Thursday, June 15, 2006

Stocks Finish Sharply Higher on Positive Economic Data, Short-covering and Bargain Hunting

Indices
S&P 500 1,256.13 +2.12%
DJIA 11,014.47 +1.83%
NASDAQ 2,144.15 +2.79%
Russell 2000 701.06 +3.54%
Wilshire 5000 12,616.78 +2.35%
S&P Barra Growth 582.83 +1.87%
S&P Barra Value 671.40 +2.38%
Morgan Stanley Consumer 603.55 +1.05%
Morgan Stanley Cyclical 806.14 +2.90%
Morgan Stanley Technology 491.22 +3.21%
Transports 4,638.92 +3.76%
Utilities 410.61 +1.65%
Put/Call .86 -23.21%
NYSE Arms .19 -67.15%
Volatility(VIX) 15.92 -25.86%
ISE Sentiment 117.00 +23.16%
US Dollar 86.02 -.14%
CRB 337.56 +1.67%

Futures Spot Prices
Crude Oil 69.76 +.37%
Unleaded Gasoline 203.96 +.18%
Natural Gas 7.26 +.75%
Heating Oil 194.41 +.37%
Gold 581.50 +1.96%
Base Metals 208.54 +4.27%
Copper 315.00 +.59%
10-year US Treasury Yield 5.09% +.68%

Leading Sectors
Steel +6.72%
Airlines +5.88%
I-Banks +5.79%

Lagging Sectors
Foods +1.03%
HMOs +.94%
Broadcasting +.50%

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
Deutsche Bank:
- Upgraded (IGT) to Buy.

Afternoon/Evening Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Mark Oberle, CFO of ethanol maker Corn Plus LLP, is sitting out his industry’s biggest building boom in a quarter century, and Microsoft(MSFT) Chairman Bill Gates may wish he’d done the same. Within two years, planned expansion by ethanol producers will push US supplies pas demand, resulting in a glut, according to Standard and Poor’s.
- The US Senate Judiciary Committee approved a constitutional amendment that would empower Congress to outlaw flag burning, setting the stage for an election-year debate about “desecration” of the national symbol.
- Fed Chairman Bernanke said soaring energy prices may slow economic growth and spur inflation in the short-run, while being manageable over a longer period of time.
- Shares of Cnooc Ltd., China’s largest offshore oil producer, had their biggest gain in more than 10 months after a foreign partner found a field big enough to meet the nation’s natural-gas needs for four years.

CNBC:
- Millennium Pharmaceuticals(MLNM), a drugmaker focused on cancer and inflammatory disease treatments, has hired Morgan Stanley to entertain offers from prospective buyers.
BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio finished substantially higher today on gains in my Biotech longs, Networking longs, Internet longs and Semi longs. I added to my Intuitive Surgical(ISRG) long and took profits in a few trading longs in the final hour, thus leaving the Portfolio 100% net long. The tone of the market was very positive today as the advance/decline line finished substantially higher, every sector rose and volume was heavy. Measures of investor anxiety were lower into the close. Overall, today's market performance was very bullish. I expect to see some follow-through or consolidation tomorrow. I would be very surprised to see a substantial giveback of today's gains. The 10-year was stable today, rising only 3 basis points. Considering the huge rally in stocks the last two days, recent inflation hysteria and stronger economic data that basically puts to rest the notion of a plunging economy, the 10-year acts very well.

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