Monday, May 02, 2005

Stocks Finish Quietly Higher Ahead of Fed

Indices
S&P 500 1,162.16 +.46%
DJIA 10,251.70 +.58%
NASDAQ 1,928.65 +.36%
Russell 2000 585.86 +1.12%
DJ Wilshire 5000 11,426.87 +.52%
S&P Barra Growth 561.51 +.47%
S&P Barra Value 596.31 +.45%
Morgan Stanley Consumer 579.98 +.83%
Morgan Stanley Cyclical 701.67 +.61%
Morgan Stanley Technology 437.31 +.17%
Transports 3,483.83 +1.67%
Utilities 373.19 +.46%
Put/Call .94 -7.84%
NYSE Arms .93 +7.29%
Volatility(VIX) 15.12 -1.24%
ISE Sentiment 165.00 +22.2%
US Dollar 84.49 +.07%
CRB 302.89 -.28%

Futures Spot Prices
Crude Oil 50.82 -.20%
Unleaded Gasoline 151.10 -.23%
Natural Gas 6.67 -.33%
Heating Oil 146.10 -.15%
Gold 430.70 +.05%
Base Metals 124.97 +1.10%
Copper 145.00 -.34%
10-year US Treasury Yield 4.18% -.23%

Leading Sectors
Oil Service +2.78%
Oil Tankers +2.37%
Energy +1.96%

Lagging Sectors
Broadcasting -.61%
Telecom -1.16%
I-Banks -1.92%

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

Afternoon Recommendations
Goldman Sachs:
- Reiterated Outperform on GNW, GD, PFE and AMGN.
- Reiterated Attractive view of Drug Retailers.

Afternoon/Evening Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Prudential Equity Group’s chief investment strategist, told clients to raise their allocation for US stocks to 80%.
- MCI Inc. accepted an increased takeover offer from Verizon Communications, snubbing a bid from Qwest Communications that is more than $1 billion higher.
- Crude oil rose, rebounding from a two-month low, after Algeria’s energy minister Khelil said that OPEC should boost production to meet “very strong” demand.
- The Fed this week will drop its year-old commitment to increase rates at a “measured” pace, according to five of Wall Street’s 22 biggest bond-trading firms surveyed by Bloomberg.
- Hewlett-Packard agreed to pay bigger rival EMC Corp. $325 million over five years to end lawsuits over patents.

LA Times:
- Los Angeles County office vacancies fell 3 percentage points to 14% in the first quarter as businesses continue to expand.

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio finished unchanged as gains in my Computer and Internet longs offset losses in my Commodity-related shorts. I did not trade in the afternoon, thus leaving the Portfolio 75% net long. The tone of the market improved modestly into the close as the advance/decline finished slightly higher, most sectors rose and volume was light. Measures of investor anxiety were mostly lower. Overall, today’s market action was modestly positive considering Friday’s gains and the rise in energy prices. I expect the Fed’s comments tomorrow to result in an extension of the recent rally.

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