Stocks Reversing Slightly Higher into Afternoon on Buyout Speculation, Oil Bounce, Short-Covering, Commodity/Hospital Sector Strength

Broad Equity Market Tone:

• Advance/Decline Line: About Even
  

• Sector Performance: Mixed
  

• Volume: Slightly Below Average

• Market Leading Stocks: Underperforming

Equity Investor Angst:

• Volatility(VIX) 15.62 unch.

• Euro/Yen Carry Return Index 136. 22 -.21%

• Emerging Markets Currency Volatility(VXY) 10.35 +.68%

• S&P 500 Implied Correlation 56.11 -1.84%

• ISE Sentiment Index 81.0 -26.36%

• Total Put/Call 1.07 +3.88%

• NYSE Arms .65 -49.70% 

Credit Investor Angst:

• North American Investment Grade CDS Index 85.66 +.97%

• America Energy Sector High-Yield CDS Index 1,314.0 -.56%

• European Financial Sector CDS Index 70.47 +1.21%

• Western Europe Sovereign Debt CDS Index 19.08 +.26%

• Asia Pacific Sovereign Debt CDS Index 69.12 +1.46%

• Emerging Market CDS Index 316.75 +.61%
  

• iBoxx Offshore RMB China Corporate High Yield Index 124.34 +.08%

• 2-Year Swap Spread 5.75 -1.0 basis point

• TED Spread 27.0 -1.5 basis points

• 3-Month EUR/USD Cross-Currency Basis Swap -49.0 +1.75 basis points

Economic Gauges:

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 70.97 +.36%
• 3-Month T-Bill Yield .16% +5.0 basis points

• Yield Curve 131.0 -2.0 basis points

• China Import Iron Ore Spot $43.89/Metric Tonne -1.92%

• Citi US Economic Surprise Index -17.2 -4.4 points

• Citi Eurozone Economic Surprise Index 35.40 +2.6 points

• Citi Emerging Markets Economic Surprise Index 2.80 +.3 point

• 10-Year TIPS Spread 1.64 unch.
• # of Months to 1st Fed Rate Hike(Morgan Stanley) 2.05 -.45

Overseas Futures:

• Nikkei 225 Futures: Indicating -29 open in Japan 
• China A50 Futures: Indicating -57 open in China

• DAX Futures: Indicating +15 open in Germany

Portfolio: 

• Slightly Lower: On losses in my biotech/tech sector longs 

• Disclosed Trades: Added to my (IWM)/(QQQ) hedges, then covered some of them

• Market Exposure: 50% Net Long