Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Tuesday Close

S&P 500 1,195.98 +.97%
NASDAQ 2,106.04 +.87%


Leading Sectors
Disk Drives +2.30%
Insurance +1.89%
I-Banks +1.82%

Lagging Sectors
Broadcasting -.02%
Iron/Steel -.52%
Papers -1.15%

Other
Crude Oil 48.36 -.04%
Natural Gas 6.17 +.62%
Gold 423.20 -.07%
Base Metals 118.80 -.29%
U.S. Dollar 83.40 +.19%
10-Yr. T-note Yield 4.18% -.56%.
VIX 12.47 +.32%
Put/Call .84 +15.07%
NYSE Arms .66 -16.46%
ISE Sentiment 145.00 -7.64%

After-hours Movers
CHKP +4.74% after beating 4Q estimates.
RMBS -4.50% after missing 4Q estimates and lowering 1Q outlook.
ALXN -4.04% after announcing that it intends to sell approximately $125 million principal amount of its Convertible Senior Notes.
MOT -3.21% on profit-taking after beating 4Q estimates and raising 1Q outlook.
CNCT +4.28% after saying it will replace Waypoint Financial in the S&P 600 SmallCap 600.

Recommendations
Goldman Sachs reiterated Outperform on PG, WFC, USB and KRB.

After-hours News
U.S. stocks finished higher today on strong earnings reports, declining energy prices, a stable US dollar and falling interest rates. After the close, Amazon.com and Otto GmbH had fewer online shoppers in Germany during the holiday season than in 2003, Financial Times Deutschland said. Viacom’s CBS television unit may replace CBS Evening News anchorman Dan Rather with a group of anchors reporting from different cities, the AP reported. Argentina’s most-traded bond had its biggest drop in six months on concern more investors than expected will reject the government’s offer to restructure $104 billion of defaulted debt, Bloomberg said. US interest rates are likely to rise further this year to keep inflation in check as labor market strength fuels income growth, Fed officials said. International Business Machines said fourth-quarter profit climbed 12%, Bloomberg said. Juniper Networks said fourth-quarter net income rose to $66 million as revenue doubled, Bloomberg reported. United Airlines reached a new contract agreement with its pilots union after a bankruptcy judge rejected an earlier accord Jan. 7, Bloomberg reported. Yahoo! said fourth-quarter profit jumped almost fivefold as it sold more advertising and recoded a gain from the sale of an investment, Bloomberg said. Motorola said fourth-quarter net income rose to $654 million as demand surged for higher priced handsets, including the $499 Razr model, Bloomberg reported.

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio finished substantially higher today as my alternative energy, semiconductor, internet and computer service longs rose and my auto parts and software shorts fell. I added a few new longs in the afternoon, bringing the Portfolio’s market exposure to 100% net long. One of my new longs is VRSN and I am using a $28.50 stop-loss on this new position. The tone of the market was good today as the advance/decline line finished at its daily highs, volume was decent, most sectors rose, small-caps and financials outperformed and good news was rewarded. Earnings after the close are generally good and I look for tech to outperform tomorrow.

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