Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Stocks Finish Near Session Highs on Positive Beige Book Comments, Lower Energy Prices and Stable Long-term Rates

Indices
S&P 500 1,303.02 +.43%
DJIA 11,209.77 +.52%
NASDAQ 2,311.84 +.69%
Russell 2000 742.94 +.93%
Wilshire 5000 13,112.24 +.49%
S&P Barra Growth 614.56 +.34%
S&P Barra Value 685.12 +.52%
Morgan Stanley Consumer 613.33 -.05%
Morgan Stanley Cyclical 807.61 +1.80%
Morgan Stanley Technology 541.91 +.69%
Transports 4,591.76 +2.16%
Utilities 407.19 +.39%
Put/Call .70 -2.78%
NYSE Arms .88 +48.12%
Volatility(VIX) 11.35 +5.68%
ISE Sentiment 132.00 -2.94%
US Dollar 89.70 -.33%
CRB 325.63 -.41%

Futures Spot Prices
Crude Oil 61.82 -.56%
Unleaded Gasoline 181.15 -.96%
Natural Gas 7.09 -.67%
Heating Oil 177.03 -.64%
Gold 553.70 -.13%
Base Metals 168.20 +.27%
Copper 224.75 -.13%
10-year US Treasury Yield 4.72% +.73%

Leading Sectors
Disk Drives +2.54%
Networking +2.03%
Airlines +1.93%

Lagging Sectors
Drugs -.12%
Oil Tankers -.38%
Tobacco -1.23%

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:
- Bill Gross, manager of the world’s biggest bond fund, said the Fed may stop raising interest rates at 4.75% or 5%, depending on inflation and the housing market.
- Exxon Mobil(XOM) and Chevron(CVX) are increasing exploration in Asia to lift production.
- President Bush nominated Andrew von Eschenbach to be permanent commissioner of the US FDA.
- Google Inc.(GOOG) hired a lobbying team that includes US House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s son as the company takes on an increasing number of battles in Washington.
- Crude oil fell for a second day in NY after the EIA reported that stockpiles rose a fifth straight week to their highest in almost 7 years.
BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio finished higher today on gains in my Networking longs, Semi longs and Biotech longs. I did not trade in the final hour, 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 rose and volume was above average. Measures of investor anxiety were mostly higher into the close. Overall, today's market performance was bullish. Today's economic data spurred cyclicals to substantial outperformance without sending long-rates significantly higher, which is a big positive. The Networking sub-sector of tech was very strong today and remains my favorite through year-end.

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