Interdum stultus opportuna loquitur...

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

USRant: Doesn't Take Nostril-damus...

Note - from June 24th 2009, this blog has migrated from Blogger to a self-hosted version. Click here to go straight there.

What do you want me to say? Fed cuts, nuffies go ga-ga, "Dumb Money At Work" sign gets put up, nuffies get gutted. What a shock.

Economic News

  • January ADP payrolls blew away the consensus number - 130k when consensus was for 45k. 
  • The 4Q Personal Consumption numbers were a touch stronger than anticipated - at 3.9% annualised (and seasonally adjusted to within an inch of reality) beat teh call for 3.8%;
  • the advance number for Q4 GDP was halfof the consensus guess - 0.6% versus the guess at 1.2%.
But really, you know, like nobody cared. Everybody sat on their hands until Helicopter Ben and the rest of the Politburo did their centrally-planned thang.

Fed Open Market Operations

The Fed did 2 repos, but sod-all in T-backed (still rescuing FNM and ABK. 

  • An $11-billion 2-day repo with $10 billion in Agency-backed and the rest in mortgage backed... and
  • an overnight $6 billion repo with  a lousy $105 million in T-backed. Useless. 

Headline Indices

Sideways.... Fed Cuts 50 bps... Dow rockets 200 points in about 45 minutes... Dow guts nuffnuffs.

Simple. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 37.47 points (0.3%) to 12442.83 points. The index high for the day was 12681.41, while the low was 12406.17 set near the open (although it was pretty much identical to the print with 2 mintues to go in the session).

Dow % Gainers - 

  • Boeing (BA) rose 1.9099 (2.36%) to 82.8699 on volume of 11.3 million units
  • Walt Disney (DIS) rose 0.6 (2.08%) to 29.4 on volume of 15 million units
  • Intel (INTC) rose 0.19 (0.93%) to 20.69 on volume of 95.5 million units
  • General Motors (GM) rose 0.23 (0.85%) to 27.44 on volume of 18.1 million units
  • Altria Group Inc (MO) rose 0.45 (0.59%) to 76.57 on volume of 19.9 million units
Dow % Losers
  • Amer Intl Group I (AIG) fell -2.36 (-4.16%) to 54.37 on volume of 21.8 million units
  • Merck Co Inc (MRK) fell -1.54 (-3.21%) to 46.47 on volume of 31.7 million units
  • AT&T (T) fell -0.54 (-1.43%) to 37.35 on volume of 23.6 million units
  • Du Ponte (DD) fell -0.63 (-1.4%) to 44.52 on volume of 7.1 million units
  • Coca Colae (KO) fell -0.78 (-1.33%) to 57.77 on volume of 10.4 million units

Dow Highest Volume

  • Citigroup(C) -0.0301 (-0.11%) to 27.8799 on volume of 133.8 million units
  • Microsoft (MSFT) -0.40 (-1.23%) to 32.2 on volume of 105.7 million units
  • Intel (INTC) +0.19 (0.93%) to 20.69 on volume of 95.5 million units
  • JP Morgan Chase C (JPM) -0.10 (-0.21%) to 47.35 on volume of 63.8 million units
  • General Electric (GE) 0.18 (0.52%) to 34.94 on volume of 47 million units

The S&P500 Index lost 6.49 points (0.48%) to 1355.81 points. The index high for the day was 1385.80, while the low was 1353.19.

The Nasdaq Composite lost 9.06 points (0.38%) to 2349.00 points. The index high for the day was 2396.00 (), while the low was 2343.88; the Nasdaq100 bucked the trend and added +0.84 points (0.05%) to 1808.51 points.

The CBOE Volatiity Index advanced +0.30 points (1.1%) to 27.62 points and the CBOE Nasdaq100 Volatilty Index lost 1.05 points (3.2%) to 31.80 points.

I hate doing the volume stuff - no two websites agree on NYSE volume. Yahoo says it was over 4 billion shares, while CBSMarketWatch says it was under 2 billion. CBS also has -2.25 billion traded in Unchanged securities on Nasdaq... hmmmm.

For the moment I am prepared to try and get away with saying that...

NYSE Total Volume totalled 4.71billion units: 1.69 billion shaes in 1422 stocks that went up, and 2.92 billion in the 1916 stocks that went down. 29 nw highs, and 74 new lows.

Nasdaq Total Volume totalled 2.62billion units. 1.12 billion in the 1300 stocks that rose, and 1.48 billion in the 1728 duds. 39 new highs, 123 new lows.

Major Market Statistics
Index Close Gain(Loss) %
Dow Jones Industrial Average 12442.83 -37.47 -0.3%
S&P500 Index 1355.81 -6.49 -0.48%
Nasdaq Composite 2349.00 -9.06 -0.38%
Nasdaq100 1808.51 +0.84 0.05%
CBOE Volatiity Index 27.62 +0.30 1.1%
CBOE Nasdaq100 Volatilty Index 31.80 -1.05 -3.2%
NYSE Total Volume 4.71bn - -
Nasdaq Total Volume 2.62bn - -

Precious Metals

Precious metals futures advanced as follows -

Precious Metal Futures
Index Close Gain(Loss) %
Gold 929.0 +3.9 0.42
Silver 1684.5 +4.5 0.27
High Grade Copper 324.00 -5.90 -1.79
Platinum 1695.0 -26.9 -1.56
Palladium 389.45 -3.85 -0.98

The Gold Bugs Index added 1.99 (1.05%) to 189.34 points. Index volume totalled 94.6 million shares. Of the 16 index components, 11 advanced, with volume in advancers totalling 63 million units. Of the remaining 5 stocks in the index, 4 fell, with total volume traded of 19 million shares.

Major movers in the same direction as the index:

  • Pan Amer Silver C (PAAS), up 1.61 (4.48%) to $37.58 on volume of 1.6 million shares
  • Yamana Gold Inc (AUY), up 0.63 (3.87%) to $16.93 on volume of 14.6 million shares
  • Goldcorp Inc (GG), up 0.93 (2.47%) to $38.65 on volume of 8 million shares
  • Kinross Gold Cp (KGC), up 0.5 (2.28%) to $22.47 on volume of 6.8 million shares

Energy Complex

Energy futures performed as follows -

Energy Futures
Index Close Gain(Loss) %
Crude Oil 92.03 +0.39 0.43
Heating Oil 2.5350 +0.0022 0.09
Gasoline RBOB 2.3265 -0.0030 -0.13
Natural Gas 8.056 +0.113 1.42
Ethanol 2.180 -0.022 -1

The Oil Services Index lost 7.18 (2.8%) to 256.71 points. Index volume totalled 90.2 million shares. Of the 15 index components, 0 advanced, with volume in advancers totalling 0 million units. Of the remaining 15 stocks in the index, every other stock fell, with total volume traded of 90.2 million shares.

Major movers in the same direction as the index:

  • Baker Hughes Intl (BHI), down 6.17 (8.4%) to $67.27 on volume of 12.9 million shares
  • Global Inds Ltd (GLBL), down 1.02 (5.53%) to $17.44 on volume of 1.4 million shares
  • Noble Corp (NE), down 1.9 (4.16%) to $43.72 on volume of 5.8 million shares
  • Schlumberger Ltd (SLB), down 2.94 (3.74%) to $75.75 on volume of 12.5 million shares

Bellwethers

The nine-stock group that makes up the Rant bellwethers declined on average by 0.9%. The fallout occurred as follows:

  • General Electric (GE) up $+0.18 (0.52%) to $34.94 on volume of 46.99 million units.
  • Citigroup (C) down $0.0301 (0.11%) to $27.8799 on volume of 133.78 million units.
  • Wal-Mart (WMT) up $+0.15 (0.31%) to $49.16 on volume of 22.17 million units.
  • IBM (IBM) down $0.36 (0.34%) to $105.74 on volume of 6.83 million units.
  • Intel (INTC) up $+0.19 (0.93%) to $20.69 on volume of 95.49 million units.
  • Cisco Systems (CSCO) up $+0.30 (1.25%) to $24.36 on volume of 61.71 million units.
  • Google (GOOG) down $2.25 (0.41%) to $548.27 on volume of 7.9 million units.
  • Fannie Mae (FNM) down $1.84 (5.59%) to $31.07 on volume of 10.51 million units.
  • Freddie Mac (FRE) down $1.3 (4.46%) to $27.85 on volume of 11.77 million units.

Other Indices of Interest...

The Banks Index lost 0.24 (0.26%) to 91.15 points. Index volume totalled 558.8 million shares. Of the 24 index components, 9 advanced, with volume in advancers totalling 230 million units. Of the remaining 15 stocks in the index, every other stock fell, with total volume traded of 328.8 million shares.

Major movers in the same direction as the index:

  • Wachovia Cp (WB), down 1.15 (3.03%) to $36.75 on volume of 36.1 million shares
  • Regions Financial (RF), down 0.6 (2.41%) to $24.33 on volume of 7.4 million shares
  • People's United F (PBCT), down 0.2967 (1.85%) to $15.72 on volume of 4.4 million shares
  • Fifth Third Bncp (FITB), down 0.41 (1.55%) to $26.06 on volume of 6.3 million shares

The Semiconductor Index added 0.91 (0.25%) to 358.81 points. Index volume totalled 272.5 million shares. Of the 18 index components, 11 advanced, with volume in advancers totalling 193.8 million units. Of the remaining 7 stocks in the index, every other stock fell, with total volume traded of 78.7 million shares.

Major movers in the same direction as the index:

  • Infineon Tech Ads (IFX), up 0.6 (6.36%) to $10.04 on volume of 2.8 million shares
  • Xilinx Inc (XLNX), up 0.4 (1.85%) to $22.03 on volume of 6.5 million shares
  • Texas Instruments (TXN), up 0.48 (1.58%) to $30.85 on volume of 13.8 million shares
  • Applied Materials (AMAT), up 0.24 (1.36%) to $17.92 on volume of 26 million shares

The ChildKiller ("Defence") Index added 0.06 (0.02%) to 370.14 points. Index volume totalled 79.9 million shares. Of the 17 index components, 7 advanced, with volume in advancers totalling 64.3 million units. Of the remaining 10 stocks in the index, 9 fell, with total volume traded of 15.2 million shares.

Major movers in the same direction as the index:

  • Boeing Co (BA), up 1.9099 (2.36%) to $82.8699 on volume of 11.3 million shares
  • Northrop Grum Hol (NOC), up 1.43 (1.81%) to $80.62 on volume of 2.4 million shares
  • Embraer Empresa B (ERJ), up 0.51 (1.22%) to $42.41 on volume of 700.3 thousand shares
  • Gen Electric Co (GE), up 0.18 (0.52%) to $34.94 on volume of 47 million shares

at 11:09:00 pm