Mid-day Update

S&P 500 1,164.54 -.03%
NASDAQ 2,040.51 +.06%

Leading Sectors
HMOs +3.22%
Iron/Steel +1.40%
Homebuilders +1.36%

Lagging Sectors
Networking -.39%
Retail -.50%
Semis -.83%

Other
Crude Oil 48.10 -2.02%
Natural Gas 7.50 -1.32%
Gold 436.20 +.62%
Base Metals 116.76 -.49%
U.S. Dollar 84.12 +.04%
10-Yr. T-note Yield 4.20% -.33%
VIX 13.49 -2.25%
Put/Call .71 +9.23%
NYSE Arms .95 +25.00%

Market Movers

Economic Data
Wholesale Inventories for September rose .5% versus estimates of a .7% increase and a 1.1% gain in August.

Recommendations

Mid-day News

Bottom Line: The Portfolio is modestly lower mid-day on weakness in my internet and security longs. I exited a few longs as they hit stop-losses this morning and added to several existing technology longs, thus leaving the Portfolio 100% net long. I added to my BRCM long and I am using a $26.5 stop-loss on the entire position. Overall, the tone of the market is pretty good today as the major indices continue a healthy consolidation. I expect U.S. stocks to move modestly higher into the close on short-covering, optimism over improving economic growth and lower energy prices.

Mid-day Update

S&P 500 1,165.11 -.09%
NASDAQ 2,038.07 -.04%

Leading Sectors
Iron/Steel +.84%
Tobacco +.79%
Homebuilders +.72%

Lagging Sectors
Energy -1.74%
I-Banks -2.04%
Oil Service -2.77%

Other
Crude Oil 49.05 -1.13%
Natural Gas 7.60 -4.45%
Gold 433.60 -.16%
Base Metals 117.33 +.01%
U.S. Dollar 84.03 +.02%
10-Yr. T-note Yield 4.21% +.94%
VIX 13.85 -.07%
Put/Call .66 -5.71%
NYSE Arms .83 +53.70%

Market Movers

Economic Data
None of note.

Recommendations

Mid-day News

Bottom Line: The Portfolio is substantially higher mid-day on strength in my security, internet and healthcare longs. I took profits in a couple of my gaming longs this morning and added a few new technology longs, thus leaving the Portfolio 125% net long. One of my new longs is GOOG and I am using a $168 stop-loss on this position. The tone of the market is good today as many leading stocks are higher as the major indices consolidate recent gains. I plan to use any Iraq-related weakness to buy aggressively over the coming weeks. I expect U.S. stocks to trade mixed-to-higher into the close.

***Alert***

Blogging will be light over the next few days, as I am traveling.

Weekly Scoreboard*

Indices
S&P 500 1,166.17 +3.18%
Dow 10,387.54 +3.59%
NASDAQ 2,038.94 +3.24%
Russell 2000 604.29 +3.51%
S&P Equity Long/Short Index 981.21 +.34%
Put/Call .70 +4.48%
NYSE Arms .54 -41.94%
Volatility(VIX) 13.84 -14.95%
AAII % Bulls 57.14 +35.05%
US Dollar 84.01 -1.03%
CRB 283.66 -.01%

Futures Spot Prices
Gold 434.30 +1.12%
Crude Oil 49.61 -4.14%
Unleaded Gasoline 128.68 -3.18%
Natural Gas 7.95 -8.78%
Heating Oil 137.41 -6.17%
Base Metals 117.32 +1.04%
10-year US Treasury Yield 4.18% +3.73%
Average 30-year Mortgage Rate 5.70% +1.06%

Leading Sectors
Airlines +9.8%
HMOs +8.6%
Gaming +7.1%

Lagging Sectors
Semis +1.4%
Wireless -.1%
Oil Service -1.4%

*% Gain or loss for the week

***Alert***

There will not be a Mid-day Update today due to a scheduling conflict. However, I will post the Weekly Scoreboard tonight. Feel free to comment between yourselves. Sorry for the inconveience.

Friday Watch

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate
BRK/A/748.50
BZH/5.49

Splits
None of note.

Economic Data
Unemployment Rate for October is estimated at 5.4% versus 5.4% in September.
Average Hourly Earnings for October are estimated to rise .3% versus a .2% increase in September.
Change in Non-farm Payrolls for October is estimated at 175K versus 96K in September.
Change in Manufacturing Payrolls for October is estimated at 9K versus -18K in September.
Average Weekly Hours for October is estimated at 33.8 versus 33.8 in September.
Consumer Credit for September is estimated at $7.0B versus -$2.4B in August.

Recommendations
Goldman Sachs reiterated Outperform on COH, DVP, SRE and Underperform on RA, NFS, NFB. Xerox(XRX) is expected to see its shares rise, boosted by growing demand for its new products, Business Week reported.

Late-Night News
Asian indices are higher on optimism from exporters in the region and falling oil prices. China, which raised interest rates for the first time in nine years on Oct. 28, signaled its readiness to allow its pegged currency to trade more freely, the Asian Wall Street Journal reported. U.S. aircraft carried out five attacks against suspected insurgent positions in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, Agence France-Presse said. Verizon Wireless agreed to buy NextWave Telecom's airwave licenses for $3 billion, Bloomberg reported. The re-election of U.S. President Bush will lead to better U.S.-China ties, the China Daily said. Crude oil futures may continue to fall on speculation that rising production will more than offset demand in coming months, a Bloomberg survey showed. As many as 500 lawyers who claim their clients were either hurt or killed after taking Merck's Vioxx drug intend to meet in Las Vegas Nov. 11 to discuss legal strategy, the NY Times reported.

Late-Night Trading
Asian Indices are unch. to +1.0% on average.
S&P 500 indicated -.10%.
NASDAQ 100 indicated unch.

BOTTOM LINE: I expect U.S. equities to open modestly higher in the morning on a better-than-expected jobs report. The uncertainty over the election likely held back job gains to an extent, however the diminishing effects from the hurricanes probably spurred job creation. The Portfolio is 125% net long heading into tomorrow. Click here to see the Presidential Election exit polls.