Monday, September 19, 2005

Stocks Sharply Lower Mid-day on Spiking Energy Prices and Fears Over Tropical Storm Rita

Indices
S&P 500 1,228.85 -.73%
DJIA 10,536.14 -.99%
NASDAQ 2,140.55 -.92%
Russell 2000 666.71 -.78%
DJ Wilshire 5000 12,271.00 -.68%
S&P Barra Growth 585.71 -.74%
S&P Barra Value 638.89 -.74%
Morgan Stanley Consumer 581.85 -1.08%
Morgan Stanley Cyclical 726.72 -1.30%
Morgan Stanley Technology 499.59 -.97%
Transports 3,587.45 -1.33%
Utilities 428.97 +.03%
Put/Call .81 unch.
NYSE Arms 1.01 +34.59%
Volatility(VIX) 12.40 +10.62%
ISE Sentiment 194.00 +79.63%
US Dollar 88.47 +.47%
CRB 327.18 +3.74%

Futures Spot Prices
Crude Oil 67.30 +6.83%
Unleaded Gasoline 202.70 +13.55%
Natural Gas 12.62 +13.24%
Heating Oil 203.60 +10.91%
Gold 469.20 +1.27%
Base Metals 124.20 -.89%
Copper 165.50 +3.89%
10-year US Treasury Yield 4.23% -.82%

Leading Sectors %
Oil Service +3.22%
Energy +2.82%
Coal +1.40%

Lagging Sectors
Wireless -1.71%
Retail -1.75%
Airlines -3.30%
BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio is slightly lower mid-day on losses in my Energy-related shorts and Retail longs. I exited a few shorts this morning as they hit stop-losses and added substantially to my TLT long and IWM/QQQQ shorts, thus leaving the Portfolio market neutral. The tone of the market is negative as the advance/decline line is lower, most sectors are declining and volume is about average. Measures of investor anxiety are mixed. Today’s overall market action is slightly negative given the spike in energy prices. Today's action is tough to gauge, but complacency seems rather high given the potential risks to the economy from another hurricane. Rising expectations of a Fed "pause" are likely the reason. I expect US stocks to trade mixed-to-lower from current levels into the close on increasing worries over high energy prices and Tropical Storm Rita.

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