Note - from June 24th 2009, this blog has migrated from Blogger to a self-hosted version. Click here to go straight there.
behold the beauty of "dotted lines in table headers". Am I pleased with myself on the CSS front? You bet your sweet bippy, Pilgrim. If it wasn't for the interaction between my beautiful CSS and Blogger's system (which replaces some tags... something I didn't know about), the Rant would never have experienced the period of display geistescrank that readers were forced to endure. Plus, it's made each Rant page about 15% smaller, which will be important soon.
Federal Reserve Open Market Operations
The Fed's Open Market Operations desk performed 1 repurchase operation.
- a $11billion, overnight repurchase with $10.602billion in T-backed collateral .
And yet nothing moved up until after 3 p.m.; how odd.
Major US Indices
Well, I said when I mentioned those $47.50 Citigroup March puts (which were "bought" at $45) that C would trade below $46.50 at some stage between purchase and when the options expired (it's in the archive - go look if you like!).
The options expired last night, but not before Citigroup plunged!! (It's low was $46.37, from memory) I'd been chafing at C's apparent confidence at or above $47.50 for the past fortnight, and the damn thing waited until the very last day to finally tank. Still, it meant that the options rose to above $135 at one stage during the session (before an obviously expiry-related moonshot into the close dragged all issues upward; the options closed at $80, so even if you held tothe death, the gain was 71% after commissions). Conversely, those who didn't cash in the AAPL $42.50 March puts (bought for $80, and which rose as high as $390 in less than a week) were left holding air as Apple rallied. Horses to water and so on...
It was a typical expiration session - I mentioned yesterday that there would likely be some shenanigans, and there sure were. After opening with a little move up, the indices traded downwards right up until 2 p.m., when the S&P had broken the support (at 1184) that every man and his dog was watching. It dropped to about 1183 - just enough penetration of the so-called "support" to encourage nuffies to short - and bunced just enough to trigger their stops. It then sagged again to re-test the low, and the low held. Then in the last hour, it was a one-way "option killing" ramp skywards, worth almost 7 S&P points.
After all that gyrating, the indices went... well... nowhere.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 3.32 points (0.03%), closing out the day at 10629.67 points. The index hit an intraday high of 10653.69, and fell as low as 10557.04 during the session.
Within the blue-chip index, 12 stocks rose, the biggest gainers being Exxon Mobil (XOM, +1.89% to $62.65) and United Technology (UTX, +1.31% to $103.71), which accounted for 18 Dow points between them. Losers in the Dow numbered 17 and were led by American International Group (AIG, -1.71% to $59.76) and Coca Cola (KO, -1.29% to $41.46), with these two stocks contributing -12 Dow points worth of downward pressure on the index. Volume traded was tilted in favour of the losers by372.2m shares to 142.2m.
The broader S&P500 declined 0.56 points (0.05%), closing at 1189.65. Over at Times Square, the Nasdaq Composite slid 8.63 points (0.43%), to close at 2007.79, while larger-cap technology issues fared better with the Nasdaq100 losing 3.23 points (0.22%), to end at 1484.4 points.
NYSE Volume was super-chunky, with 2.34 billion shares changing hands, while Nasdaq Volume was super-chunky (over 2 bill), with 2.09 billion shares being shifted from one online brokerage account to another (and back again, in all likelihood).
| Major Market Statistics | |||
| Index | Close | Gain(Loss) | % |
| Dow Jones Industrial Average | 10629.67 | 3.32 | 0.03% |
| S&P500 | 1189.65 | -0.56 | -0.05% |
| Nasdaq Composite | 2007.79 | -8.63 | -0.43% |
| Nasdaq100 | 1484.4 | -3.23 | -0.22% |
| NYSE Volume | 2.34bn | - | - |
| Nasdaq Volume | 2.09bn | - | - |
Bellwethers
My 9-stock "bellwethers" group fell by an average of 0.47%
- General Electric (GE) +$0.38 (1.07%) to $35.75;
- Citigroup (C) -$0.47 (0.99%) to $46.77;
- Wal Mart (WMT) -$0.47 (0.9%) to $51.86;
- I.B.M. (IBM) -$0.58 (0.65%) to $89.28;
- Intel (INTC) -$0.00 (0%) to $23.41;
- Cisco Systems (CSCO) -$0.23 (1.28%) to $17.80;
- eBay (EBAY) -$1.11 (3.07%) to $35.01;
- Fannie Mae (FNM) +$0.51 (0.94%) to $55.01; and
- Freddie Mac (FRE) +$0.40 (0.62%) to $64.42.
Market Breadth & Internals
NYSE declining Issues beat out advancers by 2104 to 1219, for a single-day A/D reading of -885; and Nasdaq losers exceeded gainers by 1877 to 1221. The 10-day moving average of the A/D line fell to -429.5 on the NYSE, while the 10dma of the Nasdaq A/D fell to -382.5.
On the NYSE declining volume was greater than volume in advancing issues by 1260.1 to 881.4 million shares; On the Nasdaq declining volume exceeded volume in advancing issues by 1270.9 to 711.5 million shares.
74 NYSE-listed stocks rose to new 52-week highs, and 61 posted fresh 52-week lows, while on the Nasdaq there were 59 stocks that hit new 52-week highs, and 107 which fell to fresh 52-week lows.
| Market Breadth Statistics | ||
| NYSE | Nasdaq | |
| Advancers | 1219 | 1221 |
| Decliners | 2104 | 1877 |
| Advancing Volume (m) | 881.39 | 711.53 |
| Declining Volume (m) | 1260.08 | 1270.9 |
| New Highs | 74 | 59 |
| New Lows | 61 | 107 |
Market Sentiment
[]
| Market Sentiment Statistics | |||
| Index | Close | Gain(Loss) | % |
| CBOE Volatility Index | 13.15 | -0.14 | -1.05% |
| CBOE Nasdaq Volatility Index | 17.83 | -0.63 | -3.41% |
| Equity Put-Call Ratio | 1 | 0.15 | 17.65% |
| 10-day PCR | 0.83 | 0.04 | 5.54% |
| SPX-VIX Ratio | 90.5 | 0.91 | 1.02% |
Bond Market Analysis
Bonds fell at the long end, with the yield on the benchmark 30-year Treasury bond rising 5.1 basis points to 4.811%. Next week will see the long-awaited confrontation between the 5-years and a yield of 4.25%... if it gets through there, and 4.3% doesn't hold, we are in a world of hurt: mortgage rates have already climed nearly half a point in the last two weeks, and any further yield damage will really start to make hairballs form in the guts of FNM and FRE - not to mention homebuilding stocks.
| Treasury Yields | |||
| Index | Close | Gain(Loss) | % |
| UST 13wk (yld) | 2.742 | 0 | 0% |
| UST 2Y (yld) | 3.68 | 0.02 | 0.55% |
| UST 5Y (yld) | 4.17 | 0.034 | 0.82% |
| UST 10Y (yld) | 4.511 | 0.041 | 0.92% |
| UST 30Y (yld) | 4.811 | 0.051 | 1.07% |
The Banks Index slid 0.31 points (0.31%), ending the day at 98.13; within the index,
- Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) -$0.67 (1.56%) to $42.37;
- National City Corp (NCC) -$0.50 (1.45%) to $34.06;
- Regions Financial (RF) -$0.40 (1.2%) to $32.84;
- BB&T Corp (BBT) -$0.44 (1.12%) to $38.76; and
- MBNA Corp (KRB) -$0.26 (1.04%) to $24.72.
The Broker-dealer Index dipped 0.26 points (0.17%), to end the session at 150.02; the ticket clippers lined up as follows -
- Charles Schwab (SCH) -$0.28 (2.61%) to $10.46;
- E*Trade (ET) -$0.24 (1.91%) to $12.35;
- Bear Stearns (BSC) -$0.99 (0.96%) to $102.00;
- Ameritrade (AMTD) -$0.09 (0.85%) to $10.55; and
- Jeffries Group (JEF) -$0.26 (0.66%) to $39.19.
The Philadelphia SOX (Semiconductor) index dipped 3.67 points (0.88%), to end the session at 414.13
- Altera (ALTR) -$0.58 (2.92%) to $19.30;
- National Semiconductors (NSM) -$0.61 (2.91%) to $20.38;
- Broadcom (BRCM) -$0.62 (2.05%) to $29.57;
- Xilinx (XLNX) -$0.55 (1.85%) to $29.20; and
- Teradyne (TER) -$0.27 (1.84%) to $14.41.
Gold & Silver Markets
Gold rose $0.50 (0.11%) to close at $439.70 per ounce.
Gold Bugs Index declined 2.93 points (1.33%), closing at 217.22
- Meridian Gold (MDG) -$0.75 (4.16%) to $17.26;
- Eldorado Gold (EGO) -$0.09 (2.8%) to $3.12;
- Randgold Resources (GOLD) -$0.33 (2.54%) to $12.68;
- Agnico Eagle (AEM) -$0.39 (2.52%) to $15.11; and
- Glamis Gold (GLG) -$0.38 (2.26%) to $16.44.
Silver fell by $0.01 (0.14%) to close at $7.38 per ounce. The Gold and Silver Index (XAU) lost 1.05 points (1.03%), to 100.55 points.
- Meridian Gold (MDG) -$0.75 (4.16%) to $17.26;
- Agnico Eagle (AEM) -$0.39 (2.52%) to $15.11;
- Durban Rooderpoert Deep (DROOY) -$0.02 (2.3%) to $0.85; and
- Harmony Gold (HMY) -$0.18 (1.97%) to $8.98.
| Precious Metals and Indices | |||
| Index | Close | Gain(Loss) | % |
| Gold | 439.70 | 0.50 | 0.11% |
| Silver | 7.38 | -0.01 | -0.14% |
| PHLX Gold and Silver Index | 100.55 | -1.05 | -1.03% |
| AMEX Gold BUGS Index | 217.22 | -2.93 | -1.33% |
Oil Market
Oil was firmer, rising by $0.77 per barrel, closing at $56.72 per barrel (it got as high as $57 briefly, but didn't challenge yesterday's high). I mentioned (and keep mentioning) that the reason oil is gyrating around at these levels is because the "big money" is getting set. The periodic "dumps" in this market is just the big guys taking a crap on the heads of the "chasers", forcing them to exit (and triggering little "nuffie stop cascades"... usually during a thin period where automatic stops drive the market down hard). It would be funny if it wasn't so annoying... don't these clowns learn?
The Oil and Gas Index (XOI) posted a rise of 8.28 points (0.96%), to 875.03
- Kerr Mcgee (KMG) +$2.01 (2.5%) to $82.30;
- ConocoPhillips (COP) +$2.13 (1.97%) to $110.10; and
- Exxon Mobil (XOM) +$1.16 (1.89%) to $62.65.
The Oil service stocks (OSX) Index gained 0.94 points (0.68%), closing at 138.45
- Halliburton (HAL) +$1.18 (2.77%) to $43.80;
- Nabors Industries (NBR) +$1.15 (2.03%) to $57.90; and
- BJ Services (BJS) +$0.85 (1.73%) to $50.01.
| Energy Complex | |||
| Index | Close | Gain(Loss) | % |
| Reuters CRB | 319.2 | -2.3 | -0.72% |
| Crude Oil Light Sweet | 56.72 | 0.77 | 1.38% |
| Heating Oil | 1.5718 | 0 | -0.2% |
| Natural Gas | 7.273 | 0.12 | 1.65% |
| Unleaded Gas | 1.5755 | 0.02 | 1.57% |
| AMEX Oil Index | 875.03 | 8.28 | 0.96% |
| Oil Service Index | 138.45 | 0.94 | 0.68% |
Currency Markets
| USD Exchange Rates | |||
| Index | Close | Gain(Loss) | % |
| US Dollar Index | 82.12 | 0.33 | 0.4% |
| Euro | 1.3313 | -0.0059 | -0.44% |
| Yen | 104.72 | 0.21 | 0.2% |
| Sterling | 1.9209 | -0.0039 | -0.2% |
| Australian Dollar | 0.7948 | 0.002 | 0.25% |
| Swiss Franc | 1.1643 | 0.0074 | 0.64% |
| Canadian Dollar | 0.8319 | -0.0002 | -0.02% |
