Monday, July 11, 2005

Stocks Finish at Session Highs on Earnings Optimism

Indices
S&P 500 1,219.44 +.63%
DJIA 10,519.72 +.68%
NASDAQ 2,135.43 +1.07%
Russell 2000 671.74 +1.45%
DJ Wilshire 5000 12,177.66 +.71%
S&P Barra Growth 582.84 +.73%
S&P Barra Value 632.36 +.53%
Morgan Stanley Consumer 578.08 +.68%
Morgan Stanley Cyclical 738.46 +1.14%
Morgan Stanley Technology 491.34 +1.38%
Transports 3,622.23 +.93%
Utilities 394.38 +1.02%
Put/Call .79 unch.
NYSE Arms .71 -8.19%
Volatility(VIX) 11.28 -1.48%
ISE Sentiment 179.00 -7.25%
US Dollar 89.46 -.88%
CRB 308.90 -.32%

Futures Spot Prices
Crude Oil 59.33 -.50%
Unleaded Gasoline 173.50 -1.61%
Natural Gas 7.59 +1.58%
Heating Oil 169.10 -1.58%
Gold 426.60 +.66%
Base Metals 124.38 +.89%
Copper 156.10 +.32%
10-year US Treasury Yield 4.09 +.05%

Leading Sectors
Steel +2.84%
Semis +2.0%
Homebuilders +2.0%

Lagging Sectors
Biotech +.18%
Oil Tankers -.36%
HMOs -.46%

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 DNA, MCK and TAP.

Afternoon/Evening Headlines
Bloomberg:
- The rating on California’s $45 billion of general obligation bonds and related debt was raised one level to A2 by Moody’s Investors Service, which cited in part improvement in the state’s economy.
- An index of US stock-market volatility sank as much as 8% to the lowest in nine and a half years as gains in the S&P 500 cut demand for insurance against stock-market declines.
- Genentech said quarterly profit rose as more doctors prescribed the company’s Avastin cancer drug.
- China agreed to increase criminal prosecutions of pirates of copyrighted movies and music and to delay imposing rules that would make it harder for US software companies to sell to the Chinese government.
- Almost all branches of the US military achieved their recruiting goals for June, according to the Pentagon.

Financial Times:
- Comcast has considered and ruled out buying a mobile telephone operator, citing CEO Brian Roberts.

London-based Times:
- Google, Goldman Sachs and media company Hearst have jointly invested about $100 million in Current Communications Group, a provider of high-speed broadband access through power cables.
BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio finished higher today on gains in my Retail, Semiconductor and Homebuilding longs. I did not trade in the afternoon, thus leaving the Portfolio 100% net long. The tone of the market was positive today as the advance/decline line finished higher, almost every sector advanced and volume was slightly above average. Measures of investor anxiety were mostly lower into the close. Overall, today’s market action was positive. The dollar has declined over the last three days vs. the euro. Sentiment toward the dollar had become too optimistic. As well, speculation has increased that the ECB will not cut interest rates. Over the coming weeks I expect the dollar to resume its rally against the euro.

No comments: