Thursday, March 31, 2005

Thursday Close

Indices
S&P 500 1,180.59 -.07%
DJIA 10,503.76 -.35%
NASDAQ 1,999.23 -.32%
Russell 2000 615.07 +.03%
DJ Wilshire 5000 11,637.25 +.03%
S&P Barra Growth 569.05 -.32%
S&P Barra Value 607.20 +.18%
Morgan Stanley Consumer 577.86 -.30%
Morgan Stanley Cyclical 746.99 +.55%
Morgan Stanley Technology 455.43 -.61%
Transports 3,715.97 -.54%
Utilities 358.33 +1.09%
Put/Call .73 -12.05%
NYSE Arms 1.23 +116.32%
Volatility(VIX) 14.02 +2.79%
ISE Sentiment 129.00 -13.42%
US Dollar 84.05 unch.
CRB 313.57 +.82%

Futures Spot Prices
Crude Oil 55.20 -.36%
Unleaded Gasoline 166.15 -.10%
Natural Gas 7.64 -.17%
Heating Oil 161.38 -.14%
Gold 430.70 -.09%
Base Metals 130.33 +1.39%
Copper 150.25 unch.
10-year US Treasury Yield 4.48% -1.42%

Leading Sectors
Oil Service +3.11%
Disk Drives +2.11%
Energy +1.97%

Lagging Sectors
Insurance -1.24%
Airlines -1.61%
Restaurants -1.70%

After-hours Movers
PSRC +4.2% after missing 3Q estimates and raising 4Q outlook.
IPXL -4.4% after announcing that it was not able to file its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2004.

Evening Review
Detailed Market Summary
Daily ETF Performance
Style Performance
Market Wrap CNBC Video(bottom right)
Futures Recap
S&P 500 Gallery View
Timely Economic Charts
PM Market Call
Real-time/After-hours Stock Quote
In Play

Afternoon Recommendations
Goldman Sachs:
- Reiterated Outperform on XRX.

Afternoon/Evening Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Paul Wolfowitz, the US Deputy Defense Secretary and an architect of the liberation of Iraq, was elected as the 10th president of the World Bank.
- Al-Qaeda had developed an “extensive, well-organized” biological weapons program before the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and had the capacity to produce a “virulent” germ codenamed “Agent X,” a US presidential commission reported.
- Shares of MBIA Inc., the world’s biggest bond insurer, fell by the most in 2 ½ years after NY Attorney General Spitzer and the SEC sought new information about the company’s accounting practices.
- Illinois may require utilities to purchase 8% of their electricity from renewable resources such as wind and farm waste.
- American International Group faces higher financing costs and lower earnings after the company lost its top credit ratings because of flawed accounting.
- Google Inc. plans to boost spending on computers and equipment 57% to more than $500 million this year to develop new products and lure more visitors to its Web sites.

Fox News:
- Pope John Paul II has been given the last rites of the Roman Catholic Church because of his failing health.

Autralian:
- A Morgan Stanley real estate fund may buy Sidney’s Chifley Tower for about $541 million, making it Australia’s biggest office transaction.

BOTTOM LINE: US stocks fell modestly today after yesterday’s sharp gains and energy prices rose. The Portfolio finished lower on losses in my Base Metal shorts and Networking longs. I did not trade in the afternoon, thus leaving the Portfolio 50% net long. The tone of the market remained modestly negative into the afternoon as the advance/decline line fell slightly, sector performance stayed mixed and volume improved modestly. Energy-related stocks and Cyclicals outperformed throughout the day, while Tech underperformed and measures of investor anxiety were mostly higher. Overall, today’s market action was neutral. I expect long-term rates to decline further on tomorrow’s economic reports. Investors will likely respond favorably to this development as talk of a 50 basis point rate hike by the Fed fades into the background. I will post a 1Q Scoreboard later tonight.

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