Monday, October 11, 2004

Monday Close

S&P 500 1,124.39 +.20%
NASDAQ 1,928.76 +.46%


Leading Sectors
Biotech +1.08%
Internet +.73%
Software +.72%

Lagging Sectors
Energy -.95%
Airlines -.99%
Oil Service -2.62%

Other
Crude Oil 53.56 +.47%
Natural Gas 6.85 -4.30%
Gold 423.30 -.28%
Base Metals 125.26 -.11%
U.S. Dollar 87.54 +.03%
10-Yr. T-note Yield 4.13% +.05%
VIX 14.71 -2.26%
Put/Call .77 -23.0%
NYSE Arms 1.21 -49.79%

After-hours Movers
CTV -20.7% after reaffirming 3Q and lowering 4Q forecasts.

Recommendations
Goldman Sachs reiterated Outperform on BBY, ALK and SRE.

After-hours News
U.S. stocks finished quietly higher today on short-covering after Friday's Presidential debate. Motorola canceled a plan to develop televisions based on liquid crystal display technology for sale in China and North America, CNet said. General Motors plans to say Thursday that it will cut as many as 12,000 jobs from its European workforce to reduce costs by $500 million a year, the Financial Times reported. Computer Sciences won a $1.35 billion contract to manage phone and computer networks for Ascension Health, the biggest Catholic and non-profit heath system in the U.S. The dollar fell to a one-month low against the yen on speculation the Fed will skip an increase to it interest-rate target at one of two remaining meetings this year, Bloomberg reported. President Bush and Senator Kerry's second debate on Oct. 8 was watched by about 46.7 million tv viewers, Bloomberg said. The U.S. may need to coordinate flu vaccine supplies with other countries as the consolidation of the industry leaves nations reliant on a few companies, the FDA said.

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio finished slightly higher today as my rising alternative energy and networking longs more than offset my declining copper and security longs. I exited a copper long in the afternoon and added PMCS long, thus leaving the Portfolio 75% net long. I am using an $8.70 stop-loss on PMCS. Today's action was pretty non-eventful for the most part. Volume was about 25% lower than recent averages. It is good to see natural gas beginning to fall, however measures of investor complacency rose. Oil Service stocks will likely remain under pressure for the next several weeks as some traders incorrectly anticipate that high oil prices will lead the U.S. economy into recession next year, thus resulting in a significant fall in crude prices.

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