Note - from June 24th 2009, this blog has migrated from Blogger to a self-hosted version. Click here to go straight there.
Firstly, a note. Today's USRant doesn't include the usual breezy encapsulation of the Bond, Energy, Precious Metals, or Currencies markets. It's entirely my fault, and could have been remedied if I was prepared to hand-tool the relevant tables (I would only have had to hand-tool them this once - today's numbers automatically shift across to the 'yesterday' column as part of the closing process... it's just that currently, the 'yesterday' numbers are actually from December 21st last year... not so good when you're interested in the change relative to yesterday...) .
Anyhow, I was delighted to find that the Fed is still publishing repurchase data (recall that last year there was news that they were ceasing to publish M3, and I had also heard that the daily temporary repo numbers were also being suppressed... not so).
So for today and today only, you have the luxury of a much shorter USRant than most folks are used to. Tomorrow will see the return of the entire 'doorstop' sized Rant.
Federal Reserve Open Market Operations
The Fed's Open Market Operations desk performed 1 repurchase operation - a $9.5billion, overnight repurchase entirely in T-backed collateral undertaken at a 3.2 basis point discount to the Fed Funds Rate (FFR). So the money spigot continues unabated - the Fed continues to try and push on a string in its efforts to prevent the recent downdraft from developing into something more uglier.
Major US Indices
The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 199.15 points (1.77%), closing out the day at 11048.72 points. The index hit opened at what turned out to be its intraday high (11248.79), set its session low at 11040.24 with about ten minutes left in the session.
Within the blue-chip index, only one Dow component rose: the lonely winner was Walt Disney (DIS, +0.39% to $30.74). Losers in the Dow numbered 29 and were led by Caterpillar (CAT, -4.72% to $69.37) and Alcoa (AA, -3.65% to $31.38), with these two stocks contributing -37 Dow points worth of downward pressure on the index. Volume traded was tilted in favour of the losers by 343m shares to 9.8m. talk about the flip side of the Australian session's ebullient tail-wagging...
The broader S&P500 lost 22.93 points (1.78%), to 1265.29. Within the index, gainers numbered 23, while 446 S&P500 stocks fell for the day - an absolutely stunning tilt in the advance-decline statistics (and almost certainly satisfying a "Lowry Selling Pressure" spike - but I don't think that presages any serious bounce). Volume was tilted a massive (mind-boggling) 20.5:1 in favour of the losers with 1625.99 million units traded in the losers as compared with 79.20 million traded in the winners. Initially I thought I might have cocked up the sums on that one, but I've checked it and it looks right.
Over at Times Square, the Nasdaq Composite shed 49.78 points (2.24%), to close at 2169.62, while larger-cap technology issues fared better with the Nasdaq100 losing 35.41 points (2.2%), to end at 1577.5 points. Within the tech benchmark, gainers numbered 5, while 88 Nasdaq100 stocks fell for the day. Volume was tilted 22.1:1 in favour of the losers with 612.84 million traded in the losers compared to 27.78 million in the winners. Again, an overwhelming win for the bearish side of the market - which should not be read in a contrarian manner at this stage. One day of seemingly incessant sell-side pressure does not engender a contrarian bet.
NYSE Volume was super-chunky, with 2.23 billion shares changing hands, while Nasdaq Volume was chunky, with 1.73 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 | 11048.72 | -199.15 | -1.77% |
| S&P500 | 1265.29 | -22.93 | -1.78% |
| Nasdaq Composite | 2169.62 | -49.78 | -2.24% |
| Nasdaq100 | 1577.5 | -35.41 | -2.2% |
| NYSE Volume | 2.23bn | - | - |
| Nasdaq Volume | 1.73bn | - | - |
Bellwethers
My 9-stock "bellwethers" group fell by an average of 1.45%
- General Electric (GE) -$0.44 (1.27%) to $34.22;
- Citigroup (C) -$0.52 (1.04%) to $49.62;
- Wal Mart (WMT) -$0.64 (1.34%) to $47.19;
- I.B.M. (IBM) -$0.46 (0.58%) to $79.06;
- Intel (INTC) -$0.25 (1.37%) to $17.98;
- Cisco Systems (CSCO) -$0.56 (2.74%) to $19.88;
- eBay (EBAY) -$0.13 (0.4%) to $32.50;
- Fannie Mae (FNM) -$1.73 (3.34%) to $50.02; and
- Freddie Mac (FRE) -$0.57 (0.94%) to $60.10.
Market Breadth & Internals
NYSE declining Issues beat out advancers by 2565 to 705, for a single-day A/D reading of -1860; and Nasdaq losers exceeded gainers by 2391 to 664. The 10-day moving average of the A/D line fell to -700.9 on the NYSE, while the 10dma of the Nasdaq A/D fell to -713.5.
On the NYSE declining volume was greater than volume in advancing issues by 2051.4 to 188 million shares; On the Nasdaq declining volume exceeded volume in advancing issues by 1587 to 227.2 million shares.
55 NYSE-listed stocks rose to new 52-week highs, and 88 posted fresh 52-week lows, while on the Nasdaq there were 93 stocks that hit new 52-week highs, and 69 which fell to fresh 52-week lows.
| Market Breadth Statistics | ||
| NYSE | Nasdaq | |
| Advancers | 705 | 664 |
| Decliners | 2565 | 2391 |
| Advancing Volume (m) | 188 | 227.18 |
| Declining Volume (m) | 2051.43 | 1586.99 |
| New Highs | 55 | 93 |
| New Lows | 88 | 69 |
| Market Sentiment Statistics | |||
| Index | Close | Gain(Loss) | % |
| CBOE Volatility Index | 16.85 | 2.53 | 17.67% |
| CBOE Nasdaq Volatility Index | 20.97 | 2.59 | 14.09% |
| Equity Put-Call Ratio | 0.61 | 0 | 0% |
| 10-day PCR | 0.58 | 0 | 0% |
| SPX-VIX Ratio | 75.1 | -14.87 | -16.53% |
The Banks Index dipped 1.73 points (1.56%), to 108.99; within the index,
- State Street (STT) -$1.55 (2.45%) to $61.80;
- Northern Trust (NTRS) -$1.40 (2.44%) to $56.05;
- PNC Financial Services (PNC) -$1.55 (2.24%) to $67.62;
- National City Corp (NCC) -$0.81 (2.16%) to $36.71; and
- Bank Of NY (BK) -$0.71 (2.12%) to $32.72.
The Broker-dealer Index dipped 6.31 points (2.9%), to end the session at 211.15; the ticket clippers lined up as follows -
- E*Trade (ET) -$1.08 (4.42%) to $23.37;
- Ameritrade (AMTD) -$0.60 (3.52%) to $16.46;
- Raymond James (RJF) -$1.01 (3.43%) to $28.44;
- Jeffries Group (JEF) -$0.96 (3.21%) to $28.95; and
- Lehman Brothers (LEH) -$2.02 (2.99%) to $65.51.
The Philadelphia SOX (Semiconductor) index lost 14.23 points (3%), to 460.42
- Teradyne (TER) -$0.93 (5.84%) to $14.99;
- Taiwan Semiconductors (TSM) -$0.51 (5.21%) to $9.28;
- National Semiconductors (NSM) -$1.16 (4.4%) to $25.18;
- Freescale Semiconductors (FSL-B) -$1.29 (4.12%) to $29.99; and
- Infineon Tech (IFX) -$0.42 (3.56%) to $11.39.
For today I have had to dispense with the Bond, Commodity and Currency market discussion, because I'm a yutz. I forgot to update the price vectors for the Commodities and Currencies in my loverly Excel sheet (which will go the way of the dodo soon) and so all of the percentage changes were wrong. Since today's data is now in the 'yesterday' column, tomorrow's USRant will be back to its normal, complete self. For the moment, here's some more stock-related crapola...
Dow Gainers
| Code | Name | Last | +/- | % | Volume |
| DIS | Walt Disney | 30.74 | 0.12 | 0.39% | 9.78m |
| T | AT&T | 26.6 | -0.13 | -0.49% | 11.82m |
| IBM | International Business Machines | 79.06 | -0.46 | -0.58% | 5.51m |
| JNJ | Johnson & Johnson | 60.13 | -0.61 | -1% | 6.81m |
| PFE | Pfizer | 23.94 | -0.25 | -1.03% | 23.11m |
Dow Decliners
| Code | Name | Last | +/- | % | Volume |
| CAT | Caterpillar | 69.37 | -3.44 | -4.72% | 6.77m |
| AA | Alcoa | 31.38 | -1.19 | -3.65% | 4.98m |
| XOM | Exxon Mobil | 60.07 | -1.58 | -2.56% | 17.61m |
| HON | Honeywell | 40.16 | -1.04 | -2.52% | 2.3m |
| UTX | United Technology | 61.45 | -1.58 | -2.51% | 3.7m |
Nasdaq Most Active
| Code | Name | Last | +/- | % | Volume |
| QQQQ | Nasdaq 100 Tr Ser | 38.78 | -0.862 | -2.17% | 100.62m |
| INTC | Intel Cp | 17.98 | -0.25 | -1.37% | 62.95m |
| MSFT | Microsoft Cp | 22.5 | -0.26 | -1.14% | 62.51m |
| CSCO | Cisco Sys Inc | 19.88 | -0.56 | -2.74% | 34.74m |
| SUNW | Sun Microsys Inc | 4.42 | -0.04 | -0.9% | 34.22m |
NYSE Most Actives
| Code | Name | Last | +/- | % | Volume |
| LU | Lucent Tech Inc | 2.53 | -0.02 | -0.78% | 41.27m |
| ELN | Elan Cp Plc Adr | 16.52 | -2.46 | -12.96% | 31.49m |
| TWX | Time Warner Inc | 17.5 | -0.08 | -0.46% | 27.7m |
| PFE | Pfizer Inc | 23.94 | -0.25 | -1.03% | 23.11m |
| F | Ford Motor Co | 6.95 | -0.15 | -2.11% | 18.22m |
