Monday, October 17, 2005

Stocks Finish at Daily Highs on Light Volume

Indices
S&P 500 1,190.10 +.30%
DJIA 10,348.10 +.59
NASDAQ 2,070.30 +.26%
Russell 2000 633.37 +.03%
DJ Wilshire 5000 11,859.54 +.31%
S&P Barra Growth 572.79 +.21%
S&P Barra Value 613.10 +.38%
Morgan Stanley Consumer 582.87 +.62%
Morgan Stanley Cyclical 695.29 +.67%
Morgan Stanley Technology 493.37 +.76%
Transports 3,644.06 +.15%
Utilities 400.51 +1.64%
Put/Call .90 -14.29%
NYSE Arms .64 -4.46%
Volatility(VIX) 14.67 -1.34%
ISE Sentiment 144.00 -9.43%
US Dollar 89.94 +.54%
CRB 332.45 +1.47%

Futures Spot Prices
Crude Oil 64.05 -.48%
Unleaded Gasoline 179.90 -.90%
Natural Gas 13.74 -1.06%
Heating Oil 198.00 -.17%
Gold 476.40 -.04%
Base Metals 135.43 +2.85%
Copper 181.65 -.25%
10-year US Treasury Yield 4.49% unch.

Leading Sectors
Coal +2.99%
Gold & Silver +2.42%
Tobacco +2.06%

Lagging Sectors
Telecom -.79%
Drugs -.93%
Broadcasting -1.81%

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

Afternoon Recommendations
Goldman Sachs:
- Reiterated Outperform on BBY, YHOO and GOOG.
- Reiterated Underperform on FHN.

Afternoon/Evening Headlines
Bloomberg:
- New York City’s homicide rate has dropped about 5% so far in 2005, a trend that should it continue would bring the total by year’s end to 545 killings, least since 1962, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.
- IBM said third-quarter net income fell 2.4% on costs to bring back profit earned overseas.

Financial Times:
- Saddam Hussein’s lawyers may say they have not been given enough time to review the prosecution’s evidence against the former Iraqi dictator, when his trial opens tomorrow, and will seek a six-month delay.

Economic Daily News:
- Intel may team up with Taiwan notebook-computer manufacturers and component makers such as Quanta Computer to standardize key laptop components.
BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio finished unchanged today as gains in my Semiconductor longs and Internet longs were offset by losses in my Energy-related shorts. I covered some of my IWM and QQQQ shorts in the afternoon, thus leaving the Portfolio 75% net long. The tone of the market was neutral today as the advance/decline line finished almost unchanged, most sectors rose and volume was light. Measures of investor anxiety were mostly lower into the close. Overall, today’s market action was positive given the rise in energy prices and long-term rates. I will closely monitor the market's reaction to tomorrow's PPI report given a "bad" number should be priced into the market.

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