Wednesday, June 16, 2004

Wednesday Close

S&P 500 1,133.60 +.14%
NASDAQ 1,998.24 +.13%


Leading Sectors
Oil Service +2.70%
Energy +1.85%
Biotech +1.29%

Lagging Sectors
Software -.58%
Broadcasting -.94%
Homebuilders -.97%

Other
Crude Oil 37.65 unch.
Natural Gas 6.52 +.57%
Gold 385.60 +.10%
Base Metals 105.36 +.40%
U.S. Dollar 90.01 +1.03%
10-Yr. T-note Yield 4.72% +1.02%
VIX 14.79 -1.73%
Put/Call .66 -12.0%
NYSE Arms .96 +3.23%

After-hours Movers
JBL -10.01% after meeting 3Q estimates and lowering 4Q forecast.
CHIR -3.21% after saying it intends to raise approximately $350 million gross proceeds through an offering of 30-year convertible debtentures.

Recommendations
Goldman reiterated Underperform on BSC. Goldman reiterated Attractive view on Gold sector.

After-hours News
U.S. stocks finished slightly higher today on low volume as investors continue to show apprehension ahead of several market-moving events. After the close, Moqtada al-Sadr told his Mahdi Army fighters to leave the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala and go home, the NY Times reported. President Reagan will be featured on a postage stamp in February, Bloomberg reported. The U.S. dollar rose today on the heels of reports showing the strongest industrial production in 6 years and a strong housing market. Ford Motor increased its second-quarter earnings forecast to .45-.50/share from .30-35/share, Bloomberg reported. Delta Air, which may seek bankruptcy protection, expects spending on jet fuel to rise 35% this year, CEO Grinstein said.

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio was slightly lower today and I took profits in a few longs in the afternoon and added a few shorts, leaving the Portfolio with 25% net long market exposure. One of my new shorts is FDS and I am using a stop-loss of $52.25. Apprehension remains high ahead many market-moving events, thus the churning action in the major indices. However, fundamentals are excellent and improving. If tomorrow's core PPI does not exceed expectations, I will change my view that the Fed will raise rates by 50 basis points by June 30 to 25 basis points on June 30. I suspect tomorrow's bond market action will dictate the direction of stock prices one way or the other.

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