Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Mid-day Scoreboard

Indices
S&P 500 1,143.26 -.83%
DJIA 10,074.05 -.53%
NASDAQ 1,924.07 -.43%
Russell 2000 587.58 -1.24%
DJ Wilshire 5000 11,268.55 -.89%
S&P Barra Growth 552.90 -.71%
S&P Barra Value 586.11 -.95%
Morgan Stanley Consumer 570.33 -1.0%
Morgan Stanley Cyclical 698.13 -1.03%
Morgan Stanley Technology 431.28 -.29%
Transports 3,418.79 -.87%
Utilities 362.06 -.45%
Put/Call .81 -14.74%
NYSE Arms 1.14 +1.61%
Volatility(VIX) 16.01 +7.02%
ISE Sentiment 141.00 -9.62%
US Dollar 83.48 -.33%
CRB 306.46 +.81%

Futures Spot Prices
Crude Oil 52.40 +.21%
Unleaded Gasoline 157.70 +.38%
Natural Gas 7.11 +.99%
Heating Oil 150.30 +.74%
Gold 436.50 +.48%
Base Metals 128.48 +1.73%
Copper 150.95 +2.58%
10-year US Treasury Yield 4.23% +.47%

Leading Sectors
Networking +.85%
Internet +.83%
Software -.37%

Lagging Sectors
Steel -2.12%
Gaming -2.38%
I-Banks -2.54%

BOTTOM LINE: US stocks are modestly lower mid-day on inflation worries. The Portfolio is slightly higher on gains in my Internet and Networking longs. I exited a few Gaming longs this morning, thus leaving the Portfolio 100% net long. The tone of the market is negative as the advance/decline line is weak, almost every sector is lower and volume is above average. Measures of investor anxiety are mostly higher. Today’s overall market action is also negative, considering recent strong earnings reports and the bond market’s muted reaction to the CPI report. Base Metal stocks are falling, notwithstanding today’s rise in the underlying commodities. I am looking to short these stocks after their recent bounces. I expect US stocks to trade mixed-to-higher into the close on short-covering.

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