Monday, November 20, 2006

Stocks Finish Mixed as Profit-taking Offsets Buyout Speculation

Indices
S&P 500 1,400.50 -.05%
DJIA 12,316.54 -.21%
NASDAQ 2,452.72 +.28%
Russell 2000 790.62 +.27%
Wilshire 5000 14,055.01 +.03%
S&P Barra Growth 650.33 -.14%
S&P Barra Value 747.95 +.04%
Morgan Stanley Consumer 677.23 -.24%
Morgan Stanley Cyclical 882.66 +1.04%
Morgan Stanley Technology 577.65 -.02%
Transports 4,838.52 -.19%
Utilities 448.32 -.36%
Put/Call .82 +2.50%
NYSE Arms 1.21 +35.86%
Volatility(VIX) 9.97 -.80%
ISE Sentiment 162.0 +37.29%
US Dollar 85.43 +.14%
CRB 306.30 +.17%

Futures Spot Prices
Crude Oil 58.95 -.03%
Unleaded Gasoline 155.65 +1.0%
Natural Gas 8.01 -2.02%
Heating Oil 165.55 +.40%
Gold 623.10 +.16%
Base Metals 232.43 +2.31%
Copper 307.70 -.05%
10-year US Treasury Yield 4.60% -.04%

Leading Sectors
REITs +3.27%
Steel +2.73%
Semis +1.75%

Lagging Sectors
Airlines -.93%
Homebuilders -1.02%
Hospitals -1.12%

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:
- Mergers and acquisitions worldwide rose to a record $3.1 trillion this year as leveraged buyouts almost tripled.
- Alzheimer's disease may be triggered when the flow of oxygen-carrying blood to the brain is reduced because of a stroke or heart disease, a recent study shows.
- OJ Simpson's new book and tv special were canceled by News Corp.(NWS) Chairman Rupert Murdoch, who apologized for a project he said was "ill-considered." The book "If I Did It," in which Simpson describes how he would have murdered his wife and her friend Ronald L. Goldman, was to be released by ReganBooks, a publishing company owned by News Corp., on Nov. 30.
- Researchers have identified the memory process in rats that is disrupted by THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, according to a study in the December issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience.
- David Rockefeller, who has made some of the largest gifts to NY arts and educational institutions in recent years, has pledged about $225 million to the Rockefeller Brothers Fund created by his family to support social, educational and environmental causes.
- Merrill Lynch(MER) plans to invest in liquefied natural gas production plants as the US and Europe import more of the fuel.
- The approaching winter will bring warmer-than-normal weather to every region of the US except the East, forecasters at WSI Corp. said.
- Delta Air and Nintendo will offer free video-game downloads at terminals this holiday season to help entertain harried travelers.

Financial Times:
- Merrill Lynch said the price of the material used to make solar panels, polysilicon, was at "unsustainable" levels.

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio finished slightly higher today on gains in my Retail longs, Semi longs and Medical longs. I did not trade in the final hour, thus leaving the Portfolio 100% net long. The tone of the market was neutral today as the advance/decline line finished about even, sector performance was mixed and volume was below average. Measures of investor anxiety were mostly higher into the close. Today's overall market action was neutral. Semis outperformed throughout the day. I continue to expect semis to outperform over the intermediate-term, as well. I still expect the major averages to trend higher throughout most of this holiday-shortened week.

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