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Federal Reserve Open Market Operations
The Fed's Open Market Operations desk performed 1 repurchase operation.
- a $6.25billion, overnight repurchase entirely in T-backed collateral.
Major US Indices
As was to be expected with such good-sized T-backed repo activity, 10 a.m. was the time to line up on the buy side. Between 10 a.m. and 11:15, the S&P rose a tad under 10 points and the Dow rose about 80 points; "repo pump" long positions were never underwater by more than a single point. The TICK indicator was going silly, and it was clear that somebody had their foot to the floor using other people's money. During that time, there was data on Mortgages and what-have-you, but as I mentioned previously, most of it was Wall Street's usual ego-handjob for Greenspan. Once the senile waste of taxpayers money has shut his flapping pie-hole, the handjob was over and the market gave back every single point of the advance. There was then some feeble attempt to generate a short squeeze, which saw the futures rise 5 points from about 2 p.m. Chicago time. All things considered, it was a typical "Maestrobation" day.
After dipping nearly 50 points at the open, and after being pushed up as high as 10875, the DJIA closed with a loss of 18.03 points (0.17%), closing out the day at 10811.97 points; within the blue-chip index, 11 stocks rose, the biggest gainers being Boeing (BA +1.49% to $55.30) and General Electric (GE +1.08% to $35.60). Losers in the Dow numbered 17 and were led by American International Group (AIG -2.05% to $65.06) and General Motors (GM -1.89% to $35.30); Volume traded was tilted in favour of the losers by 243.6m shares to 90m.
The broader S&P500 shed 0.33 points (0.03%), ending the day at 1210.08. Over at Times Square, the Nasdaq Composite slid 3.75 points (0.18%), to close at 2067.5, while larger-cap technology issues fared better with the Nasdaq100 losing 1.97 points (0.13%), to end at 1525.28 points.
NYSE Volume was adequate, with 1.57 billion shares changing hands, while Nasdaq Volume was pretty chunky (over 2 bill), with 2.01 billion shares being used as gambling chips by folks better suited to playing Quake.
| Major Market Statistics | |||
| Index | Close | Gain(Loss) | % |
| DJIA | 10811.97 | -18.03 | -0.17% |
| S&P500 | 1210.08 | -0.33 | -0.03% |
| Nasdaq Composite | 2067.5 | -3.75 | -0.18% |
| Nasdaq100 | 1525.28 | -1.97 | -0.13% |
| NYSE Volume | 1.57bn | - | - |
| Nasdaq Volume | 2.01bn | - | - |
Bellwethers
My 9-stock "bellwethers" group rose by an average of 0.09%
- General Electric (GE) +$0.38 (1.08%) to $35.60;
- Citigroup (C) +$0.25 (0.52%) to $48.13;
- Wal Mart (WMT) -$0.09 (0.17%) to $51.95;
- I.B.M. (IBM) -$0.38 (0.41%) to $92.92;
- Intel (INTC) -$0.10 (0.41%) to $24.52;
- Cisco Systems (CSCO) +$0.24 (1.37%) to $17.74;
- eBay (EBAY) -$0.51 (1.2%) to $42.07;
- Fannie Mae (FNM) +$0.04 (0.07%) to $59.61; and
- Freddie Mac (FRE) -$0.01 (0.02%) to $63.75.
Market Breadth & Internals
NYSE declining issues beat out advancers by 1762 to 1515, for a single-day A/D reading of -247; and Nasdaq losers exceeded gainers by 1752 to 1354. The 10-day moving average of the A/D line fell to 205.6 on the NYSE, while the 10dma of the Nasdaq A/D fell to -43.2.
On the NYSE declining volume was greater than volume in advancing issues by 775.3 to 746.4 million shares; On the Nasdaq declining volume exceeded volume in advancing issues by 1203.3 to 778.7 million shares.
178 NYSE-listed stocks rose to new 52-week highs, and 20 posted fresh 52-week lows, while on the Nasdaq there were 108 stocks that hit new 52-week highs, and 46 which fell to fresh 52-week lows.
| Market Breadth Statistics | ||
| NYSE | Nasdaq | |
| Advancers | 1515 | 1354 |
| Decliners | 1762 | 1752 |
| Advancing Volume (m) | 746.36 | 778.69 |
| Declining Volume (m) | 775.25 | 1203.29 |
| New Highs | 178 | 108 |
| New Lows | 20 | 46 |
Market Sentiment
| Market Sentiment Statistics | |||
| Index | Close | Gain(Loss) | % |
| CBOE Volatility Index | 12.46 | 0.42 | 3.49% |
| CBOE Nasdaq Volatility Index | 18.15 | 0.37 | 2.08% |
| Equity Put-Call Ratio | 0.69 | 0.2 | 40.82% |
| 10-day PCR | 0.6 | 0.02 | 3.45% |
| SPX-VIX Ratio | 97.1 | -3.42 | -3.4% |
Bond Market Analysis
The short position in the March05 30-year Bond Futures (taken at 117) added another 5 ticks (US$156.25 per contract) to the profits kitty, bringing the total gain on the position to USD$4,250 per contract. At one stage the futures got down to 112& 16/32, which represented a $4,500 gain per contract (each contract has an initial margin of $1755, and a maintenance margin of $1300) since February 8th (or shortly thereafter - I forget).
The yield on the benchmark 30-year Treasury bond rose another 1.6 basis points to 4.737%. The yield on the 5-year dipped from its 52-week high to a hair under 4%.
| Treasury Yields | |||
| Index | Close | Gain(Loss) | % |
| UST 13wk (yld) | 2.677 | 0 | 0% |
| UST 2Y (yld) | 3.54 | -0.02 | -0.56% |
| UST 5Y (yld) | 3.994 | -0.014 | -0.35% |
| UST 10Y (yld) | 4.379 | 0.007 | 0.16% |
| UST 30Y (yld) | 4.737 | 0.016 | 0.34% |
The Banks Index shed 0.26 points (0.26%), closing at 100.19; within the index,
- Wachovia (WB) -$0.68 (1.27%) to $52.93;
- North Fork Bancorp (NFB) -$0.26 (0.9%) to $28.77;
- Golden West Financial (GDW) -$0.39 (0.63%) to $61.91;
- Wells Fargo (WFC) -$0.35 (0.58%) to $59.50; and
- National City Corp (NCC) -$0.20 (0.55%) to $35.95.
The Broker-dealer Index gained 0.72 points (0.48%), ending the day at 150.01; the ticket clippers lined up as follows -
- Ameritrade (AMTD) +$0.39 (3.67%) to $11.02;
- Charles Schwab (SCH) +$0.25 (2.34%) to $10.93;
- E*Trade (ET) +$0.10 (0.74%) to $13.65;
- A G Edwards (AGE) +$0.25 (0.57%) to $44.04; and
- Raymond James (RJF) +$0.11 (0.35%) to $31.16.
The Philadelphia SOX (Semiconductor) index lost 7.04 points (1.57%), ending the day at 440.01
- Novellus Systems (NVLS) -$1.28 (4.24%) to $28.90;
- Freescale Semiconductors (FSL-B) -$0.51 (2.57%) to $19.34;
- Applied Materials (AMAT) -$0.45 (2.55%) to $17.22;
- KLA-Tencor (KLAC) -$1.16 (2.32%) to $48.87; and
- Xilinx (XLNX) -$0.69 (2.21%) to $30.55.
Gold & Silver Markets
Gold rose $0.40 (0.09%) to close at $434.10 per ounce.
The Gold Bugs Index advanced 2.71 points (1.29%), ending the day at 213.23
- Golden Star (GSS) +$0.23 (8.36%) to $2.98;
- Kinross Gold (KGC) +$0.21 (3.28%) to $6.62;
- Eldorado Gold (EGO) +$0.08 (2.64%) to $3.11;
- Goldcorp (GG) +$0.30 (2.25%) to $13.62; and
- Randgold Resources (GOLD) +$0.26 (1.98%) to $13.38.
Silver rose $0.08 (1.08%) to close at $7.32 per ounce. The Gold and Silver Index (XAU) gained 1.27 points (1.31%), at 98.12 points.
- Kinross Gold (KGC) +$0.21 (3.28%) to $6.62;
- Barrick Gold (ABX) +$0.65 (2.67%) to $25.00;
- Goldcorp (GG) +$0.30 (2.25%) to $13.62; and
- Anglogold Ashanti (AU) +$0.70 (1.98%) to $36.01.
| Precious Metals and Indices | |||
| Index | Close | Gain(Loss) | % |
| Gold | 434.10 | 0.40 | 0.09% |
| Silver | 7.32 | 0.08 | 1.08% |
| PHLX Gold and Silver Index | 98.12 | 1.27 | 1.31% |
| AMEX Gold BUGS Index | 213.23 | 2.71 | 1.29% |
Oil Market
Oil was firmer, despite inventory data showing an inventory build of 2.4 million barrels. Crude rose $1.47 per barrel, closing at $53.10 per barrel. The Oil and Gas Index (XOI) rose 8.3 points (0.98%), to 857.43
- Kerr Mcgee (KMG) +$2.19 (2.85%) to $78.99;
- Occidental Petroleum (OXY) +$1.63 (2.35%) to $70.94; and
- Sunoco (SUN) +$1.15 (1.18%) to $98.30.
The Oil service stocks (OSX) Index rose 1.64 points (1.19%), ending the day at 139.51
- Halliburton (HAL) +$0.89 (2.08%) to $43.74;
- Nabors Industries (NBR) +$1.15 (2.04%) to $57.40; and
- Schlumberger (SLB) +$1.33 (1.79%) to $75.81.
| Energy Complex | |||
| Index | Close | Gain(Loss) | % |
| Reuters CRB | 306.65 | 1.39 | 0.46% |
| Crude Oil Light Sweet | 53.10 | 1.47 | 2.85% |
| Heating Oil | 1.5065 | 0.04 | 2.84% |
| Natural Gas | 6.73 | 0.05 | 0.73% |
| Unleaded Gas | 1.4801 | 0.08 | 5.49% |
| AMEX Oil Index | 857.43 | 8.3 | 0.98% |
| Oil Service Index | 139.51 | 1.64 | 1.19% |
Currency Markets
| Currency Prices | |||
| Index | Close | Gain(Loss) | % |
| US Dollar Index | 83.05 | 0.27 | 0.33% |
| Euro | 1.313 | -0.0054 | -0.41% |
| Yen | 104.69 | 0.28 | 0.27% |
| Sterling | 1.9127 | -0.008 | -0.42% |
| Australian Dollar | 0.7826 | -0.0043 | -0.55% |
| Swiss Franc | 1.1742 | 0.0089 | 0.76% |
| Canadian Dollar | 0.8071 | 0.0012 | 0.15% |
