Portfolio Manager's Commentary on Investing and Trading in the U.S. Financial Markets
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Stocks Finish Higher, Boosted by Oil Service, Steel, Wireless, Construction, Rail and Airline Shares
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In Play
Stocks Higher into Final Hour on Short-Covering, Diminishing Credit Market Angst
Today's Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Petroleo Brasileiro SA(PBR) rose the most in almost two months in
- Republican presidential candidate John McCain said a government bailout of banks should be based “solely on preventing systemic risk” and not on helping financial and property speculators.
- CME Group(CME), the world’s largest futures market, said it will buy Credit Market Analysis to give its customers pricing information on derivatives such as credit-default swaps.
- Emerging-Market Bond Spreads Widen on Credit Loss Concerns.
- Countrywide Financial(CFC) and
- The risk of corporate debt defaults in Asia has increased because of the global credit turmoil, weakening US dollar and slowdown of the
- James B. Bullard, the deputy director of research and monetary analysis at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, was named president of the bank, the St. Louis Fed said. Bullard, 47, will take over April 1 for William Poole, who is retiring.
- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and his wife Michelle gave $10,772 of the $1.2 million they earned from 2000 through 2004 to charities, or less than one percent, according to tax returns for those years released today by his campaign. The couple earned more than $2.6 million in 2005 and 2006 after the Illinois senator published a bestselling book in 2005. They donated $137,622 over those two years and made their church, Trinity United Church of Christ, one of the biggest beneficiaries of their philanthropy, donating $27,500. Obama is under scrutiny for his ties to the church because of comments made by its senior pastor.
- Google(GOOG) said rival Yahoo!(YHOO) will support its OpenSocial software, allowing developers to put their programs on a broader range of social-networking sites.
Wall Street Journal:
- Starwood(HOT) Plans $4 Billion Renovation to Boost Brand.
- Vornado Realty(VNO) May Offer Bargain for REIT Investors.
- Securitization Market Will Recover, Penner Says.
- AMD(AMD) to Unveil $3.2 Billion NY Chip Plant.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung:
- Sony BMG, the music joint venture of Sony Corp.(SNE) and Bertelsmann AG, may charge a fixed monthly fee to let users download unlimited music from the Web and is discussing distribution accords with Apple Inc.(AAPL) and Nokia Oyj(NOK).
Daily Telegraph:
- Hedge funds are the likely culprits behind the rumors that hit HBOS, Britain’s largest mortgage lender, says Ian Cowie.
Kauppalehti:
- Microsoft Corp.(MSFT) said most of Europe’s biggest companies will be using its
Bear Radar
Style Underperformer: Large-cap Value -.09% Sector Underperformers: Retail (-.68%), HMOs (-.35%) and Telecom (-.12%) Stocks Falling on Unusual Volume: BTI, IDCC, VTIV, COMV, MTG, LXP and SMA |
Consumer Confidence Very Depressed
- Consumer Confidence for March fell to 64.5 versus estimates of 73.5 and a reading of 76.4 in February.
BOTTOM LINE:
Bull Radar
Style Outperformer:
Mid-cap Growth (+.45%)
Sector Outperformers:
Oil Service (+2.29%), Steel (+2.14%) and Road&Rail (+1.47%)
Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume:
GDP, ANW, MON, LFC, PDC, PBR, CCC, TKS, OLN, PENN, PLLL, WSCI, TITN, PMTC, MBLX, WPPGY, CALM, RICK, AXYS, CSIQ, SLAB, CVCO, ICON, AVAV, TYPE, CLHB, FMCN, ULTA, THQI, RZG, GGP and MIM