Monday, August 21, 2006

Stocks Finish Modestly Lower on Light Volume Profit-taking

Indices
S&P 1,297.52 -.37%
DJIA 11,345.05 -.32%
NASDAQ 2,147.75 -.75%
Russell 2000 705.33 -.89%
Wilshire 5000 12,959.86 -.42%
S&P Barra Growth 600.64 -.39%
S&P Barra Value 695.09 -.34%
Morgan Stanley Consumer 631.26 -.12%
Morgan Stanley Cyclical 792.82 -1.04%
Morgan Stanley Technology 496.25 -1.28%
Transports 4,296.59 -2.05%
Utilities 438.72 +.13%
Put/Call 1.18 +29.67%
NYSE Arms 1.21 +43.37%
Volatility(VIX) 12.22 +4.98%
ISE Sentiment 80.00 +3.90%
US Dollar 84.67 -.49%
CRB 335.50 +.96%

Futures Spot Prices
Crude Oil 72.52 +1.94%
Unleaded Gasoline 194.50 -1.11%
Natural Gas 6.65 -1.08%
Heating Oil 203.25 +2.16%
Gold 638.20 +.47%
Base Metals 231.54 +1.90%
Copper 348.00 -.27%
10-year US Treasury Yield 4.81% -.58%

Leading Sectors
Gold & Silver +4.91%
Oil Service +.93%
HMOs +.57%

Lagging Sectors
Airlines -1.84%
Semis -2.05%
Homebuilders -2.13%

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
Piper Jaffray:
- Rated (RNVS), (PGNX) and (NUVO) Outperform.

Afternoon/Evening Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Treatments used to promote a younger appearance, including laser facial resurfacing, chemical peels, and topical creams, may reduce pre-cancerous lesions and lower the risk of skin cancer, a study found.
- American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, the three largest US carriers, rescinded a $10 increase on round-trip tickets because rivals didn’t match the higher prices.
- Treasuries rose, pushing yields on 10-year notes to their lowest since March, on signs that inflation and growth in the US economy are slowing.
- Italy will make a “significant” contribution to a UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi told UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Panorama:
- Petroleos de Venezuela SA, South America’s largest oil company, expects production from its Tomoporo oil field in western Venezuela to rise 75% to 315,000 barrels per day over the next six years.
BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio finished lower today on losses in my Retail longs, Semi longs and Commodity shorts. I added (IWM) and (QQQQ) hedges in the final hour, thus leaving the Portfolio 75% net long. The tone of the market was negative today as the advance/decline line finished lower, most sectors fell and volume was very light. Measures of investor anxiety were higher into the close. Overall, today's market performance was slightly bearish. Unleaded gas futures have declined 18% in less than a month. The average 30-year mortgage rate has declined 28 basis points in a month, as well. The Mid-East cease fire and JonBenet case have resulted in war moving into the background on the news channels. Finally, the S&P 500 has surged 6.3% from June lows. These developments should spur a rebound in upcoming consumer sentiment gauges.

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