing, Bloomberg said. San Diego, the subject of a federal probe into pension-fund misstatements, became the largest city to lose its credit rating in more than two decades as S&P suspended its ranking on $580 million of bonds, Bloomberg reported.

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio finished lower today on weakness in my security, steel and education longs. I took profits in a couple of technology longs in the afternoon and added to a few of my existing steel and security longs, thus leaving the Portfolio 75% net long. The underlying tone of the market was pretty good today, notwithstanding modest declines in the major indices. However, energy prices need to head back down to prevent a correction in the near-term.