Friday, August 05, 2005

Stocks Modestly Lower Mid-day on Worries Over Rising Rates

Indices
S&P 500 1,227.96 -.72%
DJIA 10,565.75 -.42%
NASDAQ 2,179.82 -.52%
Russell 2000 662.45 -1.40%
DJ Wilshire 5000 12,234.19 -.84%
S&P Barra Growth 589.47 -.45%
S&P Barra Value 633.02 -.99%
Morgan Stanley Consumer 584.86 -.45%
Morgan Stanley Cyclical 752.44 -.55%
Morgan Stanley Technology 502.17 -.57%
Transports 3,741.05 -.67%
Utilities 396.17 -1.62%
Put/Call 1.10 +5.77%
NYSE Arms .99 -21.08%
Volatility(VIX) 12.90 +3.04%
ISE Sentiment 188.00 -8.29%
US Dollar 88.19 +.43%
CRB 315.65 -.03%

Futures Spot Prices
Crude Oil 62.05 +1.09%
Unleaded Gasoline 183.00 +1.65%
Natural Gas 8.62 +1.76%
Heating Oil 172.00 +.71%
Gold 443.10 -.14%
Base Metals 127.91 +.07%
Copper 164.70 -.45%
10-year US Treasury Yield 4.38% +1.77%

Leading Sectors
Internet -.02%
Software -.16%
Semis -.20%

Lagging Sectors
Oil Tankers -2.66%
Homebuilders -3.44%
Broadcasting -4.53%
BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio is slightly lower mid-day on losses in my Homebuilding, Internet and Retail longs. I took profits in a few longs this morning and added to my IWM and QQQQ shorts, thus leaving the Portfolio 50% net long. The tone of the market is negative as the advance/decline line is lower, every sector is lower and volume is below average. Measures of investor anxiety are mostly higher. Today’s overall market action is mildly negative considering the rise in rates/oil and recent gains. Semiconductors are outperforming today, barely down, which is a positive. I expect US stocks to mixed from current levels into the close as short-covering offsets higher rates.

No comments: