Market Week in Review

S&P 500 1,633.70 +1.19%*




The Weekly Wrap by Briefing.com.

*5-Day Change

Weekly Scoreboard*

Indices

• S&P 500 1,633.70 +1.19%

• DJIA 15,118.4 +.97%

• NASDAQ 3,436.58 +1.72%

• Russell 2000 975.16 +2.17%

• S&P 500 High Beta 25.33 +3.68%

• Value Line Geometric(broad market) 422.67 +2.06%

• Russell 1000 Growth 751.45 +1.30%

• Russell 1000 Value 827.07 +1.28%

• Morgan Stanley Consumer 1,013.23 +.39%

• Morgan Stanley Cyclical 1,213.18 +3.45%

• Morgan Stanley Technology 756.64 +1.90%

• Transports 6,375.52 +2.52%

• Utilities 513.71 -2.95%

• Bloomberg European Bank/Financial Services 98.60 +1.94%

• MSCI Emerging Markets 43.54 +.85%

• HFRX Equity Hedge 1,121.25 +1.46%

• HFRX Equity Market Neutral 941.35 +.04%

Sentiment/Internals

• NYSE Cumulative A/D Line 190,484 +1.97%

• Bloomberg New Highs-Lows Index 811.0 -588

• Bloomberg Crude Oil % Bulls 39.39 +11.62%

• CFTC Oil Net Speculative Position 220,626 +5.1%

• CFTC Oil Total Open Interest 1,770,442 -.04%

• Total Put/Call .74 -16.85%

• OEX Put/Call 1.55 +51.96%

• ISE Sentiment 124.0 +16.98%

• NYSE Arms .88 +15.79%

• Volatility(VIX) 12.59 -2.02%

• S&P 500 Implied Correlation 56.71 +8.97%

• G7 Currency Volatility (VXY) 9.50 +7.71%

• Smart Money Flow Index 11,985.68 +1.40%

• Money Mkt Mutual Fund Assets $2.583 Trillion +.80%

• AAII % Bulls 40.8 +31.6%

• AAII % Bears 27.4 -23.6%

Futures Spot Prices

• CRB Index 288.68 -.51%

• Crude Oil 96.04 +.45%

• Reformulated Gasoline 286.03 +1.14%

• Natural Gas 3.91 -3.50%

• Heating Oil 290.62 +.89%

• Gold 1,436.60 -2.30%

• Bloomberg Base Metals Index 194.26 +2.66%

• Copper 335.30 +1.39%

• US No. 1 Heavy Melt Scrap Steel 349.33 USD/Ton -5.1%

• China Iron Ore Spot 129.60 USD/Ton +1.17%

• Lumber 338.30 -1.69%

• UBS-Bloomberg Agriculture 1,481.02 -1.46%

Economy

• ECRI Weekly Leading Economic Index Growth Rate 7.3% +10 basis points

• Philly Fed ADS Real-Time Business Conditions Index .1413 -4.32%

• S&P 500 Blended Forward 12 Months Mean EPS Estimate 115.36 +.33%

• Citi US Economic Surprise Index -7.30 -7.6 points

• Citi Emerging Mkts Economic Surprise Index -50.60 -5.8 points

• Fed Fund Futures imply 52.0% chance of no change, 48.0% chance of 25 basis point cut on 6/19

• US Dollar Index 83.14 +1.27%

• Euro/Yen Carry Return Index 137.68 +1.71%

• Yield Curve 166.0 +14 basis points

• 10-Year US Treasury Yield 1.90% +16 basis points

• Federal Reserve's Balance Sheet $3.281 Trillion +.23%

• U.S. Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 31.50 unch.

• Illinois Municipal Debt Credit Default Swap 122.0 +4.77%

• Western Europe Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap Index 88.0 -.92%
  

• Emerging Markets Sovereign Debt CDS Index 169.23 -6.55%
  

• Israel Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 112.40 +10.7%

• South Korea Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 69.50 unch.

• China Blended Corporate Spread Index 401.0 -12 basis points

• 10-Year TIPS Spread 2.34% +4 basis points

• TED Spread 24.0 +1.0 basis point

• 2-Year Swap Spread 13.5 -.5 basis point

• 3-Month EUR/USD Cross-Currency Basis Swap -14.0 +2.5 basis points

• N. America Investment Grade Credit Default Swap Index 72.15 +1.26%
  

• European Financial Sector Credit Default Swap Index 134.64 +2.31%
  

• Emerging Markets Credit Default Swap Index 233.41 +.77%
  

• CMBS AAA Super Senior 10-Year Treasury Spread  to Swaps 85.0 -15 basis points

• M1 Money Supply $2.574 Trillion +.94%

• Commercial Paper Outstanding 992.50 -.5%

• 4-Week Moving Average of Jobless Claims 336,800 -5,500

• Continuing Claims Unemployment Rate 2.3% unch.

• Average 30-Year Mortgage Rate 3.42% +7 basis points

• Weekly Mortgage Applications 945.50 +6.98%

• Bloomberg Consumer Comfort -29.5 -.6 point

• Weekly Retail Sales +2.20% unch.

• Nationwide Gas $3.56/gallon +.04/gallon

• Baltic Dry Index 889.0 +3.13%

• China (Export) Containerized Freight Index 1,082.82 -1.70%

• Oil Tanker Rate(Arabian Gulf to U.S. Gulf Coast) 22.50 +28.6%

• Rail Freight Carloads 245,678 -.76%

Best Performing Style

• Small-Cap Growth +2.4%

Worst Performing Style

• Large-Cap Value +1.3%

Leading Sectors

• Education +7.3%

• HMOs +4.4%

• Networking +4.1%

• Oil Tankers +3.9%

• Retail +3.5%

Lagging Sectors

• Foods -.3% 

• Restaurants -.3%

• Coal -.5%

• Energy -.6%

• Utilities -2.9%

Weekly High-Volume Stock Gainers (29)

• MBI, ABFS, DXM, SMRT, GMCR, INVN, TSLA, IMMR, MINI, PKT, EA, ININ, BCOR, BKS, WBMD, HCI, SCOR, CEC, PEGA, NSM, LEDR, DTSI, ICUI, TLYS, DVA, DDD, QLYS, CLNY and VNTV

Weekly High-Volume Stock Losers (22)

• JMI, CHRW, GNRC, VSI, CIE, SSNC, THOR, ABCO, CWH, AXLL, ESE, ATHN, LNCO, VCLK, VOLC, CHE, RLOC, ARUN, RAX, FIO, RKUS and VCRA

Weekly Charts
ETFs

• High-Volume Gainers

• High-Volume Losers

Stocks

• High-Volume Gainers

• High-Volume Losers

*5-Day Change

Stocks Higher into Final Hour on Central Bank Hopes, Short-Covering, Biotech/Retail Sector Strength

Today's Market Take:

Broad Market Tone:

• Advance/Decline Line: Higher
  

• Sector Performance: Most Sectors Rising
  

• Volume: Below Average

• Market Leading Stocks: Performing In Line

Equity Investor Angst:

• VIX 12.81 +2.44%

• ISE Sentiment Index 122.0 +62.67%

• Total Put/Call .74 -24.49%

• NYSE Arms .95 -9.72%

Credit Investor Angst:

• North American Investment Grade CDS Index 72.10 +1.71%

• European Financial Sector CDS Index 134.58 -1.39%

• Western Europe Sovereign Debt CDS Index 90.34 +2.28%

• Emerging Market CDS Index 233.48 +1.16%

• 2-Year Swap Spread 13.5 unch.

• TED Spread 24.0 unch.

• 3-Month EUR/USD Cross-Currency Basis Swap -14.0 +.5 bp

Economic Gauges:

• 3-Month T-Bill Yield .04% unch.

• Yield Curve 165.0 +6 bps

• China Import Iron Ore Spot $129.60/Metric Tonne-.46%

• Citi US Economic Surprise Index -7.3 -.4 point

• 10-Year TIPS Spread 2.34 +4 bps

Overseas Futures:

• Nikkei Futures: Indicating +213 open in Japan

• DAX Futures: Indicating +20 open in Germany

Portfolio: 

• Higher: On gains in my retail/medical/biotech/tech sector longs and emerging markets shorts

• Disclosed Trades: None

• Market Exposure: 50% Net Long

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:

• U.K. Construction Output Declines to Lowest Since 1998. U.K. construction output fell to its lowest level in more than 14 years in the first quarter as work on new building projects declined across the industry. Output measured by volume dropped 2.4 percent from the previous three months to its lowest since the fourth quarter of 1998, the Office for National Statistics in London said today. That compares with the 2.5 percent decline estimated in gross domestic product data on April 25.

• European Stocks Rally for a Third Week; BT Group Climbs. European stocks rallied for a third week, closing at their highest level in almost five years, as companies from BT Group Plc to Hochtief AG posted earnings that beat estimates, while economic data exceeded expectations.

• Carson Block Says He’s Shorting Debt of Standard Chartered. Carson Block, the short seller who runs Muddy Waters LLC, said he is betting against the debt of Standard Chartered Bank Plc because of the “deteriorating” quality of its loan book. Block said the London-based bank’s $1 billion loan to Samin Tan, chairman of Bumi Plc (BUMI), the coal company at the center of a dispute between co-founders Nathaniel Rothschild and Indonesia’s Bakrie family, and loans to Far East Energy Corp. (FEEC), were ‘red flags.’ Standard Chartered will also come under stress when China’s economy slows down, Block said. “We believe the quality of Standard Chartered’s loans are deteriorating,” Block said at the SkyBridge Alternatives Conference in Las Vegas today.

• Mexico Industry Output Falls Three Times More Than Forecast. Output slid 4.9 percent from a year earlier, the biggest decline since the end of the 2009 recession and more than the 1.4 percent median estimate of 16 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Manufacturing contracted 5.8 percent and construction fell 5.2 percent, the national statistics institute said on its website today.

• Dollar Rally Spurs Commodity Selloff as U.S. Stocks Fluctuate. The Dollar Index extended its biggest two-day rally since July, triggering plunges in oil and gold, and Treasuries tumbled. U.S. stocks retreated, trimming a third straight weekly gain. The Dollar Index, a gauge of the currency against six major peers, added 0.6 percent to 83.27 at 12:37 p.m. in New York to extend its two-day advance to 1.7 percent. 

• OPEC Crude Production Rises to Five-Month High on Saudi Increase. OPEC boosted crude output in April to the highest in five months as Saudi Arabia increased production, helping lower oil prices amid concern that global economic growth is slowing. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries produced 30.46 million barrels a day last month, up from 30.18 million in March, the group’s Vienna-based secretariat said today in its Monthly Oil Market Report. That’s the most since November. The estimates are based on secondary sources.   

• Gold Extends Weekly Drop as Stronger Dollar Curbs Demand. Gold declined to a two-week low and headed for the biggest drop in more than three weeks in New York as a stronger dollar curbed demand for the metal as an alternative investment.

• Bernanke Sees Important Risks in Wholesale Funding. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said risks persist in wholesale funding markets used frequently by Wall Street brokers to finance securities trading. “Important risks remain in the short-term wholesale funding markets,” Bernanke said today in a speech at a Chicago Fed banking conference. “One of the key risks is how the system would respond to the failure of a broker-dealer or other major borrower.” 

• Credit Pinch for Small Business Impedes U.S. Job Growth. Tighter lending standards among U.S. community banks help explain why small businesses are adding jobs at only half the pace of large employers. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. says the 6,900 institutions it classifies as community banks supply almost half of small business loans. 

• Actavis Said to Be in Early Talks to Buy Warner Chilcott(WCRX).

Wall Street Journal:

• Investors Rediscovering Margin Debt. Small investors are borrowing against their portfolios at a rapid clip, reaching levels of debt not seen since the financial crisis. The trend—driven by a combination of rising stock values and rock-bottom interest rates—is sparking a growing debate among market watchers. To some, this trend in so-called margin debt is a sign of investors' increasing confidence in a bull market for stocks that has already lifted the Dow Jones Industrial Average 15.1% in 2013. But to others it is a warning sign that the Federal Reserve's easy-money policies are creating a bubble mentality among stock investors.

• U.S. Expects Record Corn Crop. U.S. corn futures added to their losses Friday after the government forecast a record crop. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, in a monthly crop report, forecast that greater-than-expected domestic supplies in the next year. As of Aug. 31, 2014—the end of the crop year that will begin with this autumn's harvest—the report predicts stockpiles will total 2.004 billion bushels. Analysts in an earlier Dow Jones Newswires poll had on average expected a forecast of 1.973 billion bushels. The projection would mark the highest level for late-summer corn stockpiles since 2005.

Fox News:

• Texas officials launch criminal investigation into fertilizer plant explosion that killed 14. Texas law enforcement officials on Friday launched a criminal investigation into the massive fertilizer plant explosion that killed 14 people last month. Investigators have largely treated the West Fertilizer Co. blast that killed 14 people as an industrial accident, but the Texas Department of Public Safety said in statement that the agency has now instructed the Texas Rangers and the McLennan County Sheriff's Department to conduct a criminal probe.

CNBC:

• Jack Lew: Debt Ceiling Won't Be Reached Until Labor Day. U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told CNBC on Friday that the U.S. debt ceiling would not be reached until September, though he said it was not an excuse for Congress to relax. "The debt limit will be reached in just a few days when it expires on May 18 but because of the cash flows we can predict that we will be okay until Labor Day," Lew told CNBC in an interview in London.

• Zell on Market: A 'Giant Game of Musical Chairs'. Sam Zell looks at the stock market and doesn't like what he sees: Zooming prices that normally would come with economic prosperity are hard to find in the current environment.

• Canada's Housing Market: The Next Big Short?

Zero Hedge: 

• Weidmann Slams French 'Savings' - Widening Franco-German Divide.

• Credit Shock Dead Ahead: China Money Formation Soars To 2-Year High As Delinquent Loans Surge By 29%. (graphs)

• EURUSD's Worst Week In Six But European Stocks/Sovereigns Surge. (graphs)

• Italian Bad Loans Re-Accelerate - Up 21.7% YoY. (graph)

• Hugh Hendry: Japan's 'Reflationary' Gain "Is The Last Thing The Global Economy Needs".

Business Insider: 

• Texas Paramedic Arrested For Possession Of 'Destructive Device'.

• REPORT: Tamerlan Tsarnaev Buried At Muslim Site In Virginia.

• The Stock Market's Fundamentals Are Deteriorating.

• The Launch Of Obamacare Is Shaping Up To Be A Trainwreck.

• Facebook(FB) Home Is A Flop: Employees Know It And Users Don't Like It.

LA Times: 

• True Religion(TRLG) to be sold to TowerBrook for $835 million.

Reuters: 

• JPMorgan(JPM) board unanimously backs Dimon as chairman, CEO-letter.

• US prime money funds raise euro zone exposure in April-JPMorgan. U.S. prime money market funds slightly increased their holdings of euro zone bank debt in April after Cyprus received a bailout to manage its bank problems, according to a report by JPMorgan Securities released on Friday. 

• European development bank cuts growth forecast for emerging economies. Europe's development bank slashed its 2013 growth forecasts for emerging Europe and North Africa on Friday by almost a full percentage point, saying a sharp slowdown in Russia would drag down the regional economy. 

• US junk bond market ignites as money keeps pouring in. The US junk bond market is back in full swing, with investors embracing riskier assets in the hunt for yield and issuers getting away with historically tight pricing - and increasingly aggressive structures.

USA Today:

• IRS apologizes for targeting conservative groups. The Internal Revenue Service apologized Friday for inappropriately flagging conservative political groups for additional reviews during the 2012 election to see if they were violating their tax-exempt status. Lois Lerner, who heads the IRS unit that oversees tax-exempt groups, said organizations that included the words "tea party" or "patriot" in their applications for tax-exempt status were singled out for additional reviews. Her remarks came at an American Bar Association gathering.

ABC News:

• Exclusive: Benghazi Talking Points Underwent 12 Revisions, Scrubbed of Terror Reference. When it became clear last fall that the CIA’s now discredited Benghazi talking points were flawed, the White House said repeatedly the documents were put together almost entirely by the intelligence community, but White House documents reviewed by Congress suggest a different story. ABC News has obtained 12 different versions of the talking points that show they were extensively edited as they evolved from the drafts first written entirely by the CIA to the final version distributed to Congress and to U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice before she appeared on five talk shows the Sunday after that attack.

Telegraph:

• Spain is officially insolvent: get your money out while you still can. I'd not noticed this until someone drew my attention to it, but the latest IMF Fiscal Monitor, published last month, comes about as close to declaring Spain insolvent as you are ever likely to see in official analysis of this sort. Of course, it doesn't actually say this outright. The IMF is far too diplomatic for such language. But that's the plain meaning of its latest forecasts, which at last have an air of realism about them, rather than being the usual dose of wishful thinking.

• G7: US warns Japan to stick to rules on currency. Japan is pushing the boundaries of international agreements to avoid competitve currency devaluations, the US Treasury Secretary has warned, as the International Monetary Fund said unprecedented monetary easing could lead to a "serious boom and bust".  

Market News International: 

• China Banks Face More Curbs On Wealth Products. People's Bank of China and China Central Depository & Clearing notified banks that their wealth management product accounts can't trade among themselves or with the bank's own proprietary trading account, citing traders. New regulations will make the process of how banks are allowed to offload assets underlying wealth products more complicated.

Bear Radar

Style Underperformer:

• Large-Cap Value -.31%

Sector Underperformers:

• 1) Gold & Silver -1.80% 2) Coal -1.71% 3) Steel -1.57%

Stocks Falling on Unusual Volume:

• EGY, DK, TCB, CIB, HES, ANAC, TEO, APO, AMAP, GLPW, CHE, KYAK, OPTR, PANL, ET, OFIX, CEO, AIRM, SIRO, MDRX, CG, GHDX, CFN, MBI, AL, GEVA, NKA, NBL, BID, CTB, SFUN, FSP, TCB, EVEP and TNGO

Stocks With Unusual Put Option Activity:

• 1) FTK 2) TSLA 3) MU 4) SCHW 5) EWJ
  

Stocks With Most Negative News Mentions:

• 1) CCL 2) LTD 3) KSS 4) LVS 5) JCP
  

Charts:

• ETFs Falling on Unusual Volume

• Stocks Falling on Unusual Volume

Bull Radar

Style Outperformer:

• Small-Cap Growth +.39%

Sector Outperformers:

• 1) Biotech +.89% 2) Disk Drives +.87% 3) Hospitals +.73%
  

Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume:

• BT, TSLA, SZYM, TRLG, UBNT, PCLN, FTK, GPS, SCTY, WCRX, SWFT and SPWR

Stocks With Unusual Call Option Activity:

• 1) ABFS 2) TIVO 3) ROC 4) WAG 5) SQNM
  

Stocks With Most Positive News Mentions:

• 1) ABCO 2) GVA 3) BSX 4) TRLG 5) PEP
  

Charts:

• ETFs Rising on Unusual Volume 

• Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume