Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Stocks Mixed Mid-day as Positive Economic Data Offsets Higher Rates and Energy Prices

Indices
S&P 500 1,253.38 -.32%
DJIA 10,851.34 -.33%
NASDAQ 2,234.33 +.08%
Russell 2000 677.45 +.58%
DJ Wilshire 5000 12,536.44 -.13%
S&P Barra Growth 600.72 -.02%
S&P Barra Value 649.31 -.46%
Morgan Stanley Consumer 591.44 -.18%
Morgan Stanley Cyclical 777.75 +.10%
Morgan Stanley Technology 530.12 +.29%
Transports 4,120.31 -.25%
Utilities 401.12 -.61%
Put/Call .82 -24.07%
NYSE Arms 1.19 -8.68%
Volatility(VIX) 11.93 +.34%
ISE Sentiment 160.00 +25.98%
US Dollar 91.58 -.04%
CRB 313.22 +.64%

Futures Spot Prices
Crude Oil 57.05 +.97%
Unleaded Gasoline 141.50 +1.43%
Natural Gas 12.43 +5.91%
Heating Oil 161.40 +.33%
Gold 498.40 -1.01%
Base Metals 145.42 +.48%
Copper 192.50 +.71%
10-year US Treasury Yield 4.49% +.48%

Leading Sectors
Oil Service +2.10%
Semis +1.46%
Steel +1.28%

Lagging Sectors
Utilities -.73%
Banks -1.30%
Gold -1.68%
BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio is higher mid-day on gains in my Internet longs, Semi longs and Medical longs. I covered some of my IWM and QQQQ shorts this morning, thus leaving the Portfolio 50% net long. The tone of the market is slightly positive as the advance/decline line is higher, sector performance is mixed and volume is about average. Measures of investor anxiety are mostly lower. Overall, today’s market action is positive considering the bounce in oil and long-term rates. I am seeing an abnormal amount of crosscurrents today. However, the action overall looks slightly positive given recent gains. Small caps and tech are outperforming, leading to modestly positive breadth. The positive action in Yahoo! (YHOO) is telling given its recent downgrade. Stocks seem to be tracking bond yields very closely today. I expect US stocks to trade mixed from current levels into the close as strong economic data offsets the bounce in rates and oil.

No comments: