Wednesday, September 22, 2004

Wednesday Close

S&P 500 1,113.56 -1.39%
NASDAQ 1,885.71 -1.85%


Leading Sectors
Broadcasting +.84%
Homebuilders +.36%
Oil Service -.11%

Lagging Sectors
Networking -2.89%
Semis -2.97%
I-Banks -3.30%

Other
Crude Oil 47.95 -.83%
Natural Gas 5.63 unch.
Gold 409.10 +.02%
Base Metals 115.28 +1.14%
U.S. Dollar 88.49 +.41%
10-Yr. T-note Yield 3.98% -1.42%
VIX 14.74 +7.91%
Put/Call 1.10 +59.42%
NYSE Arms 2.36 +177.65%

After-hours Movers
MERX +5.96% after beating 1Q estimates and raising 2Q guidance.
MSO +9.81% after saying it agreed to work with television producer Mark Burnett to create a primetime TV series featuring Martha Stewart.
COGN +3.12% after beating 2Q estimates and giving positive outlook.
BBBY -3.41% after beating 2Q estimates, but giving conservative 3Q guidance.

Recommendations
Goldman Sachs reiterated Outperform on CLX.

After-hours News
U.S. stocks fell today on profit-taking, worries over slowing earnings growth and rising energy prices. After the close, NATO allies are expected to send about 300 officers to Iraq to establish and operated a military academy outside Baghdad, the AP reported. Oil refiners asked to borrow crude oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve as they seek to recover from losses related to Hurricane Ivan, Dow Jones Newswires reported. Bed Bath & Beyond said second-quarter net income rose to $120 million, meeting analysts' estimates, Bloomberg reported. The U.S. Senate approved Porter Goss, a Republican congressman, to be director of the CIA, confirming President Bush's nominee to lead the agency through a reorganization recommended by the 9/11 commission, Bloomberg reported. US Airways will seek court permission Friday to impose new labor contract terms to reduce costs if tentative agreements with unions can't be reached, Bloomberg said.

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio finished lower today on declines in my Chinese ADR, internet and telecom-related longs. I exited a few more longs in the afternoon and added some new shorts in various sectors, thus leaving the Portfolio market neutral(longs-shorts=0% market exposure). One of my new shorts is SYMC and I am using a $52.60 stop-loss on this position. The tone of the market worsened into the afternoon as energy prices continued to rise. I do not expect this correction to bring stocks substantially lower. U.S. equities will likely trade weaker-to-neutral through mid-October before another upwards thrust in stock prices commences and lasts through year-end. The likely weakness over the next few weeks should be used by longer-term investors to build positions in favorite longs.

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