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What a sucky session. Two nearly identical legs down (each taking about an hour, and dragging the Dow down about 65 points), with a 2-hour sideways nuthin' in between them. Then a final nuffie-led plunge leading into the last hour.
As usual, those who had waited until the thing was already down 80 points before selling got their scrotii sliced to bits by a decent llittle bounce. Why anybody would wait until a low to short, is beyond me, but there it was - TICK readings of -800 and worse, and loads of selling at the bid across the board. Stupid, really - but these were probably the same pillocks who waited for a 400-point rally (basis the Dow futures, from last week's low to last week's high) before buying.
Tomorrow should see a bounce, but don't be surprised if it takes ages to get traction. The nuffie herd is genuinely spooked at present - which means a load of money held in self-managed 401(k) plans is going to Money Heaven. The nuffnuffs will panic-sell at lows and dump onto the bid, then buy the same stocks at the next peak for fear of missing out on the Next Big Move Up. It's like watching Discovery Channel... you just know that the lovely little antelope calf is going to end up with its neck in the lion's mouth...
Federal Reserve Open Market Operations
The Fed's Open Market Operations desk performed 1 repurchase operation - a $3.25billion, weekend repurchase with $3.061billion in T-backed collateral undertaken at a 1.4 basis point discount to the Fed Funds Rate (FFR).
Major US Indices
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 72.44 points (0.66%), closing out the day at 10942.11 points. The index hit an intraday high of 11057.61 (11050-ish) just after the end of the first half-hour, and sagged for the entire rest of the session, falling all the way to 10907.29 (10900-ish) just before 3 p.m. There was a late bounce in the Dow- 50 points from the day's low - but it was entirely surrendered after the close of the cash market, with the Dow futures returning to within 10 points of its session low.
Within the blue-chip index, 6 stocks rose, the biggest gainers being General Motors (GM, +2.93% to $26.35) and Microsoft (MSFT, +2.04% to $22.55), which accounted for 10 Dow points between them. Losers in the Dow numbered 24 and were led by Alcoa (AA, -3.29% to $29.10) and Exxon Mobil (XOM, -2.40% to $57.39), with these two stocks contributing -19 Dow points worth of downward pressure on the index. Volume traded was tilted in favour of the losers, but not by much: losers won by 268.6m shares to 207.2m.
As usual, the Dow was goosed in order to make Joe Sixpack think thaty things weren't as bas as they looked. So whereas the Dow volume was split relatively evenly between winenrs and losers (with the losers slightly in the ascendant) the S&P500 and Nasdaq were down more, and with a more bearish internal structure.
The broader S&P500 lost 11.4 points (0.91%), at 1240.14. Within the index, gainers numbered 72, while 389 S&P500 stocks fell for the day. Volume was tilted 2.8:1 in favour of the losers with 1324.31 million units traded in the losers as compared with 465.01 million traded in the winners .
Over at Times Square, the Nasdaq Composite slid 19.54 points (0.92%), to close at 2110.42, while larger-cap technology issues fared better with the Nasdaq100 losing 13.9 points (0.89%), to end at 1548.94 points. Within the tech benchmark, gainers numbered 15, while 77 Nasdaq100 stocks fell for the day. Volume was tilted 2.2:1 in favour of the losers with 500.26 million traded in the losers compared to 222.72 million in the winners .
NYSE Volume was chunky, but well below recent 2.5-2.6 billion share totals. Today there were 2.21 billion shares changing hands, while Nasdaq Volume was also well off recent levels, with 1.75 billion shares traded.
| Major Market Statistics | |||
| Index | Close | Gain(Loss) | % |
| Dow Jones Industrial Average | 10942.11 | -72.44 | -0.66% |
| S&P500 | 1240.14 | -11.4 | -0.91% |
| Nasdaq Composite | 2110.42 | -19.54 | -0.92% |
| Nasdaq100 | 1548.94 | -13.9 | -0.89% |
| NYSE Volume | 2.21bn | - | - |
| Nasdaq Volume | 1.75bn | - | - |
Bellwethers
My 9-stock "bellwethers" group fell by an average of 0.45%
- General Electric (GE) -$0.21 (0.62%) to $33.72;
- Citigroup (C) -$0.54 (1.12%) to $47.82;
- Wal Mart (WMT) -$0.04 (0.08%) to $48.27;
- I.B.M. (IBM) -$0.28 (0.36%) to $77.67;
- Intel (INTC) -$0.06 (0.33%) to $18.24;
- Cisco Systems (CSCO) -$0.16 (0.8%) to $19.82;
- eBay (EBAY) -$0.17 (0.56%) to $30.11;
- Fannie Mae (FNM) -$0.14 (0.3%) to $47.11; and
- Freddie Mac (FRE) +$0.07 (0.12%) to $57.57.
Market Breadth & Internals
NYSE declining Issues beat out advancers by 2401 to 865, for a single-day A/D reading of -1536; and Nasdaq losers exceeded gainers by 2207 to 845. The 10-day moving average of the A/D line fell to -524.0 on the NYSE, while the 10dma of the Nasdaq A/D fell to -518.1.
On the NYSE declining volume was greater than volume in advancing issues by 1705.2 to 436.7 million shares; On the Nasdaq declining volume exceeded volume in advancing issues by 1250.9 to 427.9 million shares.
31 NYSE-listed stocks rose to new 52-week highs, and 156 posted fresh 52-week lows, while on the Nasdaq there were 51 stocks that hit new 52-week highs, and 138 which fell to fresh 52-week lows.
| Market Breadth Statistics | ||
| NYSE | Nasdaq | |
| Advancers | 865 | 845 |
| Decliners | 2401 | 2207 |
| Advancing Volume (m) | 436.71 | 427.92 |
| Declining Volume (m) | 1705.17 | 1250.87 |
| New Highs | 31 | 51 |
| New Lows | 156 | 138 |
| Market Sentiment Statistics | |||
| Index | Close | Gain(Loss) | % |
| CBOE Volatility Index | 17.83 | 0.58 | 3.36% |
| CBOE Nasdaq Volatility Index | 22.04 | 0.35 | 1.61% |
| Equity Put-Call Ratio | 1.21 | 0.2 | 19.8% |
| 10-day PCR | 0.92 | 0.03 | 3.55% |
| SPX-VIX Ratio | 69.6 | -3 | -4.13% |
Bond Market Analysis
Bonds fell at the long end, with the yield on the benchmark 30-year Treasury bond rising 1.1 bps to 5.183%.
The middle of the yield curve was broadly lower: five year yields rose to 5.118%, and ten-year yields rose to 5.145%.
Spreads between short-dated (2-yr) Treasuries and high-grade corporate bonds of similar maturity profiles were unchanged at 40.0 basis points; spreads between longer dated Treasuries and their corporate AAA counterparts fell to 77.0 bps for 10-year AAA, and 104.0 bps for 20-years.
Credit spreads (spreads between corporate bonds of the same maturity profile but different creditworthiness) were broadly tighter with the AAA-A spread on 20-years 1.0 bps looser at 28.0 basis points and the 10-year AAA-A spread 2.0 bps looser at 19.0 bps.
| Treasury Yields | |||
| Index | Close | Gain(Loss) | % |
| UST 13wk (yld) | 4.755 | 0.01 | 0.21% |
| UST 2Y (yld) | 5.17 | 0.08 | 1.57% |
| UST 5Y (yld) | 5.118 | 0.02 | 0.39% |
| UST 10Y (yld) | 5.145 | 0.017 | 0.33% |
| UST 30Y (yld) | 5.183 | 0.011 | 0.21% |
The Banks Index dipped 0.69 points (0.65%), ending the day at 106.13; within the index,
- Comerica (CMA) -$0.80 (1.48%) to $53.21;
- Northern Trust (NTRS) -$0.71 (1.29%) to $54.19;
- Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) -$0.43 (1.15%) to $37.11;
- State Street (STT) -$0.67 (1.14%) to $58.21; and
- Citigroup (C) -$0.54 (1.12%) to $47.82.
The Broker-dealer Index lost 2.48 points (1.22%), closing at 200.87; the ticket clippers lined up as follows -
- Legg Mason (LM) -$2.31 (2.25%) to $100.14;
- E*Trade (ET) -$0.47 (2.22%) to $20.73;
- Raymond James (RJF) -$0.63 (2.21%) to $27.85;
- Lehman Brothers (LEH) -$1.17 (1.85%) to $62.18; and
- Ameritrade (AMTD) -$0.23 (1.5%) to $15.13.
The Philadelphia SOX (Semiconductor) index dipped 4.35 points (0.96%), at 449.18
- Micron Technology (MU) -$0.46 (2.81%) to $15.89;
- Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) -$0.69 (2.69%) to $24.95;
- Broadcom (BRCM) -$0.86 (2.67%) to $31.29;
- KLA-Tencor (KLAC) -$1.11 (2.66%) to $40.55; and
- Xilinx (XLNX) -$0.34 (1.42%) to $23.66.
Gold & Silver Markets
Gold fell by $9.30 (1.6%) to close at $572.4 per ounce.
The Gold Bugs Index dipped 9.95 points (3.38%), closing at 284.43
- Goldcorp (GG) -$1.77 (6.46%) to $25.61;
- Golden Star (GSS) -$0.16 (5.86%) to $2.57;
- Hecla Mining (HL) -$0.23 (5.11%) to $4.27;
- Coeur d'Alene (CDE) -$0.22 (5.07%) to $4.12; and
- Harmony Gold (HMY) -$0.59 (4.48%) to $12.57.
Silver fell by $0.16 (1.58%) to close at $9.97 per ounce.
The Gold and Silver Index (XAU) lost 3.71 points (2.9%), closing at 124.35 points.
- Durban Rooderpoert Deep (DROOY) -$0.11 (8.66%) to $1.16;
- Goldcorp (GG) -$1.77 (6.46%) to $25.61;
- Harmony Gold (HMY) -$0.59 (4.48%) to $12.57; and
- Gold Fields (GFI) -$0.81 (4.48%) to $17.28.
| Precious Metals and Indices | |||
| Index | Close | Gain(Loss) | % |
| Gold | 572.40 | -9.30 | -1.6% |
| Silver | 9.97 | -0.16 | -1.58% |
| PHLX Gold and Silver Index | 124.35 | -3.71 | -2.9% |
| AMEX Gold BUGS Index | 284.43 | -9.95 | -3.38% |
Oil Market
Oil lost ground, shedding $0.90 per barrel, closing at $68.98 per barrel. The Oil and Gas Index (XOI) dipped 33.8 points (3.2%), to end the session at 1021.19
- Sunoco (SUN) -$3.14 (4.91%) to $60.86;
- Kerr Mcgee (KMG) -$2.14 (4.17%) to $49.19; and
- Marathon Oil (MRO) -$2.73 (3.66%) to $71.82.
The Oil service stocks (OSX) Index dipped 7.85 points (3.92%), to 192.61
- Global Industries (GLBL) -$0.90 (5.55%) to $15.31;
- BJ Services (BJS) -$1.84 (5.15%) to $33.88; and
- Rowan Companies (RDC) -$1.83 (5.11%) to $34.00.
| Energy Complex | |||
| Index | Close | Gain(Loss) | % |
| Reuters CRB | 374.5 | -4.9 | -1.29% |
| Crude Oil Light Sweet | 68.98 | -0.9 | -1.29% |
| Heating Oil | 1.8948 | -0.04 | -1.95% |
| Natural Gas | 6.893 | -0.29 | -4.06% |
| Unleaded Gas | 1.9914 | -0.05 | -2.3% |
| AMEX Oil Index | 1021.19 | -33.8 | -3.2% |
| Oil Service Index | 192.61 | -7.85 | -3.92% |
Currency Markets
| USD Exchange Rates | |||
| Index | Close | Gain(Loss) | % |
| US Dollar Index | 85.92 | 0.4 | 0.47% |
| Euro | 1.2576 | -0.015 | -1.18% |
| Yen | 115.54 | 114.66 | 13029.55% |
| Sterling | 1.8415 | -0.0136 | -0.73% |
| Australian Dollar | 0.7363 | -0.0012 | -0.16% |
| Swiss Franc | 1.2408 | 0.4196 | 51.1% |
| Canadian Dollar | 0.8928 | -0.0001 | -0.01% |
