Thursday, September 09, 2004

Thursday Close

S&P 500 1,1118.38 +.19%
NASDAQ 1,869.65 +1.03%


Leading Sectors
Semis +5.37%
Iron/Steel +3.70%
Networking +3.08%

Lagging Sectors
Drugs -.79%
Fashion -.86%
Retail -1.01%

Other
Crude Oil 44.80 +.43%
Natural Gas 4.73 +1.65%
Gold 401.40 +.25%
Base Metals 106.45 -.33%
U.S. Dollar 88.83 +.07%
10-Yr. T-note Yield 4.19% +.88%
VIX 14.01 -.36%
Put/Call .88 -16.19%
NYSE Arms .94 -28.79%

After-hours Movers
PSFT +13.65% after saying Oracle won permission from a U.S. judge to proceed with its $7.7 billion hostile bid for it.
ZQK +4.46% after beating 3Q estimates and maintaining 4Q outlook.
AA -5.65% after lowering 3Q estimates.
EAT -4.53% after lowering 1Q estimates on hurricanes and maintaining 05 outlook.
ISIL -3.71% after cutting 3Q forecast.

Recommendations
Goldman Sachs reiterated Outperform on STZ, DD, MON, PG, EMC and VZ. Goldman reiterated Underperform on POT. Rockwell Collins(COL), which makes cockpit instruments for Boeing, is expected to benefit from more spending on defense equipment, Business Week reported.

After-hours News
U.S. stocks were mixed today as a rebound in technology shares offset weakness related to rising oil prices. After the close, Advanced Micro Devices and contract manufacturers are working on a plan to sell an inexpensive, networked personal computer in India or China, Business Week said. Nestle SA, Sara Lee Corp., Kraft Foods and Tchibo Holding AG are backing an agreement to improve working conditions and environmental standards across the coffee industry, the Financial Times said. Goldman Sachs and Wal-Mart may offer to invest in struggling Japanese retailer Daiei, the Wall Street Journal. New York State, the U.S. state with the second-lowest debt rating after California, may have its credit rating raised by Moody's Investors Service as its economy improves and tax revenue increases, Bloomberg said. A coalition of U.S. labor unions said China's policy of setting the value of the yuan is hurting American businesses and asked the Bush administration to file a lawsuit at the WTO on their behalf, Bloomberg reported. DuPont agreed to pay $108 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that alleged a chemical used to make Teflon coatings polluted water supplies in West Virgina and Ohio, Bloomberg reported.

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio finished substantially higher today on strength in my healthcare, homebuilding, education and technology longs. I took profits in a few retail and internet longs in the afternoon and added some steel longs, thus leaving the Portfolio 125% net long. One of my new longs is AKS and I am using a $6.50 stop-loss on the position. Overall, today's action was very positive for the Bulls as the broad market consolidated recent gains and technology shares moved meaningfully higher. Besides rising energy prices, the only real negative I saw today was another fall in the measures of investor anxiety. The Oracle/PeopleSoft news after the close should help the technology sector move higher again tomorrow.

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