Stocks Finish Near Session Highs on Positive Earnings Reports, Decline in Oil

Indices
S&P 500 1,519.59 +.88%
DJIA 13,676.23 +.81%
NASDAQ 2,799.26 +1.65%
Russell 2000 818.53 +1.04%
Wilshire 5000 15,310.50 +.89%
Russell 1000 Growth 624.99 +1.22%
Russell 1000 Value 836.93 +.53%
Morgan Stanley Consumer 733.53 +.55%
Morgan Stanley Cyclical 1,045.62 +.83%
Morgan Stanley Technology 684.35 +1.85%
Transports 4,942.48 +2.01%
Utilities 501.98 +.02%
MSCI Emerging Markets 156.37 +2.71%

Sentiment/Internals
Total Put/Call .97 -3.96%
NYSE Arms .96 +21.41%
Volatility(VIX) 20.41 -5.68%
ISE Sentiment 137.0 +26.85%

Futures Spot Prices
Crude Oil $85.22 -.93%
Reformulated Gasoline 210.78 -1.20%
Natural Gas 6.76 -1.92%
Heating Oil 229.60 -.64%
Gold 763.90 +.49%
Base Metals 250.53 +2.16%
Copper 350.80 +.62%

Economy
10-year US Treasury Yield 4.4% -1 basis point
US Dollar 77.54 -.67%
CRB Index 335.34 -.30%

Leading Sectors
Oil Service +3.28%
Road & Rail +3.06%
Wireless +2.67%

Lagging Sectors
Semis -.37%
Oil Tankers -1.06%
Retail -1.10%

Evening Review
Market Performance Summary
WSJ Data Center
Sector Performance
ETF Performance
Style Performance
Commodity Movers
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Timely Economic Charts
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PM Market Call
After-hours Commentary
After-hours Movers
After-hours Stock Quote
In Play

Afternoon Recommendations
CIBC:
- Rated (RIGL) Sector Outperformer.

Afternoon/Evening Headlines
Bloomberg:
- US stocks rose the most in two weeks after better-than-expected earnings from Apple Inc.(AAPL) and American Express(AXP) eased concern the housing slump has depressed consumer spending.
- Democratic House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel said he plans to propose a tax increase on executives at buyout firms and hedge funds to help pay for a temporary fix to the alternative minimum tax that lawmakers agree must pass this year.
- Intel Corp.(INTC) CEO Ostellini said sales of its Viiv chips for home-entertainment systems have beaten his goals, as consumers move computers into the living room to serve as DVD and music players. Ostellini also said “people are buying notebooks like they’re hotcakes.”
- Amazon.com(AMZN), the world’s biggest internet retailer, said quarterly profit quadrupled and raised its forecasts for the year as customers bought the final Harry Potter novel and purchased more electronics and jewelry. The stock fell 9% in after-hours trading.

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio finished higher today on gains in my Computer longs, Retail longs, Software 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 positive today as the advance/decline line finished higher, most sectors rose and volume was above average. Measures of investor anxiety were above average into the close. Today's overall market action was bullish. Tech shares outperformed substantially again today. The MS Tech Index is now 21% higher for the year. There is a serious bull market going on in growth stocks, which continues to be mostly ignored. It isn't just a few like so many want you to believe. It is going on across all market caps of growth. Outperformance by growth over value and the broad market is substantial and bodes well for significant inflows into growth-oriented funds next year for the first time in many years. This, combined with modestly below-trend economic growth over the intermediate term, should help further propel substantial growth stock outperformance. Semis cut losses substantially into the close, however, the index still fell 0.37% on the day. I expect semis to join the tech party over the coming weeks. Now is likely a good time to accumulate shares in the sector. Weakness in the shares is continuing after-hours. Weekly retail sales rose 2.3% this week vs. a 2.6% gain the prior week. They remain modestly below average levels, but up from 1.4% in July. Oil service, steel, Internet, computer hardware, wireless, HMO, construction, airline and road/rail shares all posted 2% plus gains today. My intraday gauge of investor angst finished at an above-average level, despite gains in the major averages, which is a positive. Tomorrow's existing home sales report and some profit-taking after today could pressure the major averages a bit in the morning.