Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Wednesday Watch

Late Buy/Sell Recommendations
Citigroup:

- Reiterated Buy on (ADBE), target $27.

- Reiterated Buy on (MRK), target $42.


Night Trading
Asian Indices are -1.25% to +2.75% on average.
S&P 500 futures -.52%.
NASDAQ 100 futures -.13%.


Morning Preview
US AM Market Call
NASDAQ 100 Pre-Market Indicator/Heat Map
Pre-market Commentary
Pre-market Stock Quote/Chart
Before the Bell CNBC Video(bottom right)
Global Commentary
WSJ Intl Markets Performance
Commodity Movers
Top 25 Stories
Top 20 Business Stories
Today in IBD
In Play
Bond Ticker
Economic Preview/Calendar
Daily Stock Events
Upgrades/Downgrades
Rasmussen Business/Economy Polling


Earnings of Note
Company/EPS Estimate
- (DE)/.99

- (FRED)/.15

- (TIF)/.25


Economic Releases
8:30 am EST

- Durable Goods Orders for October are estimated to fall 3.0% versus a .9% gain in September.

- Durables Ex Transports for October are estimated to fall 1.6% versus a 1.0% decline in September.

- Personal Income for October is estimated to rise .1% versus a .2% gain in September.

- Personal Spending for October is estimated to fall 1.0% versus a .3% decline in September.

- The PCE Core for October is estimated unch. versus a .2% increase in September.

- Initial Jobless Claims for last week are estimated to fall to 535K versus 542K.

- Continuing Claims are estimated to rise to 4080K versus 4012K prior.


9:45 am EST

- The Chicago Purchasing Manager report for November is estimated to fall to 37.0 from 37.8.


10:00 am EST

- The Final Univ. of Mich. Consumer Confidence index for November is estimated to fall to 57.5 versus a prior estimate of 57.9.

- New Home Sales for October are estimated to fall to 441K versus 464K in September.

10:35 am EST

- Bloomberg consensus estimates call for a weekly crude oil inventory build of 1,000,000 barrels versus a 1,599,000 barrel increase the prior week. Gasoline supplies are expected to rise by 500,000 barrels versus a 539,000 barrel increase the prior week. Distillate inventories are expected unch. versus a -1,471,000 barrel decline the prior week. Finally, Refinery Utilization is estimated to rise .1% versus a .32% gain the prior week.


Upcoming Splits
- None of note


Other Potential Market Movers
- The weekly MBA mortgage applications report could also impact trading today.


BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly higher, boosted by technology and financial stocks in the region. I expect US equities to open modestly lower and to rally into the afternoon, finishing modestly higher. The Portfolio is 100% net long heading into the day.

Stocks Finish Near Session Highs, Boosted by Construction, HMO, Homebuilder, Commodity and Airline Shares

Evening Review
Market Summary

Top 20 Biz Stories

Today’s Movers

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 Real-Time Stock Bid/Ask

After-hours Stock Quote

After-hours Stock Chart

In Play

Stocks Slightly Lower into Final Hour on Profit-Taking, Tech Sector Weakness

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio is slightly higher into the final hour on gains in my Internet longs, Biotech longs and Medical longs. I added to my (GOOG) long and took profits in a trading long today, thus leaving the Portfolio 100% net long. The tone of the market is neutral as the advance/decline line is mildly lower, most sectors are rising and volume is above average. Investor anxiety is high. Today’s overall market action is bullish. The VIX is falling 2.74% and is very elevated at 62.80. The ISE Sentiment Index is low at 103.0 and the total put/call is slightly below average at .75. Finally, the NYSE Arms has been running high most of the day, hitting 1.59 at its intraday peak, and is currently .90. The Euro Financial Sector Credit Default Swap Index is rising 1.04% today to 113.0 basis points. This index is up from a low of 52.66 on May 5th, but down from 157.81 on Sept. 16th. The North American Investment Grade Credit Default Swap Index is down 2.58% to 248.29 basis points. The TED spread is falling 2.95% to 209 basis points. The TED spread is now down 255 basis points in under six weeks. The 2-year swap spread is plunging 12.75% to 97.50 basis points. The Libor-OIS spread is rising 4.48% to 177 basis points. The 10-year TIPS spread, a good gauge of inflation expectations, is rising 8 basis points to .31%, which is down 231 basis points in under five months and at the lowest level since Bloomberg record-keeping began in August 1998. The 10-year TIPS spread bottomed at .65% in October 1998 during the Asian financial crisis and at 1.24% in October 2001 during the technology bubble-bursting meltdown. The 3-month T-Bill yield is rising 9 basis points to .10%. Many market-leading stocks are substantially outperforming the major indices again today. Breadth has been pretty good all day, even when the averages were at their lows. Homebuilder, airline, construction, HMO and select commodity stocks are posting 4%+ gains again today. Given the DJIA is still 1,000 points off its recent lows, today’s consolidating action is very healthy. While US stocks are a bit extended very short-term, they are still VERY oversold on an intermediate-term basis. I expect the many momentum chasers and those funds with massive piles of cash to begin to jump in at higher levels as another sharp sell-off fails to materialize and the belief in a meaningful year-end rally gains traction. Nikkei futures indicate an +17 open in Japan and DAX futures indicate a -13 open in Germany tomorrow. I expect US stocks to trade modestly higher into the close from current levels on less financial sector pessimism, diminished forced selling, short-covering, bargain-hunting, technical buying and seasonal strength. Blogging will be light over the next few days due to a scheduling conflict. I hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving holiday. Thanks for reading!

Bear Radar

Style Underperformer:
Large-cap Growth (-1.73%)

Sector Underperformers:
REITs (-5.10%), Computer Hardware (-3.66%) and Software (-3.52%)

Stocks Falling on Unusual Volume:
HTX, AMSC, UNFI, RTP, IIT, WCN, CRT, THS and CCK

Stocks With Unusual Put Option Activity:
1) IDCC 2) AIV 3) OMC 4) CCK 5) SUN

Bull Radar

Style Outperformer:
Large-cap Value (+.44%)

Sector Outperformers:
Homebuilders (+6.21%), Airlines (+3.38%) and HMOs (+2.22%)

Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume:
BHP, BBL, STRL, BHLB, NWSB, AGNC, COHR, CBRL, PTNR, DLTR, GOOG, AAUK, WPPGY, GYMB, PTRY, CETV, FWLT, ATHR, TMW, IHE, HOG, BBL, IWD and LTM

Stocks With Unusual Call Option Activity:
1) CTX 2) IDCC 3) SLM 4) M 5) CHKP

Links of Interest

Market Snapshot Commentary
Market Performance Summary
Style Performance
Sector Performance
WSJ Data Center
Top 20 Biz Stories
IBD Breaking News
Movers & Shakers
Upgrades/Downgrades
In Play
Exchange Volume vs. Average

NYSE Unusual Volume

NASDAQ Unusual Volume

Hot Spots

Option Dragon

NASDAQ 100 Heatmap

DJIA Quick Charts

Chart Toppers

Real-Time Intraday Quote/Chart
Dow Jones Hedge Fund Indexes