Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Stocks Finish Near Session Highs Despite Headwinds

Indices
S&P 500 1,294.18 +.35%
DJIA 11,043.44 +.29
NASDAQ 2,331.36 +.48%
Russell 2000 711.19 +.03%
DJ Wilshire 5000 n/a
S&P Barra Growth 619.45 +.38%
S&P Barra Value 670.22 +.31%
Morgan Stanley Consumer 602.36 -.02%
Morgan Stanley Cyclical 806.64 -.21%
Morgan Stanley Technology 556.36 +.68%
Transports 4,199.29 -.46%
Utilities 412.51 -.31%
Put/Call .63 +5.0%
NYSE Arms .78 -32.86%
Volatility(VIX) 10.94 +.74%
ISE Sentiment 192.00 +20.0%
US Dollar 88.99 -.38%
CRB 335.71 -.22%

Futures Spot Prices
Crude Oil 64.05 +.17%
Unleaded Gasoline 173.78 +.27%
Natural Gas 9.25 +.18%
Heating Oil 173.25 +.31%
Gold 548.70 -.25%
Base Metals 158.57 +.32%
Copper 209.65 +.07%
10-year US Treasury Yield 4.45% +.58%

Leading Sectors
Computer Hardware +1.85%
Semis +1.65%
Gaming +1.21%

Lagging Sectors
Utilities -.31%
HMOs -.59%
Airlines -3.77%

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:
- Downgraded (BUD) to Underperform.
- Rated (VIA/B) Outperform.
- Rated (CBS) Underperform.
- Reiterated Outperform on (DD) and (ALEX).

Afternoon/Evening Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Gap Inc.(GPS) will increase last-minute orders and buy more merchandise in North America to respond faster to fashion trends after sales tumbled last year.
- Best Buy(BBY) promoted Brian Dunn to president, replacing Allen Lenzmeier, who will stay on as vice chairman.
- Tribune Co.(TRB) will pull most stock-price listings from its flagship Chicago Tribune newspaper because more readers are using the Internet to track stocks.
- Howard Stern, whose talk show debuted on Sirius Satellite Radio(SIRI) this week, and his agent registerd to sell as much as $225 million in the company’s stock.
BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio finished slightly higher today on gains in my Computer longs, Semi longs, Software longs and Retail longs. I did not trade today, thus leaving the Portfolio 100% net long. The tone of the market was modestly positive today as the advance/decline line finished almost unchanged, sector performance was mostly positive and volume was heavy. Measures of investor anxiety were mostly lower into the close. Overall, today's market performance was positive. Considering the rise in oil intraday, another bounce in long rates, more rumblings about Iran and recent gains, today's rise was even more impressive. The bond market's reaction to tomorrow's likely higher-than-expected import price index will probably dictate short-term trading in stocks.

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