Thursday, February 19, 2004

Thursday Close

S&P 500 1,147.06-.41%
NASDAQ 2,045.96-1.47%


Leading Sectors
Fashion+1.3%
Paper+1.27%
Food+.33%

Lagging Sectors
Telecom-1.71%
Software-2.48%
Networking-2.56%

Other
Crude Oil 35.85-.42%.
Natural Gas 5.24+.08%
Base Metals 112.92+.3%
Gold 411.10+.19%
U.S. Dollar Index 85.73-.15%
10-Yr. Long-Bond Yield 4.03% unch.

After-hours Movers
COX+1.79% after announcing Disney's ESPN renewed its distribution agreements with Cox and Charter(CHTR). Cox said the agreement was for 9 years and rates will increase 7% annually vs. 20% increases under the old contract.
WFII-9.8% after meeting 4Q estimates, lowering 1Q guidance and filing for a shelf registration for as much as $200M in securities.
BEAS+3.2% after better-than-expected 4Q earnings/sales and raising 1Q sales guidance. Integration sales climbed 40% sequentially which bodes well for later quarters.
BCSI+11.5% after significantly beating 3Q estimates.

After-hours News
Goldman Sachs says Disney parks in Orlando and Anaheim tracking above expectations and may signal a recovery in Theme Parks. Goldman also says communications end markets should provide most upside potential for semis and account for 21% of semiconductor consumption. Their favorite picks are MRVL and AGR/A. Carly Fiorina, Hewlett Packard's CEO, reiterated her conservative guidance for the year, saying "if the economy continues to improve, 4% IT spending growth is possible." The U.S. will mail $37B more in tax refunds to Americans in the next three months than it did at the same time last year because of new tax cuts taking affect, the Treasury Dept. said. Bill Sullivan, senior economist at Morgan Stanley, says this could add 1-2% onto GDP growth during this period. China may let domestic securities companies raise money from bond sales starting next month. Indian stocks attracted a record $7B from foreign investors last year as its main exchange, The Mumbai, soared 72%. KPMG is being investigated by the U.S Attorney's office, reported CNBC.

BOTTOM LINE: Today was a bad day for the Bulls. Strong earning's reports and the good job's data today should have propelled the market higher. Instead, a weak rally through mid-day turned nasty in the final 90 minutes. I took the Portfolio to market neutral(longs-shorts=0), as I sold longs and added shorts in the tech sector. Today's action clearly shows we are still in a consolidation/correction phase. I expect more down-side in the short-term before another test of the recent highs.

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