Monday, August 15, 2005

Stocks Modestly Higher Mid-day on Positive Economic Data

Indices
S&P 500 1,234.90 +.37%
DJIA 10,641.70 +.39%
NASDAQ 2,170.37 +.62%
Russell 2000 665.61 +.85%
DJ Wilshire 5000 12,304.02 +.36%
S&P Barra Growth 591.60 +.32%
S&P Barra Value 638.66 +.36%
Morgan Stanley Consumer 591.39 +.49%
Morgan Stanley Cyclical 758.43 +.22%
Morgan Stanley Technology 503.60 +.72%
Transports 3,762.39 +.39%
Utilities 396.96 +.23%
Put/Call .65 -49.22%
NYSE Arms .96 -31.01%
Volatility(VIX) 12.26 -3.77%
ISE Sentiment 228.00 +62.86%
US Dollar 87.37 +.45%
CRB 318.69 -1.32%

Futures Spot Prices
Crude Oil 65.65 -1.81%
Unleaded Gasoline 195.90 -2.28%
Natural Gas 9.48 -1.02%
Heating Oil 186.40 -2.23%
Gold 447.20 -.93%
Base Metals 130.66 +.35%
Copper 170.50 +1.73%
10-year US Treasury Yield 4.26% +.46%

Leading Sectors
Disk Drives +2.34%
Computer Hardware +1.89%
Semis +1.25%

Lagging Sectors
Energy -.91%
Oil Service -1.18%
Gold & Silver -1.26%
BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio is higher mid-day on gains in my Computer, Medical and Retail longs. I pared my IWM and QQQQ shorts this morning and added NVDA long, thus leaving the Portfolio 75% net long. I am using a $29 stop-loss on this position. The tone of the market is positive as the advance/decline line is higher, most sectors are gaining and volume is light. Measures of investor anxiety are lower. Today’s overall market action is modestly positive, considering the fall in energy prices and positive economic data. Insider Buy of Note: John Nelley, an officer and director of Duke Realty (DRE), recently purchased 54,229 shares @ $31.39, bringing his holdings to 259,794. I expect US stocks to trade mixed-to-lower from current levels into the close as stocks consolidate recent gains.

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