Market Week in Review

S&P 500 1,413.90 +1.14%*

Click here for the Weekly Wrap by Briefing.com.

*5-Day Change

Weekly Scoreboard*

Indices
S&P 500 1,413.90 +1.14%
DJIA 13,058.20 +1.29%
NASDAQ 2,476.99 +2.23%
Russell 2000 725.74 +.54%
Wilshire 5000 14,193.94 +1.10%
Russell 1000 Growth 587.72 +1.01%
Russell 1000 Value 770.53 +1.22%
Morgan Stanley Consumer 701.18 +.33%
Morgan Stanley Cyclical 992.66 +.91%
Morgan Stanley Technology 591.98 +2.42%
Transports 5,308.58 +3.74%
Utilities 523.27 +1.51%
MSCI Emerging Markets 148.95 +1.87%

Sentiment/Internals
NYSE Cumulative A/D Line 59,329 +3.55%
Bloomberg New Highs-Lows Index -207
Bloomberg Crude Oil % Bulls 22.0 -40.54%
CFTC Oil Large Speculative Longs 241,402 +.59%
Total Put/Call .90 +1.12%
OEX Put/Call 1.86 +91.75%
ISE Sentiment 124.0 +4.27%
NYSE Arms .94 +30.67%
Volatility(VIX) 18.18 -7.04%
G7 Currency Volatility (VXY) 10.37 -5.64%
Smart Money Flow Index 8,957.33 +1.39%
AAII % Bulls 53.29 +14.18%
AAII % Bears 26.32 -4.29%

Futures Spot Prices
Crude Oil 116.41 -2.19%
Reformulated Gasoline 296.77 -2.63%
Natural Gas 10.73 -3.86%
Heating Oil 321.62 -2.60%
Gold 858.0 -3.61%
Base Metals 250.01 -3.33%
Copper 382.80 -2.34%
Agriculture 410.20 -.27%

Economy
10-year US Treasury Yield 3.86% unch.
10-year TIPS Spread 2.36% +3 basis points
TED Spread 1.28 -28 basis points
N. Amer. Investment Grade Credit Default Swap Index 87.53 -12.29%
Emerging Markets Credit Default Swap Index 217.84 -2.60%
Citi US Economic Surprise Index -58.20 +31.93%
Fed Fund Futures 16.0% chance of 25 cut, 84.0% chance of no cut on 6/25
Iraqi 2028 Govt Bonds 70.0 +.1%
4-Wk MA of Jobless Claims 363,800 -1.8%
Average 30-year Mortgage Rate 6.06% +18 basis points
Weekly Mortgage Applications 567,000 -11.1%
Weekly Retail Sales +1.7%
Nationwide Gas $3.62/gallon +.04/gallon.
US Heating Demand Next 7 Days 11.0% below normal
ECRI Weekly Leading Economic Index 131.90 -.15%
US Dollar Index 73.53 +.98%
Baltic Dry Index 9,439 +2.80%
CRB Index 408.13 -2.31%

Best Performing Style
Mid-cap Value +1.39%

Worst Performing Style
Small-cap Growth +.47%

Leading Sectors
Airlines +14.0%
Wireless +4.82%
Telecom +4.56%
I-Banks +4.33%
Internet +3.79%

Lagging Sectors
Energy -1.82%
Tobacco -2.56%
Oil Service -2.98%
Gold -3.3%
Construction -4.3%

One-Week High-Volume Gainers

One-Week High-Volume Losers

*5-Day Change

Stocks Finish Mostly Lower, Weighed Down by Airline, Computer 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 Mostly Lower into Final Hour on Rise in Energy Prices, Profit-taking

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio is slightly lower into the final hour on losses in my Internet longs, Medical longs and Commodity shorts. I have not traded today, thus leaving the Portfolio 100% net long. The tone of the market is slightly bearish as the advance/decline line is mildly lower, most sectors are declining and volume is about average. Investor anxiety is about average. Today’s overall market action is neutral. The VIX is falling .2%, but remains above average at 18.8. The ISE Sentiment Index is below average at 115.0 and the total put/call is around average at .91. Finally, the NYSE Arms has been running above average most of the day and is currently 1.12. The US dollar continues to trade well. Since March 26th, the Citi Eurozone Economic Surprise Index has fallen from +78.50 to -19.50, while the US Economic Surprise Index has climbed to -58.2 from -100.6. This is a large positive for the US currency. The G-7 Currency Volatility Index(VXY) is falling 4.6% to 10.4, which is the lowest reading since February 28^th. The TED spread is falling another 11 basis points today to 128 basis points, which is the lowest since February 29^th. According to Bankrate.com, the average 30-year fixed rate mortgage is falling 8 basis points today to 5.72%, which is the lowest in a couple of weeks and down from 6.12% in March. The European Financial Sector Credit Default Swap Index is falling another 10% today to 53.4 basis points. This is another new low and down from 131.41 on March 21, which is also a big positive. The financial sector(XLF) is flat on the day, but continues to trade well considering the news. Google Inc.(GOOG) is pulling back today ahead of a likely (MSFT)/(YHOO) deal announcement. I continue to believe that combination is a long-term positive for Google(GOOG) and will prove to be a large mistake for MSFT. Any further meaningful weakness in GOOG shares related to the deal would provide investors with another excellent entry point, in my opinion. Nikkei futures indicate an +116 open in Japan and DAX futures indicate an +17 open in Germany on Monday. I expect US stocks to trade modestly higher into the close from current levels on short-covering, technical buying and less economic pessimism.

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- The cost to protect US corporate bonds from default fell after the US lost fewer jobls last month than economists had estimated. Credit-default swaps on the Markit CDX North America Investment Grade Index of 125 companies in the US and Canada dropped another 10 basis points to 81.75 basis points in NY, according to CMA Datavision. In Europe, credit-default swaps on the Markit iTraxx Crossover Index of 50 companies with mostly high-risk, high-yield ratings dropped 22 basis points to 396 basis points, JPMorgan said. The Markit LCDX index, a gauge of confidence in the US high-yield, high-risk loan market that rises as sentiment improves, climbed .4 percentage point to 99.8, according to Goldman Sachs.
- The Fed took another stab at coaxing banks into lending at lower rates. The Fed boosted its biweekly Term Auction Facility sales of cash to banks by 50% to $75 billion and expanded the collateral it takes from bond dealers through loans of Treasury securities. It also raised the amount of dollars it makes available to the European Central Bank and Swiss National Bank through swap lines to a combined $62 billion from $36 billion.
- The US dollar rose to a five-week high against the euro after a government report showed US employers eliminated fewer jobs in April than economists forecast.
- Buffett Plots $40 Billion Buying Spree as Crunch Diverts Bidders.
- The jump in the S&P 500 above 1,400 for the first time since January indicates US stocks may extend their seven-week rally, say analysts who make predictions based on trading patterns.
- Traders of credit default swaps may start using a clearing house this year to reduce the risk of counterparties failing to meet their obligations, Bank of America said.
- Iran, OPEC’s second-largest oil producer, more than doubled the amount stored in tankers idling in the Persian Gulf, sending ship prices higher as demand for some of its crude fell.
- Vietnam’s credit rating outlook was cut to negative at S&P, which said the country’s overheating economy was a risk to stability. “In April 2008, inflation increased to above 21% year-on-year, while we project the annual current account deficit to be maintained at close to 10% of GDP,” said King Eng Tan, a Singapore-based analyst at S&P.
- Endeavour Capital LLP, founded by former Salomon Smith Barney traders, will wind down its hedge fund and restart with another fund. The London-based money manager’s Endeavour Fund made bets on the differences between Japanese government securities and lost a third of its value in March.
- Said Rafat, managing director at Fitch Ratings says hedge fund investors are booting funds of funds managers. For the first time, more than half of the hedge fund assets of the 200 largest US pension plans were invested with individual managers last year. (video)
- Hedge Fund Fees Shrink as US Pensions Make Direct Investments.
- Crude oil rose more than $3 a barrel after government economic reports were better than economists had expected, prompting speculators to anticipate better demand from the US.
- Bank of America(BAC) May Not Guarantee Countrywide’s Debt.

Wall Street Journal:
- Let’s Pop the Deficit Bubble.
- Obama’s Other Radical Friends.

Forbes:
- Fitch: US Timeshare ABS Resisting Subprime Contagion. Total delinquencies on US timeshare ABS have receded in the first quarter this year.

Digitimes:
- Silicon shortage prompts strategy changes for photovoltaic industry, says iSuppli.

Financial Times:
- Hampson Industries Plc, a UK aircraft and car parts maker, will buy two Michigan-based specialist tooling suppliers in transactions worth as much as $314 million.

Dagens Industri:
- Nokia Oyj(NOK) forecasts that services in its Services & Software unit will grow on average 20% to 30% a year, citing Niklas Savander, head of the unit. The Services & Software unit should reach sales of more than $1.5 billion in two to three years with profitability on par with the mobile-phone division.

OttawaCitizen.com:
- Why commodity investors better watch their potash. The problem with bubbles is that they’re great while they last, and those soapy ones are pretty to look at, but there’s always the unease of not knowing when they’re going to burst. Skyrocketing commodity prices have analysts talking of “atmospheric price levels” to come. Apart from the price of oil, one of the biggest talking points has been potash and its perpendicular rise. Potash Corp.(POT) has soared 234% from a 52-week low of $65.46 to a high of $218.50. “The lofty levels of fertilizer stock prices appear to be premised on the indefinite sustainability of recently higher potash prices,” said Merrill Lynch(MER) chief strategist David Wolf. Wolf made the following four observations: “First, there’s plenty of potash – nearly 300 years of known reserves at current consumption rates, according to the Intl. Fertilizer Assoc. Second, you could hardly have found a worse investment in modern times – according to the US Geological Survey, real potash prices have fallen 95% from their record peak in 1919 through the recent trough in 2003. Third, the current combined market cap of the three largest North American producers – Potash Corp.(POT), Agrium Inc.(AGU) and Mosaic Co.(MOS) – is bigger than the value of all of the potash ever sold in the history of the world. Fourth, and in our view most importantly, we believe that the euphoria in the fertilizer sector reflects a potentially dangerous broader trend across the commodity spectrum – investors mapping evident short-term supply/demand imbalances into expectations of persistent long-term supply/demand imbalances,” Wolf said.

Bear Radar

Style Underperformer:

Small-cap Growth -.50%

Sector Underperformers:

Airlines (-3.55%), Computer Hardware (-3.14%) and Road & Rail (-1.3%)

Stocks Falling on Unusual Volume:

MSTR, SEPR, QLGC, PMTI, MDVN, ERIC, ASFI, PNSN, BOOM, JAVA, BARE, RATE, EHTH, ENH, LZ and THO

Stocks With Unusual Put Option Activity:

1) BARE 2) MNST 3) JAVA 4) S 5) PPC