Monday, August 16, 2004

Monday Close

S&P 500 1,079.34 +1.37%
NASDAQ 1,782.84 +1.46%


Leading Sectors
Airlines +5.56%
I-Banks +3.33%
Biotech +3.15%

Lagging Sectors
Hospitals +.33%
Foods +.23%
Restaurants +.18%

Other
Crude Oil 45.53 -.35%
Natural Gas 5.38 +.13%
Gold 404.90 -.07%
Base Metals 111.70 +.57%
U.S. Dollar 87.96 +.07%
10-Yr. T-note Yield 4.26% +.78%
VIX 17.57 -2.28%
Put/Call .84 -20.0%
NYSE Arms .37 -69.17%

After-hours Movers
PIR +5.85% after it was reported that Berkshire Hathaway held 8 million shares of its stock.
MANT +15.04% after beating 2Q sales estimates and raising 3Q outlook.
AMT -5.41% after announcing it is seeking to raise $300 million through an institutional placement of convertible notes.

Recommendations
Goldman Sachs reiterated Outperform on KO and KRB.

After-hours News
U.S. stocks finished higher today as the Venezuelan political situation calmed, opening Olympic ceremonies went smoothly and energy prices fell. After the close, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts COO John Tate will resign, the Wall Street Journal reported. Google asked the SEC to declare its IPO effective tomorrow at 4 p.m., CNBC reported. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Republican Pat Roberts said he would introduce a bill this week to create the position of U.S. intelligence director as three former heads of the CIA endorsed the idea, Bloomberg reported. The Bush administration informed the European Union it wants to scrap a 12-year-old agreement that let EU members subsidize Airbus SAS, the world's biggest plan manufacturer, Bloomberg reported.

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio finished slightly higher today and I covered a few of my Russian ADR shorts in the afternoon, leaving the Portfolio 75% net long. Today's market action appeared to be the result of oversold technical conditions and short covering. However, a better-than-expected CPI reading, a continuing drop in energy prices and better earnings reports could spur further gains.

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