Thursday Close

S&P 500 1,118.31 +1.12%
NASDAQ 1,873.43 +1.24%

Leading Sectors
Retail +2.74%
Disk Drives +2.46%
Airlines +2.31%

Lagging Sectors
Homebuilders +.23%
Hospitals +.12%
Oil Service -.04%

Other
Crude Oil 44.28 +.50%
Natural Gas 4.77 +.02%
Gold 408.20 +.05%
Base Metals 106.95 -1.14%
U.S. Dollar 88.93 -.08%
10-Yr. T-note Yield 4.21% +2.39%
VIX 14.28 -4.23%
Put/Call .93 -10.58%
NYSE Arms .46 -52.08%

After-hours Movers
INTC -7.63% after lowering 3Q revenue and gross margin forecasts.
*Semis and Semi-equipment down across the board on Intel report.

Recommendations
Goldman Sachs reiterated Outperform on CAL and PFE. Goldman reiterated Underperform on PSS. RAE Systems'(RAE) recent decline in its share price makes the stock an attractive buy, Business Week reported. Shares of Washington Mutual(WM) may jump 13% within 12 months as the company, whose mortgage business was cut by rising interest rates, reduces costs, Business Week reported. Chubb Corp.(CBB) shares are undervalued in spite of the risk to insurance stocks because of the hurricane season, Business Week reported.

After-hours News
U.S. stocks finished higher today as an afternoon decline in oil prices spurred investor optimism. After the close, Lehman Brothers Holdings offered to pay as much as $1.4 billion for Cazenove Group, the U.K.'s oldest independent broker, the Financial Times reported. For Allstate, Hartford Financial landfall of Hurricane Frances, billions of dollars in claims hang on a 50-mile shift in the storm's path, Bloomberg reported. President Bush tonight will call for changes in the nation's tax, health care, pension and job-training systems as he lays out a second-term agenda in which he pledges to make the country safer and help the economy, Bloomberg reported. Pfizer, the world's largest drug-maker said U.S. regulators requested more information before approving its pain and seizure drug Lyrica for three conditions and rejected the medicine for a fourth use, Bloomberg reported. Intel cut its forecasts for third-quarter revenue and profit margins as growth in personal computer sales slows, Bloomberg said. Pfizer said it sued 18 Internet sites for selling unapproved and illegal copies of its best-selling cholesterol drug Lipitor, Bloomberg reported. Chartered Semi Manufacturing, the world's third-largest provider of made-to-order semiconductors, stuck to its forecast for third-quarter earnings, Bloomberg reported. Low-carb diets as the one popularized by nutrition guru Robert Atkins lose their advantages over other diets within a year, a Lancet study said.

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio finished higher today on strength in my internet, healthcare and telecom equipment longs. I did not trade in the afternoon, thus leaving the Portfolio 125% net long. The tone of the market was pretty good today, but not great. Considering the gains, I would have liked to see better volume and stronger breadth. Intel's report is being received more negatively than I anticipated after-hours. However, forward-looking investors will likely buy shares on the lower open tomorrow and push the stock higher throughout the day. The employment report will likely be better than last month, but fail to meet expectations due to Hurricane Charley. Most investors will view President Bush's speech favorably. I will wait until tomorrow afternoon to decide whether or not to cut back market exposure.