Stocks Finish Sharply Higher on Strength in Financial Sector, Falling Energy Prices

Indices
S&P 500 1,428.23 +1.49%
DJIA 12,958.44 +1.69%
NASDAQ 2,580.80 +1.57%
Russell 2000 743.27 +1.12%
Wilshire 5000 14,343.23 +1.35%
Russell 1000 Growth 595.33 +1.4%
Russell 1000 Value 773.09 +1.43%
Morgan Stanley Consumer 738.35 +1.3%
Morgan Stanley Cyclical 947.63 +1.2%
Morgan Stanley Technology 602.08 +1.97%
Transports 4,466.78 +1.88%
Utilities 523.36 +.62%
MSCI Emerging Markets 146.54 +.15%

Sentiment/Internals
Total Put/Call .81 -16.49%
NYSE Arms .70 -64.47%
Volatility(VIX) 26.28 -9.1%
ISE Sentiment 132.0 +28.16%

Futures Spot Prices
Crude Oil $94.58 -3.19%
Reformulated Gasoline 237.10 -2.88%
Natural Gas 7.56 -2.10%
Heating Oil 265.95 -1.74%
Gold 810.50 -1.94%
Base Metals 220.43 -1.03%
Copper 297.85 -2.36%

Economy
10-year US Treasury Yield 3.95% +11 basis points
US Dollar 75.13 +.36%
CRB Index 347.77 -1.58%

Leading Sectors
I-Banks +3.31%
Banks +2.6%
REITs +2.21%

Lagging Sectors
Gold -.25%
Energy -.73%
Oil Service -1.4%

Evening Review
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In Play

Afternoon Recommendations
- None of note

Afternoon/Evening Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Wells Fargo(WFC) will take a $1.4 billion pretax charge in the fourth quarter because of increased losses on home equity loans.
- Freddie Mac(FRE) plans to sell $6 billion in preferred stock and cut its dividend in half to shore up capital.
- Youths fought police for a second night in suburbs north of Paris, injuring more than 60 officers, as unrest triggered by the death of two teenagers spread.
- Crude oil fell more than $3 a barrel in NY after Saudi Arabia’s oil minister, Ali al-Naimi, said the country increased production to the highest this year.

globeandmail.com:
- Movie rental chain Blockbuster Inc. is in talks with all the major mobile phone makers about partnerships aimed at making it easier for consumers to watch movies on the go, CEO Keyes said.

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio finished higher today on gains in my Medical longs, Biotech longs, Semi longs and Retail 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, almost every sector rose and volume was above average. Measures of investor anxiety were about average into the close. Today's overall market action was bullish. Market leading growth stocks gained meaningful traction on the close with many substantially outperforming the broad market once again. I continue to believe true “growth” stocks will outperform “value” stocks for the foreseeable future. The 10-year swap spread fell another 1.9 basis points today to 69.6 basis points over Treasuries. This is down from 87.5 basis points over Treasuries just five days ago, which is a big positive. It is also interesting to note that the yen remained weak throughout the day, notwithstanding the intraday pullback we experienced in the broad US stock market, which is a positive. As well, the G-7 Currency volatility index reversed lower today and is close to breaking down, which is also a positive. Nikkei futures are indicating a +50 open in Japan.