Tuesday Close

S&P 500 1,129.30 +.63%
NASDAQ 1,921.18 +.69%

Leading Sectors
Homebuilders +3.75%
I-Banks +2.56%
Energy +2.53%

Lagging Sectors
Papers -.19%
Iron/Steel -.49%
Foods -.62%

Other
Crude Oil 46.82 +.13%
Natural Gas 5.64 +.57%
Gold 410.80 +.17%
Base Metals 113.98 +2.64%
U.S. Dollar 88.07 -.06%
10-Yr. T-note Yield 4.03% -.47%
VIX 13.66 -5.34%
Put/Call .69 -25.0%
NYSE Arms .85 -19.05%

After-hours Movers
JBL +7.08% after meeting 4Q estimates and raising 1Q forecast.
TIBX +3.20% after beating 3Q estimates and announcing a $50 million share buyback.

Recommendations
Goldman Sachs reiterated Outperform on AMGN and HOT.

After-hours News
U.S. stocks finished higher today on short-covering after a Fed rate hike and higher energy prices didn't send stocks lower. After the close, Comcast and the Atlanta Braves are jointly starting a channel devoted to 24-hour coverage of the baseball team, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. China's central bank won't provide more financial support to state-owned commercial banks to help them reduce bad debts, People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said. The elderly can cut their risk of dying by two-thirds over 10 years by exercising, eating fruits and vegetables, drinking moderately and not smoking, says a study in tomorrow's Journal of the American Medical Association, Bloomberg said. Paychex, which provides payroll services for small and medium-sized businesses, said fiscal first-quarter profit rose 9.2% because it added clients and increased prices, Bloomberg said. Federal Reserve policy makers raised the benchmark U.S. interest rate a quarter-point to 1.75% and restated a plan to carry out any further increases at a "measured" pace, Bloomberg reported.

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio finished slightly higher today on strength in my security, telecom equipment and homebuilding longs. I covered a few consumer-oriented shorts in the afternoon, thus leaving the Portfolio 100% net long. Today was another win for the Bulls as higher energy prices, violence in Iraq, earnings worries and a Fed rate-hike failed to send shares lower. It is also positive to see long-term interest rates continue to decline as they are now near levels where re-financings should accelerate. The strength in the I-banking stocks also bodes well for future gains. However, volume remained relatively weak today and measures of investor complacency rose.