Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Stocks Finish Slightly Lower on Healthy Profit-taking

Indices
S&P 500 1,412.90 -.13%
DJIA 12,309.25 -.18%
NASDAQ 2,445.86 -.27%
Russell 2000 795.94 -.19%
Wilshire 5000 14,209.25 -.10%
S&P Barra Growth 654.46 -.20%
S&P Barra Value 756.42 -.06%
Morgan Stanley Consumer 685.53 -.17%
Morgan Stanley Cyclical 891.63 -.10%
Morgan Stanley Technology 573.27 -.73%
Transports 4,753.52 -.80%
Utilities 458.82 -.73%
Put/Call .84 +12.0%
NYSE Arms .98 +9.03%
Volatility(VIX) 11.33 +.53%
ISE Sentiment 173.0 +12.34%
US Dollar 82.74 +.28%
CRB 313.06 -1.07%

Futures Spot Prices
Crude Oil 62.31 -.19%
Reformulated Gasoline 162.66 -1.05%
Natural Gas 7.81 +1.68%
Heating Oil 179.85 +.01%
Gold 636.40 -1.77%
Base Metals 245.13 -1.70%
Copper 315.05 -2.97%
10-year US Treasury Yield 4.48% +.96%

Leading Sectors
Tobacco +2.90
Homebuilders +1.59%
HMOs +1.01%

Lagging Sectors
Utilities -.73%
Software -1.30%
Gold & Silver -1.75%

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
Oppenheimer:
- Rated (ATVI) Buy, target $21.
- Rated (THQI) Buy, target $38.

Afternoon/Evening Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Home Depot(HD) said it “routinely” backdated option grants to benefit employees for 19 years and had unrecorded expenses of about $200 million related to its grants practices.
- Fannie Mae(FNM) completed a $7.9 billion restatement of earnings from 2001 through 2004, giving investors the first accurate picture of the company’s performance.
- General Motors(GM) said it will cut production in January at three plants that build large SUVs because of slowing demand for the gas guzzlers.
- The US dollar had its biggest gain in three weeks against the yen.
- Duke Energy(DUK) plans to expand its Gulf Coast salt-cavern storage facilities by more than 35 billion cubic feet over the next six years to meet demand for natural gas services.

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio finished higher today on gains in my Telecom longs, Semi longs, Medical longs and Retail longs. I did not trade in the final hour, thus leaving the Portfolio 100% net long. The tone of the market was only slightly negative today as the advance/decline line finished slightly lower, sector performance was mostly positive and volume was above average. Measures of investor anxiety were mostly higher into the close. I would classify today's overall market action as a healthy consolidation of recent gains. First we have to guard the old copper pipes under our house, now our waistlines. Bloomberg is reporting that a business man in Miami intends to buy human fat from liposuction operations at the Jackson Memorial Hospital to convert into biodiesel. This sounds funny and absurd, but it is just another example of the lengths to which people are currently going in the current energy mania. Alternative energy projects are pervasive globally and will have a devastating impact on future demand for crude.

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