Thursday, July 27, 2006

Stocks Finish Mostly Lower on Profit-taking and Lingering Economic Worries

Indices
S&P 500 1,263.20 -.41%
DJIA 11,100.43 -.02%
NASDAQ 2,054.47 -.77%
Russell 2000 685.69 -1.26%
Wilshire 5000 12,626.31 -.56%
S&P Barra Growth 582.01 -.45%
S&P Barra Value 679.81 -.37%
Morgan Stanley Consumer 616.26 -.12%
Morgan Stanley Cyclical 767.62 -.88%
Morgan Stanley Technology 459.05 -.21%
Transports 4,305.46 -1.36%
Utilities 432.59 -.75%
Put/Call 1.04 -1.89%
NYSE Arms 1.11 +4.15%
Volatility(VIX) 15.0 +2.60%
ISE Sentiment 124.0 -25.75%
US Dollar 85.86 unch.
CRB 344.38 +.71%

Futures Spot Prices
Crude Oil 74.57 +.04%
Unleaded Gasoline 229.60 -.01%
Natural Gas 7.04 +2.25%
Heating Oil 198.80 +.42%
Gold 645.50 unch.
Base Metals 220.57 +.59%
Copper 348.00 +.04%
10-year US Treasury Yield 5.03% +.12%

Leading Sectors
I-Banks +1.08%
Semis +1.07%
Telecom +.88%

Lagging Sectors
Gold & Silver -2.93%
Networking -3.68%
HMOs -5.19%

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:
- McAfee(MFE) said second-quarter profit fell 25% because of stock-option expenses. Sales gained 13%.
- Genesis Microchip(GNSS), a world leader in the development of image processing technologies for flat-panel TVs, monitors and other consumer display products, today announced its financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2007.

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio finished lower today on losses in my Medical longs, Networking longs and Biotech longs. I did not trade in the final hour, thus leaving the Portfolio 75% net long. The tone of the market was negative today as the advance/decline line finished lower, most sectors fell and volume was above average. Measures of investor anxiety were mixed into the close. Overall, today's market performance was bearish with the major averages and breadth finishing well off session highs. On the positive side, the bears were unable to gain significant downside traction. My intraday measures of investor angst were above average throughout the day. The 10-year held recent gains despite the mostly positive economic data. Tomorrow's GDP report will likely further increase speculation for a Fed pause.

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