Wednesday Close

S&P 500 1,142.05 +.67%
NASDAQ 1,971.03 +.79%

Leading Sectors
Iron/Steel +2.12%
Oil Service +2.03%
Airlines +1.89%

Lagging Sectors
Gaming +.01%
Tobacco -.12%
Drugs -.88%

Other
Crude Oil 51.97 +1.72%
Natural Gas 7.03 -1.87%
Gold 419.30 -.12%
Base Metals 122.90 +2.11%
U.S. Dollar 88.40 +.27%
10-Yr. T-note Yield 4.22% +1.12%
VIX 13.28 4.80%
Put/Call .77 4.94%
NYSE Arms .73 -47.10%

After-hours Movers
LTD +5.08% after announcing that its Board has authorized the repurchase of $2 billion of its common stock and a post-repurchase special dividend of $500 million.
PXLW +5.19% on bargain-hunting after lowering 3Q/4Q forecast.
HOTT +7.87% after beating same-store-sale estimate and announcing 1M share buyback.
LAVA -8.88% after lowering 2Q, 3Q and 4Q forecasts.

Recommendations
Goldman Sachs reiterated Outperform on WMT, AMGN, KO, DNA, MDT, FSL, UPS and AYE.

After-hours News
U.S. stocks finished higher today on a late-day surge spurred by short-covering. After the close, AstraZeneca Plc CEO McKillop told the pharmaceutical industry that pressure on drug price and rising costs may reduce profit unless companies can find new ways to do business, the Financial Times reported. Sirius Satellite Radio CEO Clayton told CNBC that he's interested in obtaining the right to broadcast Major League Baseball. Police in Marshfield, Mass. said they arrested a 16-year-old high school student after discovering he planned a Columbine-style assault against the local high school and had tested a homemade bomb in preparation for the attack, Bloomberg reported. Genentech, the world's second-biggest biotechnology company, said third-quarter profit rose 52% as more doctors prescribed the Avastin colon-cancer drug, Bloomberg reported. In a show of confidence, Limited Brands authorized the repurchase of $2 billion of its common stock and will declare a one-time dividend of $500 million, Bloomberg reported. Crude oil in NY jumped to $52.02/bbl., pulling gasoline and heating oil higher, after the Energy Dept. reported that U.S. stockpiles increased less than expected due to the lingering affects of the hurricanes, Bloomberg said.

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio finished substantially higher today on strength in my base metal, telecom equipment and semiconductor longs. I did not trade in the afternoon, thus the Portfolio is still 125% net long. The underlying strength in the market is considerable. There have been ample opportunities for a pullback, yet stocks continue higher. Volume increased again today and breadth measures were pretty good. Long-term interest rates have risen 25 basis points from their lows as investors begin to anticipate accelerating economic growth. The S&P 500 has clearly broken above its downtrend that had been in place since March and the NASDAQ is very close to breaking out. The S&P 500 will likely test its highs for the year within the week.