Thursday, May 25, 2006

Stocks Finish Sharply Higher on Bargain Hunting and Short-covering

Indices
S&P 500 1,272.88 +1.14%
DJIA 11,211.05 +.84%
NASDAQ 2,198.24 +1.34%
Russell 2000 725.58 +2.01%
Wilshire 5000 12,818.76 +1.24%
S&P Barra Growth 591.12 +1.11%
S&P Barra Value 679.74 +1.16%
Morgan Stanley Consumer 606.95 +.63%
Morgan Stanley Cyclical 834.24 +1.57%
Morgan Stanley Technology 507.20 +1.08%
Transports 4,647.39 +1.05%
Utilities 399.36 +.94%
Put/Call .85 -37.50%
NYSE Arms .58 -46.28%
Volatility(VIX) 15.50 -10.71%
ISE Sentiment 165.00 +55.66%
US Dollar 84.68 -.04%
CRB 346.35 +1.12%

Futures Spot Prices
Crude Oil 71.45 +.18%
Unleaded Gasoline 210.20 -.11%
Natural Gas 6.01 +.59%
Heating Oil 199.25 -.09%
Gold 651.30 +.43%
Base Metals 234.85 +2.03%
Copper 368.00 -.74%
10-year US Treasury Yield 5.06% +.64%

Leading Sectors
Steel +5.49%
Gold & Silver +4.86%
Internet +3.81%

Lagging Sectors
Hospitals +.10%
Broadcasting +.07%
Semis -.44%

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
Bear Stearns:
- Upgraded (BT) to Outperform.

Deutsche Bank:
- Rated (TRMP) Buy, target $25.

Raymond James:
- Added (SKYW) to Aggressive Growth category of Focus List.

Oppenheimer:
- Rated (ODP) Buy, target $51.

Afternoon/Evening Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said consumer price increases, excluding food and energy, have remained stable over the past year and that longer-term inflation expectations are “well contained.”
- Wage inflation may now be less of a concern to Fed policy makers following revised figures form the government today that showed smaller increases in labor costs.
- The Senate approved the most sweeping overhaul of immigration policy in 20 years, voting to create a new guest-worker program and give those illegally in the US a chance to gain legal status.
- Shares of (GM) rose for a second day because of reports that US union workers are taking the company’s buyout and early retirement offers.

New Haven Register:
- The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, aiming to end lopsided high school football games, will suspend head coaches for one game if their team wins by more than 49 points.
BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio finished higher today on gains in my Internet longs, Networking longs and Medical longs. I did not trade in the final hour, thus leaving the Portfolio 75% net long. The tone of the market was positive today as the advance/decline line finished substantially higher today, almost every sector rose and volume was above average. Measures of investor anxiety were mixed into the close. Overall, today's market performance was bullish. I expect stocks to build on today's gains tomorrow. I still believe most stocks have seen their lows for the year, however another period of weakness is likely over the coming weeks as economic data come in below estimates, resulting in further selling in the most economically sensitive stocks.

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