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Federal Reserve Open Market Operations
The Fed's Open Market Operations desk performed 1 repurchase operation.
- a $7billion, weekend repurchase with $6.378billion in T-backed collateral .
Despite a decent dose of repo grease, there was not a single point to be had by trying to rise along on the repo moonshot - 10 a.m. was a swing high for the session. That's interesting, given that Fridays are usually prone to repo madness. Still, the Trade numbers were genuinely horrible, so it's no surprise that the market spat up a hairball (the trade deficit widened to $58.3 bill, worse than estimates of $57b).
To read the crap written by dills like the clots who wrote about it for Reuters and Econoday, it's Europe's fault... "exports grew by only 0.4% despite a more competitive dollar. This may reflect sluggish growth in Europe..."
Yeah, right... think of a way to externalise the problem. Blowing up kids in Iraq? That's Saddam's fault. Torture? That's bin Laden's fault. Shit-awful trade balance and mounting external debt? It's not US profligacy... it's Europe's sluggishness.
How about "exports grew by only 0.4% because the only segment of the US economy that's growing is the non-tradeable services sector". If all the new activity is as a result of more Wal-Mart "greeters", don't expect exports to rise, you pack of cretins.
Major US Indices
After a little burst at the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average turned and slid for pretty much the entire session, eventually closing down 77.15 points (0.71%) at 10774.36 points. The index hit an intraday high of 10872.35 (at about 10 a.m.), and fell as low as 10758.55 during the session, with the low being hit with half an hour left in the session.
Within the blue-chip index, 5 stocks rose, the biggest gainers being Alcoa (AA, +1.71% to $31.00) and Exxon Mobil (XOM, +1.13% to $61.05), which accounted for 9 Dow points between them. Losers in the Dow numbered 24 and were led by Hewlett Packard (HPQ, -3.16% to $19.94) and Intel (INTC, -2.62% to $24.20), with these two stocks contributing -10 Dow points worth of downward pressure on the index. Volume traded was tilted in favour of the losers by 329.5m shares to 43m.
The broader S&P500 slid 9.17 points (0.76%), to end the session at 1200.08. Over at Times Square, the Nasdaq Composite lost 18.12 points (0.88%), to close at 2041.6, while larger-cap technology issues fared worse with the Nasdaq100 losing 18.74 points (1.23%), to end at 1505.64 points.
NYSE Volume was chunky, with 1.45 billion shares changing hands, while Nasdaq Volume was fairly solid (considering that almost 5% of all Nasdaq volume is in the QQQQ), with 1.79 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 | 10774.36 | -77.15 | -0.71% |
| S&P500 | 1200.08 | -9.17 | -0.76% |
| Nasdaq Composite | 2041.6 | -18.12 | -0.88% |
| Nasdaq100 | 1505.64 | -18.74 | -1.23% |
| NYSE Volume | 1.45bn | - | - |
| Nasdaq Volume | 1.79bn | - | - |
Bellwethers
My 9-stock "bellwethers" group fell by an average of 1.26%; the funniest fall was in Intel, which had idiots jumping over themselves to get stock in the Instinet after-market following INTC's update after the bell yesterday (INTC was above $26 at once stage in the overnight market). Honestly, how often do these chuckleheads have to get handed a caning before they stop "buying news"?
- General Electric (GE) -$0.31 (0.86%) to $35.82;
- Citigroup (C) -$0.36 (0.75%) to $47.79;
- Wal Mart (WMT) -$0.55 (1.05%) to $51.60;
- I.B.M. (IBM) -$0.90 (0.97%) to $91.51;
- Intel (INTC) -$0.65 (2.62%) to $24.20;
- Cisco Systems (CSCO) -$0.26 (1.39%) to $18.45;
- eBay (EBAY) -$0.61 (1.57%) to $38.25;
- Fannie Mae (FNM) -$0.42 (0.73%) to $57.30; and
- Freddie Mac (FRE) -$0.91 (1.39%) to $64.70.
Market Breadth & Internals
NYSE declining Issues beat out advancers by 2009 to 1317, for a single-day A/D reading of -692; and Nasdaq losers exceeded gainers by 1700 to 1407. 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 -252.4.
On the NYSE declining volume was greater than volume in advancing issues by 884.7 to 524.3 million shares; On the Nasdaq declining volume exceeded volume in advancing issues by 1248.5 to 519.8 million shares.
82 NYSE-listed stocks rose to new 52-week highs, and 39 posted fresh 52-week lows, while on the Nasdaq there were 54 stocks that hit new 52-week highs, and 92 which fell to fresh 52-week lows.
| Market Breadth Statistics | ||
| NYSE | Nasdaq | |
| Advancers | 1317 | 1407 |
| Decliners | 2009 | 1700 |
| Advancing Volume (m) | 524.32 | 519.81 |
| Declining Volume (m) | 884.73 | 1248.48 |
| New Highs | 82 | 54 |
| New Lows | 39 | 92 |
| Market Sentiment Statistics | |||
| Index | Close | Gain(Loss) | % |
| CBOE Volatility Index | 12.8 | 0.31 | 2.48% |
| CBOE Nasdaq Volatility Index | 18.57 | 0.64 | 3.57% |
| Equity Put-Call Ratio | 0.87 | 0.33 | 61.11% |
| 10-day PCR | 0.69 | 0.04 | 6% |
| SPX-VIX Ratio | 93.8 | -3.06 | -3.16% |
Bond Market Analysis
Bonds fell along the curve (except at the very short end), with the yield on the benchmark 30-year Treasury bond rising another 5.3 basis points to 4.809%. The ten-year yield is consolidating above 4.5% and the 5-year is heading towards that level too. All things considered, this is a pefectly natural outcome for an economy which is an utter basket case.
| Treasury Yields | |||
| Index | Close | Gain(Loss) | % |
| UST 13wk (yld) | 2.692 | 0 | 0% |
| UST 2Y (yld) | 3.7 | 0.04 | 1.09% |
| UST 5Y (yld) | 4.214 | 0.088 | 2.13% |
| UST 10Y (yld) | 4.535 | 0.076 | 1.7% |
| UST 30Y (yld) | 4.809 | 0.053 | 1.11% |
The Banks Index slid 0.92 points (0.92%), ending the day at 99.18; within the index,
- MBNA Corp (KRB) -$0.67 (2.56%) to $25.47;
- Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) -$0.91 (2.02%) to $44.14;
- PNC Financial Services (PNC) -$0.87 (1.6%) to $53.34;
- BB&T Corp (BBT) -$0.61 (1.52%) to $39.45; and
- Comerica (CMA) -$0.88 (1.52%) to $56.97.
The Broker-dealer Index lost 1.68 points (1.11%), to 149.8; the ticket clippers lined up as follows -
- Morgan Stanley (MWD) -$1.49 (2.48%) to $58.49;
- E*Trade (ET) -$0.25 (1.91%) to $12.87;
- Merrill Lynch (MER) -$1.03 (1.69%) to $60.02;
- Goldman Sachs (GS) -$1.78 (1.6%) to $109.55; and
- Charles Schwab (SCH) -$0.11 (1%) to $10.90.
The Philadelphia SOX (Semiconductor) index dipped 12.58 points (2.86%), to 427.88
- KLA-Tencor (KLAC) -$2.21 (4.51%) to $46.75;
- Novellus Systems (NVLS) -$1.13 (3.95%) to $27.51;
- Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) -$0.66 (3.88%) to $16.36;
- Xilinx (XLNX) -$1.16 (3.65%) to $30.62; and
- Maxim Integrated (MXIM) -$1.60 (3.6%) to $42.80.
Gold & Silver Markets
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Gold rose $3.40 (0.77%) to close at $446.40 per ounce. The weaker USD as sole-explanator has now given way to some strength in buying for reasons not directly related to the currency markets. That said, it may also be a case of the last set of hopeful market chasers getting on board before the thing falls over; ever since I posted (with Gold having passed $440) that the likely movement over the next couple of years was "flat to down" (at best) the Gold market has had one little nuffie-chaser spike, but has gone nowhere in net terms for four months.
Gold Bugs Index dipped 1.1 points (0.49%), at 221.56
- Golden Star (GSS) -$0.16 (4.86%) to $3.13;
- Kinross Gold (KGC) -$0.21 (2.95%) to $6.92;
- Iamgold (IAG) -$0.16 (2.27%) to $6.90;
- Coeur d'Alene (CDE) -$0.06 (1.38%) to $4.28; and
- Randgold Resources (GOLD) -$0.17 (1.22%) to $13.77.
Silver rose $0.05 (0.6%) to close at $7.55 per ounce. The Gold and Silver Index (XAU) gained 0.1 points (0.1%), ending the day at 101.89 points.
- Freeport McMoran (FCX) +$0.42 (1.04%) to $40.84;
- Barrick Gold (ABX) +$0.24 (0.94%) to $25.80;
- Agnico Eagle (AEM) +$0.11 (0.72%) to $15.36; and
- Meridian Gold (MDG) +$0.11 (0.61%) to $18.26.
| Precious Metals and Indices | |||
| Index | Close | Gain(Loss) | % |
| Gold | 446.40 | 3.40 | 0.77% |
| Silver | 7.55 | 0.05 | 0.6% |
| PHLX Gold and Silver Index | 101.89 | 0.1 | 0.1% |
| AMEX Gold BUGS Index | 221.56 | -1.1 | -0.49% |
Oil Market
Oil was firmer, rising by $0.86 per barrel, closing at $54.43 per barrel - but not until after it fell under $53 during the NYMEXAccess session (the overnight market), by triggering yet another little wavelet of nuffnuff stops. Once the day session opened there was genuine buying by larger players. As such, it was pretty much one-way traffic - upwards - until midday... with all the stopped-out nuffnuffs cursing their "luck" and buying in again. Plus ça change... (I don't suppose I can talk, having exited the bond short after setting my stop too tight - but at least that trade was up a couple of grand at the exit point).
The Oil and Gas Index (XOI) added 4.82 points (0.57%), to end the session at 857.75
- Unocal (UCL) +$1.69 (2.85%) to $61.02;
- Kerr Mcgee (KMG) +$1.07 (1.37%) to $79.06; and
- Exxon Mobil (XOM) +$0.68 (1.13%) to $61.05.
The Oil service stocks (OSX) Index added 0.48 points (0.35%), at 137.23
- Global Industries (GLBL) +$0.27 (3.09%) to $9.00;
- Varco International (VRC) +$0.84 (2.11%) to $40.60; and
- Transocean (RIG) +$0.86 (1.81%) to $48.43.
| Energy Complex | |||
| Index | Close | Gain(Loss) | % |
| Reuters CRB | 318.61 | 3.46 | 1.1% |
| Crude Oil Light Sweet | 54.43 | 0.86 | 1.61% |
| Heating Oil | 1.5427 | 0.03 | 2.23% |
| Natural Gas | 6.772 | 0 | 0.07% |
| Unleaded Gas | 1.5175 | 0.03 | 2.08% |
| AMEX Oil Index | 857.75 | 4.82 | 0.57% |
| Oil Service Index | 137.23 | 0.48 | 0.35% |
Currency Markets
| Currency Prices | |||
| Index | Close | Gain(Loss) | % |
| US Dollar Index | 81.44 | -0.10 | -0.12% |
| Euro | 1.3467 | 0.0041 | 0.31% |
| Yen | 104.03 | 0.01 | 0.01% |
| Sterling | 1.9253 | 0.003 | 0.16% |
| Australian Dollar | 0.794 | 0.0025 | 0.32% |
| Swiss Franc | 1.1495 | -0.0037 | -0.32% |
| Canadian Dollar | 0.8294 | -0.001 | -0.12% |
