Monday, March 14, 2005

Monday Close

Indices
S&P 500 1,206.83 +.56%
Dow 10,804.51 +.28%
NASDAQ 2,501.04 +.46%
Russell 2000 630.30 +.55%
DJ Wilshire 5000 11,893.56 +.62%
S&P Barra Growth 579.84 +.37%
S&P Barra Value 622.65 +.75%
Morgan Stanley Consumer 586.73 +.60%
Morgan Stanley Cyclical 779.74 +.37%
Morgan Stanley Technology 470.34 +.26%
Transports 3,854.60 +.59%
Utilities 360.82 +1.88%
Put/Call 1.01 +3.06%
NYSE Arms .48 -53.40%
Volatility(VIX) 12.39 -3.20%
ISE Sentiment 142.00 +9.23%
US Dollar 81.97 +.68%
CRB 317.24 -.43%

Futures Spot Prices
Crude Oil 54.85 -.18%
Unleaded Gasoline 150.60 -.03%
Natural Gas 7.16 +.31%
Heating Oil 153.40 -.13%
Gold 441.50 -.02%
Base Metals 129.73 -.96%
Copper 147.00 -.03%
10-year US Treasury Yield 4.51% -.75%

Leading Sectors
Biotech +2.80%
Airlines +2.0%
Utilities +1.88%

Lagging Sectors
Disk Drives -.41%
Homebuilders -.48%
Iron/Steel -1.95%

After-hours Movers
None of note

Evening Review
Detailed Market Summary
Daily ETF Performance
Style Performance
Market Wrap CNBC Video(bottom right)
Futures Recap
S&P 500 Gallery View
Timely Economic Charts
PM Market Call
Real-time/After-hours Stock Quote
In Play

Afternoon Recommendations
- Goldman Sachs: Reiterated Outperform on MO, NUE and DNA.
- Piper Jaffray: Raised DNA to Outperform, target $66.

After-hours News
US stocks finished modestly higher, spurred by late-day gains in the Biotech sector after news from Genentech that its Avastin drug prolonged survival in lung-cancer patients. After the close, Nippon Steel and other big steelmakers are close to getting prices increases of as much as 20% for steel plate and sheet sold to automobile companies, Nikkei English News reported. China Telecom gained approval to open a chain of Internet cafes, allowing it to boost customers for its broadband network, the Wall Street Journal reported. Walt Disney President Robert Iger, who was named today as successor to CEO Michael Eisner, told CNBC he would consider reestablishing a partnership with Pixar, Bloomberg reported. Microsoft plans to start a service where clients will pay to be listed alongside in its MSN search results, Bloomberg reported. A California judge struck down the state’s laws banning gay weddings, saying that measures defining marriage as between a man and a woman are unconstitutional, Bloomberg reported. The FCC would have to consider regulating indecent material aired on cable and satellite tv under a bill introduced today by Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller and Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Bloomberg reported. Walt Disney President Iger said he wants to talk to Pixar animation studio CEO Steven Jobs about renewing their film-distribution partnership, Bloomberg said.

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio finished higher today on gains in my Energy-related longs and Networking shorts. I took profits in a few shorts in the afternoon, thus leaving the Portfolio Market Neutral. The tone of the market improved into the afternoon as the advance/decline line finished modestly higher, most sectors rose and volume remained light. The Biotech sector outperformed substantially, spurred by gains in Genentech, while the Steel sector remained under pressure throughout the afternoon on continuing worries over the possibility of future price declines in the commodity. Overall, today’s market action was decent, considering another rise in energy prices. I continue to expect US stocks to trade mixed-too-weaker until energy prices and long-term interest rates stabilize.

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