Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Wednesday Close

S&P 500 1,187.70 +.40%
NASDAQ 2,092.53 +.62%


Leading Sectors
Hospitals +3.37%
Oil Service +2.40%
Energy +1.79%

Lagging Sectors
Airlines -.67%
Broadcasting -1.04%
Transports -2.12%

Other
Crude Oil 46.54 +.37%
Natural Gas 5.92 -.30%
Gold 426.60 unch.
Base Metals 120.48 -.01%
U.S. Dollar 82.17 -1.08%
10-Yr. T-note Yield 4.23% -.05%.
VIX 12.56 -4.78%
Put/Call .91 +3.41%
NYSE Arms .83 -53.11%
ISE Sentiment 166.00 -23.85%

After-hours Movers
AAPL +10.2% after substantially beating 1Q estimates and raising 2Q outlook.
CREAF +4.62% on AAPL report.
SYNA +6.0% on AAPL report.
PLAY +10.07% on AAPL report.
RRGB -6.02% after cutting 4Q estimates.
LCBM +13.4% after beating 2Q estimates and raising ’05 guidance.
TSCM +15.0% after hiring investment-banking firm Allen & Co. to help explore a possible sale of the company.
TASR -3.7% after rival Stinger Systems CEO Gruder said the company would introduce a stun gun in February to compete with those made by Taser.

Recommendations
Goldman Sachs reiterated Outperform on FSH.

After-hours News
U.S. stocks finished higher today on a surge in the late afternoon. After the close, Infosys Technologies CEO Nilekani told CNBC that the company projects 50% fiscal fourth-quarter growth, Bloomberg reported. NASA today sent its $267 million Deep Impact spacecraft on a mission to blow a crater as big as a football stadium in a comet orbiting between Earth and Mars, Bloomberg reported. McKesson Corp. said it agreed to pay $960 million to settle a class action suit brought by shareholders after the company restated earnings in 1999, Bloomberg said. Crude oil rose to a six-week high of $46.37/bbl. after an Energy Department report today showed a greater-than-expected US inventory decline, Bloomberg said. Pfizer’s advertisements on the Celebrex and Bextra painkillers violated regulations because they overstated the drugs’ benefits and omitted risks, Bloomberg reported. Apple Computer’s first-quarter profit more than quadrupled as sales of iPod digital music players and iMac personal computers surged in the holiday gift-buying season, Bloomberg said. SunTrust Banks said the SEC issued subpoenas seeking documents related to the bank’s loan loss reserve accounting as part of a formal investigation, Bloomberg reported. The US Environmental Protection Agency said a chemical used to make DuPont’s Teflon nonstick coatings has the potential to cause caner in humans, Bloomberg said. Prostate cancer hormone treatment may increase a man’s risk of bone fractures, according to researchers who say the medicine may be responsible for 3,000 US cases a year, Bloomberg said.

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio finished unchanged today as gains in my telecom equipment and alternative energy longs offset losses in my steel shorts. I added a few new longs in the afternoon, bringing the Portfolio’s market exposure to 75% net long. One of my new longs is MOT and I am using a $16 stop-loss on this position. It appears a short-term rally has begun as the late-day sell-off trend ended today and Apple’s report is boosting tech after-hours. While a bounce is well overdue, weakness will likely resurface over the next couple of weeks as investor complacency remains too high for a solid bottom. I will remain nimble and view any near-term purchases as trading opportunities.

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