Stocks Finish Mixed on Healthy Consolidation of Recent Gains

Indices
S&P 500 1,562.47 -.17%
DJIA 14,078.69 -.61%
NASDAQ 2,811.61 +.27%
Russell 2000 845.19 -.06%
Wilshire 5000 15,730.40 -.10%
Russell 1000 Growth 636.09 +.16%
Russell 1000 Value 869.0 -.43%
Morgan Stanley Consumer 753.21 -.40%
Morgan Stanley Cyclical 1,085.75 -.30%
Morgan Stanley Technology 689.40 +.34%
Transports 4,933.53 -1.07%
Utilities 516.09 -.92%
MSCI Emerging Markets 157.44 +.63%

Sentiment/Internals
Total Put/Call .88 +.88%
NYSE Arms 1.15 +58.35%
Volatility(VIX) 16.67 +3.47%
ISE Sentiment 123.0 -29.71%

Futures Spot Prices
Crude Oil $81.27 +1.27%
Reformulated Gasoline 203.0 +.49%
Natural Gas 7.01 +2.14%
Heating Oil 221.77 +1.48%
Gold 746.50 +.46%
Base Metals 252.82 +1.89%
Copper 370.10 +2.31%

Economy
10-year US Treasury Yield 4.65% unch.
US Dollar 78.32 -.27%
CRB Index 329.33 +1.06%

Leading Sectors
Oil Service +2.89%
Biotech +1.10%
Retail +1.05%

Lagging Sectors
Insurance -1.0%
Banks -1.12%
Oil Tankers -2.01%

Evening Review
Market Performance Summary
WSJ Data Center
Sector Performance
ETF Performance
Style Performance
Commodity Movers
Market Wrap CNBC Video(bottom right)
S&P 500 Gallery View
Timely Economic Charts
GuruFocus.com
PM Market Call
After-hours Commentary
After-hours Movers
After-hours Stock Quote
In Play

Afternoon Recommendations
Piper Jaffray:
- Rated (QGEN) Outperform.

Afternoon/Evening Headlines
Bloomberg:
- New Jersey’s loss of residents to other US states more than tripled between 2002 and 2006, draining $10 billion in personal income from the economy and reducing tax revenue by $680 million, according to a Rutgers University report.
- Medtronic’s(MDT) experimental stent, Endeavor, appears to safely and effectively prop open clogged heart arteries, advisers to US regulators said today while deliberating whether to recommend approval of the device. The stock is rising 3.2% in after-hours trading.
- Morgan Stanley(MS) said its quantitative strategy traders lost $390 million during a single day in August as their computer models failed to account for “widespread” investor selling.
- The United Auto Workers union said it reached a tentative agreement with Chrysler LLC, ending a strike that began at 11 am NY time this morning.
- Lexmark Intl.(LXK) surged 6.7%, the most since January 2006, on speculation the second-biggest US printer maker will be bought.
- Zumiez(ZUMZ) said September sales rose 13.9%. The stock is rising 5% in extended trading.
- US power producers will install more than 4,000 megawatts of wind generation this year as turbine-makers ramp up output, easing a shortage that’s hampered growth for more than a year.
- Crude oil rose for a second day on speculation that Turkish forces may attack rebel camps in northern Iraq, curtailing oil shipments.

Financial Times:
- Paulson in drive to ease subprime ‘pain.’

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio finished higher today on gains in my Software longs, Semi longs, Internet longs, Biotech longs, Retail 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 slightly negative today as the advance/decline line finished mildly lower, sector performance was mixed and volume was about average. Measures of investor anxiety were slightly above average into the close. Today's overall market action was neutral. Many market-leading growth stocks once again posted huge relative gains. Every market-cap size of growth stocks rose today, as outperformance was again significant. As well, a number of sectors posted meaningful gains. Retail, construction, biotech, computer hardware, Internet and energy shares all posted nice gains. The Nasdaq is now 17.1% higher year-to-date. Investors are in love with emerging stocks, but I am finding many U.S. stocks across all market caps that have just as much or more growth than emerging market stocks with much less risk and greater transparency. As I said at the beginning of the week, I think retail sales for September will come in modestly below estimates, however, this is mostly factored into the stocks at current levels, in my opinion. I wouldn't be surprised to see stocks open modestly lower in the morning before gaining later in the afternoon.