Stocks Slightly Higher into Afternoon on Central Bank Hopes, Oil Bounce, Less Eurozone/Emerging Markets Debt Angst, Gaming/Homebuilding Sector Strength

Broad Equity Market Tone:

• Advance/Decline Line: About Even
  

• Sector Performance: Mixed
  

• Volume: Slightly Below Average

• Market Leading Stocks: Underperforming

Equity Investor Angst:

• Volatility(VIX) 25.92 -.65%

• Euro/Yen Carry Return Index 139.50 -1.17%

• Emerging Markets Currency Volatility(VXY) 12.26 +.08%

• S&P 500 Implied Correlation 64.32 +4.93%

• ISE Sentiment Index 60.0 -.2%

• Total Put/Call 1.1 -16.0%

• NYSE Arms 1.07 +81.75% 

Credit Investor Angst:

• North American Investment Grade CDS Index 82.33 -.78%

• America Energy Sector High-Yield CDS Index 1,841.0 +.78%

• European Financial Sector CDS Index 81.84 -2.7%

• Western Europe Sovereign Debt CDS Index 21.28 -7.6%

• Asia Pacific Sovereign Debt CDS Index 81.40 -2.05%

• Emerging Market CDS Index 350.52 -2.13%
  

• iBoxx Offshore RMB China Corporates High Yield Index 116.84 +.02%

• 2-Year Swap Spread 14.25 +.75 basis point

• TED Spread 32.25 +3.0 basis points

• 3-Month EUR/USD Cross-Currency Basis Swap -24.0 -.5 basis point

Economic Gauges:

• 3-Month T-Bill Yield .02% -1.0 basis point

• Yield Curve 147.0 -1.0 basis point

• China Import Iron Ore Spot $56.50/Metric Tonne -.35%

• Citi US Economic Surprise Index -14.7 +1.2 points

• Citi Eurozone Economic Surprise Index 27.1 +2.6 point

• Citi Emerging Markets Economic Surprise Index -23.2 +.3 point

• 10-Year TIPS Spread 1.54 -2.0 basis points

• # of Months to 1st Fed Rate Hike(Morgan Stanley) 4.39 +.21

Overseas Futures:

• Nikkei 225 Futures: Indicating +59 open in Japan 

• China A50 Futures: Indicating n/a open in China

• DAX Futures: Indicating -87 open in Germany

Portfolio: 

• Slightly Lower: On losses in my biotech/medical sector longs

• Disclosed Trades: Added to my (IWM)/(QQQ) hedges

• Market Exposure: Moved to 25% Net Long