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Federal Reserve Open Market Operations
The Fed's Open Market Operations desk performed 1 repurchase operation last night:
- a $4.25billion, overnight repurchase entirely in T-backed collateral .
That should not have been enough to goose the markets, but this week was a week that had an upward bias at least for the early part (see the missive sent on Monday via e-mail).
Major US Indices
Long index futures on pullbacks - still working so far.
Obviously today had a little bit of window dressing given the upcoming State of the Onion speech by the US's head chimpanzee, plus Mr Magoo's waffle tomorrow after the FOMC meeting.
Why anybody would based their equities positions on the utterances of such liars and frauds is beyond me ("There can be no doubt that the dictator possesses some of the most dangerous weapons ever devised"... or can there?). Between Magoo and the Chimp they share the intellect of JFK after that incident in Dallas - and JFK weren't none too bright neither.
Paul Krugman wrote a brilliant piece on the fraudulent assumptions underlying Bush's claims of the impending bankruptcy of Social Security; basically, if the market assumptions are true, then SocSec is not in any difficulty. (The market assumptions aren't true, but that also mitigates against privatising!!) The one possible universe in which stocks will outperform the rate of growth of Social Security Trust Funds, is if
- real earnings growth outstrips economic growth by 5% a year for 50 years; and at the same time
- the PE multiple of the entire stock market rises to over 100 by 2050.
So let's not refer to Bush's claims about SocSec, let's call them what they really are: they're lies. He (Bush) knows they're lies, just as he (Bush) knew he was lying his head off about Iraq. And in both cases, the lies (tht's what they are) were perpetrated in order to effect the transfer of shitloads of money from taxpayers to major campaign donors and ideilogical soulmates. Last time it was Israel, the oil industry and the military-industrial complex; this time it's Wall Street. And anyone who says otherwise is selling something, Princess.
The DJIA added 62 points (0.59%), closing out the day at 10551.94 points; the broader S&P500 rose 8.14 points (0.69%), at 1189.41. Over at Times Square, the Nasdaq Composite added 6.29 points (0.3%), to close at 2068.7, while larger-cap technology issues fared worse with the Nasdaq100 adding 4.03 points (0.27%), to end at 1523.66 points.
NYSE Volume was chunky, with 1.71 billion shares changing hands, while Nasdaq Volume was chunky, with 1.91 billion shares being shifted from one online brokerage account to another (and back again, in all likelihood).
| Index | Close | Gain(Loss) | % |
| DJIA | 10551.94 | 62 | 0.59% |
| S&P500 | 1189.41 | 8.14 | 0.69% |
| Nasdaq Composite | 2068.7 | 6.29 | 0.3% |
| Nasdaq100 | 1523.66 | 4.03 | 0.27% |
| NYSE Volume | 1.71bn | - | - |
| Nasdaq Volume | 1.91bn | - | - |
Bellwethers
My 9-stock "bellwethers" group rose by an average of 0.47%; someone had better give me a good reason not to buy puts over Citigroup, because it it just itching to be taken down. As I said yesterday, the stock is the most heavily "managed" of all the NYSE stocks, but even its "handlers" kick it in the teeth from time to time. With Financials at a stupendous 23% proportion of total S&P500 market cap (taking the place of Oil stocks in the 1970s and Tech stocks in 1999/2000), the Banks are ripe for a broad massacre... last night one of the ratings agencies (who are always too late with downgrades) noted that even they have downgraded more ABS (asset backed securities) than they've upgraded this year... by a margin of 2:1.
- Cisco Systems (CSCO) +$0.09 (0.5%) to $18.13;
- eBay (EBAY) -$3.57 (4.38%) to $77.93;
- Citigroup (C) +$0.43 (0.88%) to $49.48;
- Wal Mart (WMT) +$0.21 (0.4%) to $52.61;
- I.B.M. (IBM) +$0.44 (0.47%) to $93.86;
- General Electric (GE) +$0.15 (0.42%) to $36.28;
- Intel (INTC) +$0.18 (0.8%) to $22.63;
- Fannie Mae (FNM) +$1.62 (2.51%) to $66.17; and
- Freddie Mac (FRE) +$1.71 (2.62%) to $67.00.
Market Breadth & Internals
NYSE advancing Issues exceeded decliners by 2294 to 1046 for a single-day A/D reading of 1248; that follows yesterday's reading in excess of 1000... just goes to show you how ovine most investors are; give them some propaganda to convince them that "warring with the darkie" is actually a good thing, and they will believe you. Nasdaq gainers trumped losers by 1764 to 1321 - a more sensible number, which is troubling (when tech stock nuffnuffs are more sensible than the "Big Board").
NYSE advancing volume exceeded volume in decliners by 1169.18 to 513.65 million shares; Nasdaq advancing volume was greater than volume in decliners by 634.17 to 397.42 million shares.
249 NYSE-listed stocks rose to new 52-week highs, and 4 posted fresh 52-week lows, while on the Nasdaq there were 113 stocks that hit new 52-week highs, and 24 which fell to fresh 52-week lows.
| NYSE | Nasdaq | |
| Advancers | 2294 | 1764 |
| Decliners | 1046 | 1321 |
| Advancing Volume (m) | 1169.18 | 634.17 |
| Declining Volume (m) | 513.65 | 397.42 |
| New Highs | 249 | 113 |
| New Lows | 4 | 24 |
Market Sentiment
| Index | Close | Gain(Loss) | % |
| Equity Call Volume (000) | 2509.89 | 62.41 | 2.55% |
| Equity Put Volume (000) | 1852.6 | -39.71 | -2.1% |
| CBOE Volatility Index | 12.03 | -1.21 | -9.14% |
| CBOE Nasdaq Volatility Index | 17.76 | -0.82 | -4.41% |
| Equity Put-Call Ratio | 0.74 | -0.04 | -4.53% |
| SPX-VIX Ratio | 98.87 | 10.399 | 11.75% |
Bond Market Analysis
Bonds fell at the long end, with the yield on the benchmark 30-year Treasury bond rising 0.9 basis points to 4.595%. The only real action was in the very short end, with 13-week bill rates rising 4 basis points, basically bringing the 13-wk rate fully in to line with tomorrow's expected rate hike from the Fed.
| Index | Close | Gain(Loss) | % |
| UST 13wk (yld) | 2.462 | 0.04 | 1.65% |
| UST 2Y (yld) | 3.264 | 0 | 0% |
| UST 5Y (yld) | 3.694 | 0 | 0% |
| UST 10Y (yld) | 4.138 | 0.006 | 0.15% |
| UST 30Y (yld) | 4.595 | 0.009 | 0.2% |
The Banks Index added 1.01 points (1%), to end the session at 102.09; within the index,
- North Fork Bancorp (NFB) +$1.00 (3.48%) to $29.70;
- Golden West Financial (GDW) +$1.58 (2.45%) to $66.20;
- Zions Bancorp (ZION) +$1.14 (1.68%) to $68.96;
- State Street (STT) +$0.74 (1.65%) to $45.55; and
- National City Corp (NCC) +$0.58 (1.63%) to $36.13.
The Broker-dealer Index added 0.31 points (0.21%), ending the day at 150.95; the ticket clippers lined up as follows -
- Morgan Stanley (MWD) +$1.29 (2.31%) to $57.25;
- Legg Mason (LM) +$0.86 (1.11%) to $78.09;
- Bear Stearns (BSC) +$0.93 (0.92%) to $101.99;
- Lehman Brothers (LEH) +$0.76 (0.83%) to $91.95; and
- Merrill Lynch (MER) +$0.50 (0.83%) to $60.57.
The Philadelphia SOX (Semiconductor) index rose 4.5 points (1.11%), ending the day at 408.46
- Altera (ALTR) +$0.07 (0.36%) to $19.27;
- Teradyne (TER) +$0.47 (3.35%) to $14.50;
- Applied Materials (AMAT) +$0.50 (3.14%) to $16.40;
- Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) +$0.47 (2.97%) to $16.27; and
- Micron Technology (MU) +$0.29 (2.79%) to $10.70.
Gold & Silver Markets
Gold fell by another $1.50 (0.35%) to close at $422.80 per ounce. The Gold Bugs Index advanced 1.32 points (0.65%), ending the day at 202.89
- Coeur d'Alene (CDE) +$0.13 (3.68%) to $3.66;
- Eldorado Gold (EGO) +$0.05 (1.85%) to $2.75;
- Gold Fields (GFI) +$0.18 (1.59%) to $11.50;
- Iamgold (IAG) +$0.10 (1.51%) to $6.72; and
- Glamis Gold (GLG) +$0.22 (1.4%) to $15.98.
Silver fell by $0.01 (0.15%) to close at $6.74 per ounce. The Gold and Silver Index (XAU) gained 0.28 points (0.31%), at 91.68 points.
- Durban Rooderpoert Deep (DROOY) +$0.04 (3.05%) to $1.35;
- Anglogold Ashanti (AU) +$0.60 (1.83%) to $33.37;
- Gold Fields (GFI) +$0.18 (1.59%) to $11.50; and
- Goldcorp (GG) +$0.19 (1.36%) to $14.18.
| Index | Close | Gain(Loss) | % |
| Gold | 422.8 | -1.5 | -0.35% |
| Silver | 6.735 | -0.01 | -0.15% |
| PHLX Gold and Silver Index | 91.68 | 0.28 | 0.31% |
| AMEX Gold BUGS Index | 202.89 | 1.32 | 0.65% |
Oil Market
Oil lost ground, shedding $0.93 per barrel, closing at $47.18 per barrel. The Oil and Gas Index (XOI) posted a rise of 13.4 points (1.8%), to end the session at 758.91
- Exxon Mobil (XOM) +$1.67 (3.24%) to $53.27;
- Sunoco (SUN) +$2.70 (3.09%) to $90.19; and
- Royal Dutch Shell (RD) +$1.49 (2.55%) to $59.96.
- Cooper Cameron (CAM) +$0.90 (1.6%) to $57.31;
- Tidewater (TDW) +$0.59 (1.52%) to $39.35; and
- Rowan Companies (RDC) +$0.38 (1.35%) to $28.54;
| Index | Close | Gain(Loss) | % |
| Reuters CRB | 284 | 0.25 | 0.09% |
| Crude Oil Light Sweet | 47.18 | -0.93 | -1.93% |
| AMEX Oil Index | 758.91 | 13.4 | 1.8% |
| Oil Service Index | 129.75 | 0.17 | 0.13% |
Currency Markets
[Commentary]
| Index | Close | Gain(Loss) | % |
| US Dollar Index | 83.46 | -0.19 | -0.23% |
| Euro | 1.3038 | 0.0007 | 0.05% |
| Yen | 103.7 | 0.03 | 0.03% |
| Sterling | 1.8835 | 0.001 | 0.05% |
| Australian Dollar | 0.7745 | -0.0008 | -0.1% |
| Swiss Franc | 1.1905 | 0.0017 | 0.14% |
| Canadian Dollar | 0.8086 | 0.0029 | 0.36% |
Key Pivots (US Futures Market)
| Dow | S&P500 | Nasdaq | Bonds | |
| R2 | 10612 | 1196.97 | 1539.5 | 115 13/32 |
| R1 | 10578 | 1193.23 | 1534.5 | 115 3/32 |
| Pivot | 10532 | 1187.27 | 1527.5 | 114 27/32 |
| S1 | 10498 | 1183.53 | 1522.5 | 114 17/32 |
| S2 | 10452 | 1177.57 | 1515.5 | 114 9/32 |
European Markets
[Commentary]
European Indices
| Country | Index | Last | % | % |
| France | CAC 40 | 3939.18 | 25.49 | 0.65% |
| Germany | DAX-30 | 4279.97 | 25.12 | 0.59% |
| UK | FTSE 100 | 4906.2 | 53.9 | 1.11% |
| Italy | MIBTel | 24237 | 146 | 0.61% |
European Index Internals
| CAC-40 | DAX-30 | FTSE-100 | |
| Advancers | 34 | 19 | 82 |
| Decliners | 3 | 11 | 15 |
| Advancing Volume (m) | 169.2 | 59.4 | 1133.1 |
| Declining Volume (m) | 7.4 | 35.3 | 500 |
Euro STOXX-50 Largest Volume
| Name | Close (€) | Change | % | Volume |
| Telefonica | 14 | 0.04 | 0.29% | 28831578 |
| Bosch | 9.09 | 0.06 | 0.66% | 27282416 |
| Philips | 20.65 | 0.57 | 2.84% | 21561364 |
| Deutsche Telekom | 16.54 | -0.04 | -0.24% | 19579320 |
| BBVA | 13 | 0.08 | 0.62% | 18396468 |
CAC-40 Largest Gainers
| Name | Close (€) | Change | % | Volume |
| L.V.M.H. | 54.45 | 1.15 | 2.16% | 2543231 |
| Suez | 21.06 | 0.42 | 2.03% | 7571190 |
| Alcatel | 11.23 | 0.22 | 2% | 12279718 |
| Total | 167.5 | 3 | 1.82% | 2915705 |
| Casino Guichard | 63.35 | 0.8 | 1.28% | 294539 |
CAC-40 Largest Decliners
| Name | Close (€) | Change | % | Volume |
| Lagardere S.C.A. | 57.2 | -0.7 | -1.21% | 618772 |
| Sanofi-Aventis | 56.85 | -0.4 | -0.7% | 5210865 |
| Thomson | 19.39 | -0.07 | -0.36% | 1528791 |
| Vinci | 109.7 | -0.3 | -0.27% | 692937 |
| Thales | 34.98 | 0 | 0% | 397446 |
FTSE Largest Gainers
| Name | Close (£) | Change | % | Volume |
| Exel | 8.73 | 0.72 | 8.99% | 16530103 |
| Xstrata | 9.635 | 0.39 | 4.16% | 10291736 |
| Anglo American | 12.79 | 0.47 | 3.81% | 16979098 |
| Amvescap | 3.6 | 0.12 | 3.45% | 21875424 |
| BHP Billiton | 6.795 | 0.23 | 3.42% | 22408366 |
FTSE Largest Decliners
| Name | Close (£) | Change | % | Volume |
| Corus Group | 0.53 | -0.01 | -1.4% | 57171272 |
| Mmo2 | 1.24 | -0.02 | -1.39% | 55108072 |
| ICI | 2.3275 | -0.03 | -1.38% | 11990056 |
| Boots Group | 6.605 | -0.06 | -0.9% | 4486241 |
| Sabmiller | 8.08 | -0.06 | -0.68% | 4710063 |
DAX-30 Largest Gainers
| Name | Close (€) | Change | % | Volume |
| Linde | 50.08 | 1.4 | 2.88% | 880943 |
| RWE | 45.1 | 0.87 | 1.97% | 5198828 |
| Bayerische MotorWerke (BMW) | 32.77 | 0.6 | 1.87% | 3198282 |
| Infineon Tech | 7.24 | 0.12 | 1.69% | 7946348 |
| Volkswagen | 37.39 | 0.58 | 1.58% | 3232923 |
DAX-30 Largest Decliners
| Name | Close (€) | Change | % | Volume |
| Schering | 51.55 | -0.35 | -0.67% | 1005659 |
| Fresenius Medical | 61.76 | -0.41 | -0.66% | 216646 |
| SAP | 118.6 | -0.69 | -0.58% | 1899843 |
| Deutsche Post | 17.8 | -0.07 | -0.39% | 51,900 |
| Muenchen Rueckvers | 87.37 | -0.3 | -0.34% | 114,850 |
