Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Stocks Finish Near Session Highs, Led by Tech and Homebuilding Shares

Indices
S&P 500 1,311.56 +.43%
DJIA 11,239.55 +.32%
NASDAQ 2,359.75 +.61%
Russell 2000 766.26 +.52%
Wilshire 5000 13,262.75 +.45%
S&P Barra Growth 615.51 +.30%
S&P Barra Value 693.09 +.57%
Morgan Stanley Consumer 610.05 unch.
Morgan Stanley Cyclical 832.39 +.66%
Morgan Stanley Technology 557.64 +.75%
Transports 4,726.59 +.96%
Utilities 398.63 +.98%
Put/Call .84 +6.33%
NYSE Arms .81 +8.76%
Volatility(VIX) 11.13 -.09%
ISE Sentiment 167.00 +.60%
US Dollar 88.63 -.23%
CRB 336.12 +1.11%

Futures Spot Prices
Crude Oil 67.36 +.43%
Unleaded Gasoline 196.34 +.84%
Natural Gas 7.12 +.79%
Heating Oil 187.60 +.39%
Gold 593.60 +.19%
Base Metals 184.49 +2.69%
Copper 260.00 +.15%
10-year US Treasury Yield 4.84% -.42%

Leading Sectors
Homebuilders +2.91%
Semis +2.76%
Computer Hardware +2.33%

Lagging Sectors
Computer Services -.46%
Papers -.51%
Restaurants -.71%

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
UBS:
- Rated WBSN Buy, target $35.
- Rated CHKP Buy, target $23.

Afternoon/Evening Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Lawmakers critical of the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate governance law said small companies should be partially exempted from its audit requirement during the first hearing to consider revising the four-year-old statute.
- Bed Bath & Beyond(BBBY) said fourth-quarter profit rose 9.4% on sales of holiday gifts.
- Duke University men’s lacrosse coach Pressler resigned and the school canceled the team’s season amid allegations an exotic dancer was raped at a team party.

Real Estate Alert:
- A steady rise in cargo traffic at the Port Authority of NY and New Jersey has created a need for more storage space and increased property value in northern and central New Jersey by as much as 70%.

Australian Financial Review:
- Rio Tinto Group(RTP) CEO Clifford said the recent surge in uranium prices wasn’t sustainable.
BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio finished higher today on gains in my Retail longs, Internet longs, Semi longs and Computer longs. I covered the remainder of my (IWM) and (QQQQ) shorts 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, sector performance was mostly positive and volume was above-average. Measures of investor anxiety were mixed into the close. Overall, today's market performance was mildly bullish. Homebuilding, technology and energy shares paced today's gainers. The 10-year yield finished near session lows at 4.83%, despite the market's advance, hints of a strong employment number on Friday and better-than-expected economic data today. The Nasdaq has almost all its leadership back, which bodes well for my prediction that it would substantially outperform the market during the second quarter.

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