North American Investment Grade CDS Index 101.57 bps -3.02%
European Financial Sector CDS Index 114.65 bps -4.50%
Western Europe Sovereign Debt CDS Index 154.50 bps +.54%
Emerging Market CDS Index 209.80 bps -3.94%
2-Year Swap Spread 18.0 -1 bp
TED Spread 18.0 +4 bps
Economic Gauges:
3-Month T-Bill Yield .11% -4 bps
Yield Curve 207.0 -3 bps
China Import Iron Ore Spot $141.40/Metric Tonne +.21%
Citi US Economic Surprise Index -1.20 +3.2 points.
10-Year TIPS Spread 1.87% +8 bps
Overseas Futures:
Nikkei Futures: Indicating +127 open in Japan
DAX Futures: Indicating +36 open in Germany
Portfolio:
Higher: On gains in my Biotech, Tech, Retail, Ag and Medical long positions
Disclosed Trades: Covered all of my (IWM)/(QQQQ) hedges and some of my (EEM) short
Market Exposure: Moved to 100% Net Long
BOTTOM LINE: Today's overall market action is very bullish as the S&P 500 breaks convincingly out of its recent trading range despite weaker eurozone economic data and recent sharp gains. On the positive side, Coal, Gold, Computer, Semi, Disk Drive, Networking, Bank and Road/Rail shares are especially strong, rising 3.0%+. (XLF) has traded well throughout the day. Small-cap and cyclical shares are also outperforming. Copper is jumping +1.76% and the S&P GSCI Ag Spot Index is jumping +2.68% today. The Portugal sovereign cds is falling -1.18% to 401.47 bps and the Hungary sovereign cds is declining -4.1% to 292.43 bps. Moreover, it is a large positive to see some key cds indices with meaningful declines. On the negative side, Food, Homebuilding and Utility shares are underperforming, rising less than 1.0%. Weekly retail sales rose +2.6% this week versus a +2.6% gain the prior week and down from a +3.0% gain the first week of Sept. Lumber is falling -.6%, which puts it further below its 50-day moving average and gold is surging to another new record high at $1,341.90. Despite better economic data of late, recent declines in yield and today's equity rally, the 10-year yield is unch. at 2.47%. The Greece sovereign cds is rising +1.44% to 771.81 bps and the California muni cds is up again, rising 5.11% over the last 5 days to 280.0 bps. The market continues to ignore most negative news items, which remains a large positive. Some key stocks and sectors are breaking out again. I suspect more of recent stock gains are related to US tax policy/election optimism than perceived. The recent whipsaw market action has likely left many hedge fund managers even more poorly positioned to benefit from upside action, which should lead to further near-term market upside. I expect US stocks to trade mixed-to-higher into the close from current levels on less economic fear, short-covering, rising QE2 speculation, investment manager performance angst, technical buying, buyout speculation and tax policy/election optimism.
Service Industries in U.S. Expanded at Faster Pace. Service companies in the U.S. expanded at a faster pace than projected in September, indicating the economic recovery is picking up heading into the fourth quarter. The Institute for Supply Management’s index of non- manufacturing businesses, which covers about 90 percent of the economy, rose to 53.2 from 51.5 in August. The ISM non-manufacturing employment gauge rose to 50.2 from 48.2 in August. The measure of new orders increased to 54.9 from 52.4. The group’s measure of business activity declined to 52.8 from 54.4.
Gold Rises to Record on Investor Demand for Currency Alternative. Gold futures jumped to a record $1,341.20 an ounce as the dollar sagged, boosting demand for precious metals as alternative assets. Silver advanced to a 30- year high. The greenback fell to the lowest level since January against a basket of six currencies. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said yesterday the U.S. central bank may buy more debt to help the economy. The Bank of Japan today pledged to keep its benchmark interest rate at “virtually zero” percent. Since Sept. 14, gold has risen to a record in 12 sessions.
Illinois Pays More Than Mexico as Cash-Strapped States Sell Bonds Overseas. Illinois capital-markets director John Sinsheimer and Citigroup Inc. bankers took a globe-girdling trip from the U.K. to China in June to persuade investors that the state’s $900 million of Build America Bonds were a bargain. The seven-country visit worked. The state sold one-fifth of the federally subsidized securities abroad the next month, tapping investors who are the fastest-growing source of borrowed cash for U.S. municipalities. Illinois, with the lowest credit rating of any state from Moody’s Investors Service, dangled yields higher than Mexico, which defaulted on debt in 1982, and Portugal, which costs more to insure against missed payments.
Ireland's Rating May Be Downgraded by Moody's on Banks. Ireland’s credit rating may be cut by Moody’s Investors Service after the government pledged as much as 50 billion euros ($68.6 billion) to save the country’s banks. Ireland’s Aa2 rating will “most likely” be cut by one level if a downgrade goes ahead, the company said in a statement today. A downgrade by Moody’s, which will finish its review within three months, will bring Ireland’s rating into line with Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings. “We’re monitoring the banking system, which we now see has led to additional capitalization needs,” Dietmar Hornung, Frankfurt-based Moody’s analyst, said in a phone interview, adding the government won’t need outside aid. “The focus is on Ireland’s ability to recover financial strength.”
Europe Services, Manufacturing Cool as Retail Sales Decline. Europe’s services and manufacturingindustries grew at the slowest pace in seven months in September, adding to signs that the economy is weakening as governments from Spain to Ireland implement austerity measures. A composite index based on a survey of euro-area purchasing managers in both industries fell to 54.1 in September from 56.2, London-based Markit Economics said today.
Downtown Manhattan Office Vacancy Rate Hits Six-Year High as Firms Move. Downtown Manhattan’s office vacancy rate jumped in the third quarter to the highest level since 2004 as new space came on the market from financial companies, according to brokerage Cushman & Wakefield Inc. The vacancy rate climbed to 12.1 percent from 9.9 percent a year earlier, Cushman, the biggest closely held commercial property broker, said today in a statement. It was also 9.9 percent in the second quarter. Rents declined to $39.08 a square foot from $42.01 in the third quarter of 2009.
GM is Said to Approach Sovereign Wealth Funds to Boost Initial Stock Sale. Investment bankers for General Motors Co. have met with sovereign wealth funds and private investors in the Middle East and Asia to gauge interest in the automaker’s planned stock sale, said two people familiar with the meetings.
Wall Street Journal:
Retailers Bank Together for Online Shipping Promotion. Some 40 retailers and brands are joining a new loyalty program created by GSI Commerce Inc. to offer shoppers unlimited two-day shipping and returns across their online stores. The program, called ShopRunner, will cost $79 per year—the same as the Prime shipping program offered by the largest online-only retailer Amazon.com Inc.
Fed's Evans Favors 'Much More' Easing: Report. The U.S. Federal Reserve should do "much more" monetary easing to spur a sluggish economic recovery, a top Fed official said in an interview published Tuesday. "In the last several months I've stared at our unemployment forecast and come to the conclusion that it's just not coming down nearly as quickly as it should," Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans told the Wall Street Journal. "This is a far grimmer forecast than we ought to have," he said, for which reason he favors "much more accommodation than we've put in place."
Middle Class to Suffer Most From Bank Rules: Whitney. The 26 percent of mostly low-income Americans who don't have bank accounts—as well as the wealthy—are only marginally affected by tighter credit from more stringent banking regulations, Whitney said. But those in the middle class who have relied on access to credit will suffer as banks that "can't price risk now" become increasingly afraid to make loans.
Only 31% of hedge fund managers are bullish on the S&P 500, according to the TrimTabs/BarclayHedge Survey of Hedge Fund Managers for September. About 37% of the 109 hedge fund managers surveyed are bearish on stocks, while 32% are neutral. “Hedge fund managers were extremely bearish on equities at the end of August, and they remain downbeat even though the S&P 500 soared 8.8% in September,” said Sol Waksman, founder and President of BarclayHedge. “Negative sentiment has proven costly, as the industry underperformed by more than 500 basis points last month. But managers are sticking to their bearish guns; four in 10 are forecasting stock prices will fall at least 2% in the coming weeks.” About 27% of hedge fund managers are bearish on the 10-year Treasury note, the largest share in four months, while only 24% are bullish. Additionally, 36% are bearish on the U.S dollar index, while only 21% are bullish. These shares are the largest and smallest, respectively, since May. Meanwhile, 19% of hedge fund managers plan to increase leverage in the next month.
The Orange County Register:
Mark Landsbaum: Escape Clause From California Global Warming Law. If Proposition 23 on the Nov. 2 ballot doesn't pass, your lives, livelihoods and liberties will come inescapably under the thumb of the Administrative State. Hyperbole, you say? Landsbaum's off his rocker, you say? Read on.
Gallup's Astonishing Nubmers and the Lake Superior Congressional Districts. Late yesterday, Gallup came out with new numbers on the generic ballot question—which party’s candidates would you vote for in the election for House of Representatives? Among registered voters Gallup shows Republicans ahead by 46%-42%, about as good a score as Republicans have ever had (and about as bad a score as Democrats have ever had) since Gallup started asking the question in 1942. However, Gallup also shows the results for two different turnout models. Under its “high turnout model” Republicans lead 53%-40%. Under its “low turnout model” Republicans lead 56%-38%. These two numbers, if translated into popular votes in the 435 congressional districts, suggest huge gains for Republicans and a Republican House majority the likes of which we have not seen since the election cycles of 1946 or even 1928.
NY Post:
Gymboree(GYMB) Kids Chain Sees Green in Private Sale. Children's clothing chain Gymboree isn't playing around anymore. The San Francisco-based retailer has hired Goldman Sachs to begin a formal auction of the company, and big-name buyout firms are already lining up in a sale that's expected to fetch well over $1 billion, sources told The Post.
Reuters:
CBOE to Launch 2nd Exchange in Late Oct. CBOE Holdings Inc (CBOE), the biggest U.S. options market, will launch its planned second exchange targeted at high-frequency traders between Oct. 15 and Nov. 1, Vice Chairman Edward Tilly said on Tuesday.
Wolverine(WWW) Q3 Beats, Raises FY Profit View. Wolverine World Wide Inc. raised its full-year earnings view for the third time this year on strong order backlogs, after posting a better-than-expected third-quarter profit.
Financial Times:
Hendry Plots Path to Go Short on China. Hugh Hendry, the outspoken hedge fund manager, has taken short positions on the bonds of a number of Japanese companies in a trading strategy designed to profit from a downturn in the Chinese economy. Mr Hendry is one of only a handful of hedge fund managers that has begun to explore ways of being “short” China – a trade that has so far proved as tricky to implement as it is unpopular. In June, Eclectica, his firm, opened a fund on the back of investor interest in bearish trades designed to benefit from a Chinese slowdown. Mr Hendry has constructed a portfolio that targets Japanese corporate credits as some of the instruments likely to be worst affected. The fund has taken short positions through credit default swaps, whose prices reflect the solvency position of issuers, against 20-30 single-name corporate bonds, the majority of which are Japanese. Mr Hendry has purchased cheap credit protection on companies such as Nippon Steel or JFE Holdings for as little as 50 basis points annually, expecting that spreads will blow out following an export-led slowdown. Japanese companies were highly exposed to China but such risks were currently underpriced, he said. Mr Hendry expects the trades to pay off within the next 18 months. “We want to be in early and out early,” he said. As yet, few other market participants have voiced such bearish positions on China, partly because of the technical difficulties associated with such trades. Jim Chanos, the renowned short-seller, is understood to have taken a number of short positions against Hong Kong-listed Chinese property firms. Interest from investors in such strategies is growing, however, as part of a trend towards portfolio “disaster insurance” that involves investing in extremely bearish trades designed to reap big rewards from small investments. Eclectica’s China-focused fund, which opened in June, has raised three-quarters of its target capital already, according to people close to the firm. It was likely to close before the year-end, they said. The fund, which will be valued at about $140m, stands to deliver huge returns if its trades pay off.
Obama's Promise to End Tax Cuts for Rich Unravels. Nobody in Washington has put it quite so bluntly. But it seems almost certain now that Barack Obama will be unable to fulfil his pledge of reversing George W. Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. Last week, Democratic lawmakers returned home to prepare for next month’s midterm elections having failed in either chamber even to put the issue to a vote. In spite of the fact that President Obama made reversing the tax cuts a central pledge of his election campaign – along with ending combat operations in Iraq, a promise he fulfilled in August – the White House was abandoned last week by nervous Democrats to fight alone at the barricades.
Rehn Warns on Threat From Strong Euro. Europe’s fledgling economic recovery could suffer if the euro is undercut by other currencies, the European Union’s economics chief warned as China rebuffed fresh pleas to allow the renminbi to strengthen. The warning from Olli Rehn, Europe’s commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, reflected a growing concern that moves by other nations to restrain their currencies in order to boost exports was taking its toll on Europe’s competitiveness. “If the euro continues to bear a disproportionate burden in the adjustment of global exchange rates, the recovery of the euro area might be weakened,” Mr Rehn said in Brussels after meetings Wen Jiabao, China’s prime minister, during an EU-Asia summit.
Hard Drive Makers to See 4Q10 Shipments Remain Flat or Drop Sequentially. Hard drive makers expect their shipments in the fourth quarter to only remain flat and they might even drop slightly by 1-2% sequentially, as weak back-to-school demand has created a pileup of hard drive inventory among PC players. These players will work on digesting the inventory in the fourth quarter, so they are likely to reduce their orders for the quarter, with total shipments in the second half to grow only 5-6% compared to the first, according to sources from hard drive makers.
Goldman Sachs(GS), TCW Sued by Landesbank Over $37 Million in Losses From CDO. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and TCW Group Inc. were sued by Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg over $37 million in losses from an investment in a collateralized debt obligation named Davis Square Funding VI. The CDO, for which Goldman was the placement agent and TCW the investment adviser, held 95 percent residential mortgage- backed securities, of which 33 percent were subprime and 46 percent were “midprime,” the German bank said in a complaint filed today in federal court in Manhattan. When Goldman sold the investments to a Luxembourg affiliate of LBBW in March 2006, they were represented as “safe, secure, and nearly risk free,” according to the complaint. At the same time, Goldman senior executives privately observed that “it was game over” for subprime lenders and were reducing their exposure to the mortgages, LBBW said. “Goldman knew at the highest levels of its organization that its representations to LBBW Luxemburg that the notes merited triple-A ratings and were high grade were blatantly false,” the Stuttgart-based bank said. “Goldman committed fraud and, or, was negligent in marketing and selling the notes to LBBW Luxemburg.” Moreover, Goldman was buying credit default swaps in case Davis Square VI and similar CDOs would fail and was also using TCW Group’s parent company, Societe Generale SA, to purchase insurance specifically against Davis Square’s failure, the bank said.
BofA(BAC) Foreclosures May Prompt Servicer-Rating Cut, Moody's Says. Bank of America Corp., which delayed foreclosures last week to review affidavits it submitted to courts in 23 states, may have its top servicer-quality ratings cut, Moody’s Investors Service Inc. said. “Irregularities” in the bank’s process may delay home seizures, allow legal challenges to completed foreclosures and pose a “reputational risk,” Moody’s said in a statement today. The ratings company also cited “deterioration of the company’s collections, loss mitigation and timeline performance metrics.”
Buffett's China-Gushing Optimism Sells Like Sex: William Pesek. The marriage of Buffett’s suddenly unbridled optimism and China’s perceived invulnerability is a fascinating milestone. Just two years after pushing a “buy American” campaign, Buffett is leaning toward a “buy Chinese” one. In reality, the Buffett gush-fest is a reminder of the precariousness of the global economy. It’s one in which the biggest economies and the savviest investors may be relying too much, too soon, on a developing nation.
Emanuel Gets Earful in Chicago Listening Tour for Mayoral Run. Rahm Emanuel discovered today that coming home to Chicago isn’t always sweet. Rivals to the throne of retiring Mayor Richard M. Daley sent supporters to challenge the former White House chief of staff. Protesters jeered his role in President Barack Obama’s support for Wall Street banks. Black voters criticized him for what they said was the administration’s inability to help Chicago communities suffering from unemployment. Rahm Emanuel discovered today that coming home to Chicago isn’t always sweet. Rivals to the throne of retiring Mayor Richard M. Daley sent supporters to challenge the former White House chief of staff. Protesters jeered his role in President Barack Obama’s support for Wall Street banks. Black voters criticized him for what they said was the administration’s inability to help Chicago communities suffering from unemployment.
Bernanke Calls on Lawmakers to Consider Rules on Limiting Federal Spending. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke called on U.S. lawmakers to consider rules limiting federal spending, annual deficits or accumulated debt to curtail the risk of a fiscal crisis. “Well-designed rules can help promote improved fiscal performance,” Bernanke said today in a speech in Providence, Rhode Island. A rule “could provide an important signal to the public that the Congress is serious about achieving long-term fiscal sustainability, which itself would be good for confidence,” he said.
Elpida Earnings Likely to Miss Forecast, CEO Says. Elpida Memory Inc., the world’s third-largest maker of computer-memory chips, will probably miss previous earnings projections as slowing personal-computer demand drives down chip prices, President Yukio Sakamoto said.
MSCI China Index May Drop 15% in Fourth Quarter on Stimulus Exit, RBS Says. The MSCI China Index may fall 10 percent to 15 percent this quarter as the government focuses on structural reform instead of boosting the economy as growth moderates, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc said. “Beijing is increasingly aware of the side effects of its unprecedented stimulus measures, among which excess liquidity has to be one,” analysts led by Wendy Liu wrote in a report yesterday.
Wall Street Journal:
Arthur Laffer: The Bill Gates Income Tax. If Washington's most famous billionaires are really worried about their state's finances, they'd write personal checks to the government and leave everyone else alone.
iPad Adoption Rate Fastest Ever, Passing DVD Player. Apple’s(AAPL) iPad sold three million units in the first 80 days after its April release and its current sales rate is about 4.5 million units per quarter, according to Bernstein Research. This sales rate is blowing past the one million units the iPhone sold in its first quarter and the 350,000 units sold in the first year by the DVD player, the most quickly adopted non-phone electronic product.
Billionaire Calls Flash Crash a Regulatory Failure. Ron Baron, the mutual fund magnate, says smart guys will always get around the rules. Baron Capital founder Ron Baron says the flash crash was caused by a crazy, fragmented market.
ABCNews:
US Plans Law Enforcement 'Surge' On Trains. US authorities plan a law enforcement surge this week along Amtrak routes, an exercise called operation RailSafe, and the heads of the country's biggest mass transit systems were briefed today on the possible terror threat, all part of what is being called an abundance of caution. Amtrak is holding a high-security exercise on Friday in which uniformed officers will be a visible presence on national transit routes.
PIMCO:
Paul McCulley Discusses PIMCO's Cyclical Outlook. Developed economies must spend an extended period undergoing balance sheet repair. Also, we are confident that monetary policy in the developed countries will remain extraordinarily accommodative for a very extended period. The bottom line for the U.S. is a growth trajectory so slow you’d nearly call it stalled, in the context of a huge output gap, implying further disinflation from an already too-low level for inflation. We are living in a world transforming to greater influence from the emerging countries, with retrenchment in the developed countries. And as strong as many of the emerging markets are, they are still tethered to the developed markets by strong global trade linkages.
AOL News:
Who's Really to Blame for Monster Deficits?Between 2011 and 2018, Obama would spend $4.9 trillion more than Bush had planned to. Keep in mind that all this extra spending is after the economic stimulus has been almost entirely exhausted. In other words, if Obama had simply kept Bush's spending policies in place, federal deficits over the next eight years would be 60 percent lower. In 2018, we'd have a deficit of just $188 billion, instead of the projected $996 billion under Obama's budget. So while Bush no doubt shares the blame for the dismal budget outlook, the majority of the blame belongs with Obama for putting the government on a far higher spending path.
EE Times:
Analog Faces Slowdown. Don't look now, but analog is slowing. FBR has lowered its estimates for Linear Technology Corp.(LLTC) and Maxim Integrated Products Inc.(MXIM) And MaxLinear Inc. lowered its sales forecast. ''Recent checks with Asian distributors suggest 4Q analog backlog is falling, and that 4Q '10 distributor shipments may track flat to slightly down sequentially, worse than Street estimates,'' said Craig Berger, an analyst with FBR, in a report. ''We hear PC-related analog demand is weaker than expected as supply chain participants reduce chip inventories for Intel's outgoing Calpella notebook platform, and before Sandybridge notebooks ramp in 1Q '11. While industrial shipments are still robust, we see cracks starting to form there, too.''
Reuters:
US Regulators May Need Help Policing Swaps Market. U.S. market regulators may need help supervising the dozens of new entities that will serve as trading venues for the $615 trillion over-the-counter derivatives market, regulators and industry officials said on Monday.
U.S. "Flash Crash" Report Ignores Research - Nanex. Eric Hunsader, a software maven who coined the phrase "quote-stuffing" and created graphics to show how alleged market manipulation worked, said regulators dismissed his extensive research in last week's "flash crash" report.The findings by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said a sale of Chicago Mercantile Exchange stock futures worth $4.1 billion helped trigger the meltdown in U.S. stock prices on May 6 and laid the blame on a lack of liquidity in markets that day. Backers of high-frequency trading, who say they have been unduly blamed for the market's gyrations on May 6, lauded the regulators' findings. But Hunsader said regulators largely ignored his "quote-stuffing" theory which argued that high-frequency traders had contributed to the crash by flooding the market with so many orders that it delayed the posting of prices to the consolidated quote system. "It just seemed to me too much ink was devoted to try to discredit theories without any evidence, without any basis, other than just, 'We looked at it, we talked to these people, and now, we dismissed it,'" Hunsader said. "Obviously they didn't follow up. I felt everything I sent to them went into a black hole," said Hunsader, who runs Nanex, a four-person data provider shop in Chicago.
Mosaic(MOS) Profit Nearly Triples, But Misses Street. Mosaic Co (MOS) said on Monday its quarterly profit nearly tripled as demand for its fertilizers surged, although results missed expectations and the company's shares fell.
Financial Times:
Call for New Global Currencies Deal. The world’s leading countries should agree a new currency pact to help rebalance the global economy, a leading association of financial institutions has urged. The Institute of International Finance, which represents more than 420 of the world’s leading banks and finance houses, warned on Monday that a lack of such co-ordinated rebalancing could lead to more protectionism. Charles Dallara, IIF managing director, said: “A core group of the world’s leading economies need to come together and hammer out an understanding.”
EU Nations Win a Year's Reprieve on State Aid. European governments will be allowed to provide soft loans and other concessionary support to their banking and industrial sectors for one more year because of the lingering effects of financial crisis, according Europe’s top competition regulator.
Telegraph:
World's Powers Must Head Off Threat of Currency War. The world’s major economic powers must do more to head off the prospect of a global currency war, a body representing the world’s financial institutions has warned.
France won't join the U.S. to push for Chinese government currency policy reforms at the G20 summit in Seoul next month, citing the French ambassador to China, Herve Ladsous.
The Standard:
Chinese Property Tax on 'Hot' Cities First. "Overheated" mainland cities are likely to be the first to be hit with a property tax in a bid to cool the sizzling real estate sector. Beijing announced a second round of tightening measures last Wednesday to curb speculation and stabilize home prices. Shanghai and Shenzhen have already received approval to introduce an annual property tax of 0.3 to 0.4 percent of a home's market value as part of a pilot scheme, said Yang Hongxu, an analyst at Shanghai E-house China Research, citing market sources. Nomura Holdings said authorities may consider introducing a property tax in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hangzhou, as well as "fully" enforcing the land appreciation tax. Such measures would pull down house prices by 5 to 10 percent by the end of next year, wrote Nomura analysts Alvin Wong and Sunny Tam.
Evening Recommendations
None of note
Night Trading
Asian equity indices are -.50% to +.25% on average.
Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 116.0 +1.5 basis points.
Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 107.0 -2.5 basis points.
The ISM Non-Manufacturing Composite for September is estimated to rise to 52.0 versus 51.5 in August.
Upcoming Splits
None of note
Other Potential Market Movers
The weekly retail sales reports, weekly ABC Consumer Confidence report, Citi Biotech Day, Johnson Rice Energy Conference, William Blair Growth Stock Conference, (IRM) Investor Day, (FISV) Investor Conference and the (LZ) Analyst Meeting could also impact trading today.
BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly lower, weighed down by commodity and technology shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open mixed and to weaken into the afternoon, finishing modestly modestly lower. The Portfolio is 75% net long heading into the day.
