Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Stocks Finish at Session Lows on Worries Over Fed Rate Hikes

Indices
S&P 500 1,297.23 -.60%
DJIA 11,235.47 -.35%
NASDAQ 2,294.23 -.86%
Russell 2000 736.10 -1.28%
Wilshire 5000 13,048.14 -.68%
S&P Barra Growth 612.68 -.53%
S&P Barra Value 681.12 -.68%
Morgan Stanley Consumer 613.36 -.44%
Morgan Stanley Cyclical 803.26 -.91%
Morgan Stanley Technology 536.83 -.24%
Transports 4,561.21 -.57%
Utilities 399.08 -1.08%
Put/Call .95 +9.20%
NYSE Arms .97 -15.05%
Volatility(VIX) 11.62 -1.44%
ISE Sentiment 169.00 +11.92%
US Dollar 89.62 unch.
CRB 322.77 +.66%

Futures Spot Prices
Crude Oil 62.15 -.30%
Unleaded Gasoline 180.00 -2.15%
Natural Gas 6.89 +.39%
Heating Oil 176.67 -.31%
Gold 553.10 -.02%
Base Metals 172.74 +.13%
Copper 232.15 -.11%
10-year US Treasury Yield 4.71% -.08%

Leading Sectors
Oil Tankers +.29%
Gaming +.23%
Oil Service +.05%

Lagging Sectors
Biotech -1.79%
Gold & Silver -1.92%
Tobacco -1.99%

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
- None of note

Afternoon/Evening Headlines
Bloomberg:
- The UN Security Council postponed a second round of talks on how to increase pressure on Iran to stop uranium enrichment to give British and French diplomats time to win the support of China and Russia.
- Cowen Group, the investment banking unit of France’s Societe Generale, plans to raise $100 million in an IPO, the company said today in a filing with the SEC.
- DE Shaw raised its stake in Lexar Media(LEXR) to 7.9%, becoming the third-largest shareholder and signaling it may enter the fight over Micron’s(MU) $680 million bid for the company.
- Microsoft said the next version of its Windows program won’t be generally available until next January.

AP:
- Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said he supports talks with the US about Iraq.
BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio finished lower today on losses in my Internet longs, Computer longs and Retail longs. I exited added to my (IWM)/(QQQQ) shorts in the final hour, thus leaving the Portfolio 50% net long. The tone of the market was very negative today as the advance/decline line finished substantially lower, sector performance was mostly negative and volume was heavy. Measures of investor anxiety were mostly lower into the close. Overall, today's market performance was bearish. The reversal higher in oil and 6-basis-point rise in the 10-year yield were the main culprits. As I have said before, there are a record number of market participants that benefit from a bearish or trading range environment. When we have rallies of the magnitude we have recently seen, they are sold vigorously for a short period of time. Today's action appears no different. I expect housing data on Thursday and Friday to calm interest rate jitters.

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