Interdum stultus opportuna loquitur...

Monday, February 04, 2008

USRant: Penguins Use the 'S' Words - MONTHS Late...

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No Monday Morning Orgasm for the US market... someone amongst the anal-i used the dreaded 'S' words regarding he banks. Boy did the banks get absolutely tennelled (ask Mav what that means) - to the tune of over 4% index-wide.

Sell? Banks? Now? Bit friggin' late, lads. I mean, that;s a call from the "How come you didn't say that six months ago, dipstick" school of analysis. They must all have been graduates of the Moodys/S&P School of Closing the Stable Door.

But anyway - luckily for us all, it was made abundantly clear in last Friday's OzRant that the rally was finished... so no Rantophiles should have been stuck with any long positions (and should all have been riding a nice juicy short for lo these last 20-odd S&P points.

Economic News

No idea if there was any - too bored with the economic news out of the US. It's like the shoe production statistics in 1984, frankly - just redefine whatever you actually do still make, to be more than you mad least quarter. Or invent some phantom workers if employment growth slows.

The good thing about phantom employees, is that then you revise them away (when people stop looking at the data for that particular period - say , ten minutes after the report is released... just kidding... a month or two later).

Guess what happens then? Future comparisons look better - because they are being compared with lower (revised) numbers! So you take the phantoms off the rolls of history, and put them on the current roll! Fantastic.

Fed Open Market Operations

The Fed did one repurchase operation - an 18 billion dollar repurchase undertaken entirely in Agency backed collateral.

Headline Indices

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 108.03 points (0.85%) to 12635.16 points. The index high for the day was 12749.78 (at the open), while the low was 12621.83, set two minutes before the close. 7 Dow components rose and 23 fell.

Dow Advancers - the Top 5

  • Merck (MRK) +1.41 (3.07%) to 47.39 on volume of 14.4 million units
  • Walt Disney (DIS) +0.23 (0.75%) to 30.89 on volume of 10.7 million units
  • Honeywell (HON) +0.27 (0.45%) to 60.48 on volume of 4.3 million units
  • Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) +0.18 (0.28%) to 63.54 on volume of 6.9 million units
  • Procter Gamble (PG) +0.14 (0.21%) to 66.19 on volume of 8.2 million units

Dow Decliners - the worst in percentage terms were

  • Gen Motors (GM) -1.36 (-4.69%) to 27.62 on volume of 9.2 million units
  • JP Morgan Chase (JPM) -2 (-4.15%) to 46.25 on volume of 25.7 million units
  • American Express (AXP) -2.01 (-4.05%) to 47.59 on volume of 8.8 million units
  • Home Depot (HD) -1.09 (-3.58%) to 29.36 on volume of 11.6 million units
  • Intel(INTC) -0.5699 (-2.62%) to 21.2 on volume of 64.5 million units

Most Traded Dow stocks were

  • Microsoft (MSFT)  -0.2598 (-0.85) to 30.19 on volume of 113.8 million units
  • Citigroup (C)  -0.38 (-1.28) to 29.31 on volume of 70 million units
  • Intel (INTC)  -0.5699 (-2.62) to 21.2 on volume of 64.5 million units
  • General Electric (GE)  -0.76 (-2.1) to 35.4 on volume of 32.8 million units
  • Pfizer (PFE) +0.01 (0.04) to 23.6 on volume of 27.7 million units

The S&P500 Index lost 14.6 points (1.05%) to 1380.82 points. Of the S&P components, 144rose while 351 fell.

The Nasdaq Composite lost 30.51 points (1.26%) to 2382.85 points, and the Nasdaq100 lost 26.47 points (1.43%) to 1828.80 points. The index high for the day was 1854.62, while the low was 1828.11.

The CBOE Volatiity Index advanced +1.74 points (7.24%) to 25.76 points. The CBOE Nasdaq100 Volatilty Index advanced +2.08 points (7.36%) to 30.33 points.

NYSE Total Volume totalled 3.31billion units and Nasdaq Total Volume totalled 2.04 billion units.

Major Market Statistics
Index Close Gain(Loss) %
Dow Jones Industrial Average 12635.16 -108.03 -0.85%
S&P500 Index 1380.82 -14.60 -1.05%
Nasdaq Composite 2382.85 -30.51 -1.26%
Nasdaq100 1828.80 -26.47 -1.43%
CBOE Volatiity Index 25.76 +1.74 7.24%
CBOE Nasdaq100 Volatilty Index 30.33 +2.08 7.36%
NYSE Total Volume 3.31bn - -
Nasdaq Total Volume 2.04bn - -
Precious Metals

Gold futures softened a little more, as did Silver, while Platinum and Palladium added over 1.5% each

Precious Metal Futures
Index Close Gain(Loss) %
Gold 908.0 -5.5 -0.6
Silver 1675.0 -12.0 -0.71
Platinum 1799.0 +28.8 1.63
Palladium 427.20 +10.15 2.43

The Gold Bugs Index lost 4.21 (2.33%) to 180.40 points. Index volume totalled 73.6 million shares. Of the 16 index components, 2 advanced, with volume in advancers totalling 2.8 million units. Of the remaining 14 stocks in the index, every other stock fell, with total volume traded of 70.8 million shares.

Major movers in the same direction as the index:

  • Randgold (GOLD), down 2.48 (5.31%) to $44.19 on volume of 1.3 million shares
  • Silver Stand Resources (SSRI), down 1.67 (4.71%) to $33.75 on volume of 734.3 thousand shares
  • Yamana Gold (AUY), down 0.69 (4.34%) to $15.20 on volume of 10.9 million shares
  • Newmont Mining (NEM), down 2.26 (4.25%) to $50.97 on volume of 10.4 million shares

Energy Complex

After some early weakness, Crude Oil turned around and very nearly closed back above $90 a barrel; the rest of the Energy complex rose in unison.

Energy Futures
Index Close Gain(Loss) %
Crude Oil 89.99 +1.03 1.16
Heating Oil 2.4835 +0.0346 1.41
Gasoline RBOB 2.3110 +0.0276 1.21
Natural Gas 7.860 +0.120 1.55
Ethanol 2.155 unch 0

The Oil Services Index added 2.76 (1.05%) to 262.73 points. Index volume totalled 75.3 million shares. Of the 15 index components, 11 advanced, with volume in advancers totalling 68 million units. Of the remaining 4 stocks in the index, every other stock fell, with total volume traded of 7.3 million shares.

Major movers in the same direction as the index:

  • Nabors Inds Inc N (NBR), up 1.29 (4.62%) to $29.22 on volume of 9.1 million shares
  • Noble Corp (NE), up 1.81 (4%) to $47.10 on volume of 5.7 million shares
  • Smith Intl Inc (SII), up 1.8 (3.22%) to $57.78 on volume of 4.8 million shares
  • Halliburton Co (HAL), up 1.01 (2.99%) to $34.74 on volume of 13.6 million shares

Bellwethers

The nine-stock group that makes up the Rant bellwethers declined on average by 2%. The fallout occurred as follows:

  • General Electric (GE) down $0.76 (2.1%) to $35.40 on volume of 32.76 million units.
  • Citigroup (C) down $0.38 (1.28%) to $29.31 on volume of 69.98 million units.
  • Wal-Mart (WMT) down $1.01 (1.97%) to $50.17 on volume of 17.9 million units.
  • IBM (IBM) down $1.08 (0.99%) to $108.00 on volume of 5.33 million units.
  • Intel (INTC) down $0.5699 (2.62%) to $21.20 on volume of 64.55 million units.
  • Cisco Systems (CSCO) down $1.12 (4.49%) to $23.82 on volume of 91.65 million units.
  • Google (GOOG) down $20.47 (3.97%) to $495.43 on volume of 13.1 million units.
  • Fannie Mae (FNM) up $+0.06 (0.17%) to $35.46 on volume of 8.43 million units.
  • Freddie Mac (FRE) down $0.12 (0.37%) to $32.33 on volume of 7.93 million units.

Currency Futures
Currency Futures
Index Close Gain(Loss) %
U.S. Dollar Index 75.470 -0.095 -0.13
British Pound 1.9691 +0.0064 0.33
Canadian Dollar 1.0058 +0.0003 0.03
Japanese Yen 0.9398 -0.0024 -0.25
Swiss Franc 0.9198 +0.0005 0.05
Euro FX 1.4810 +0.0022 0.15
Australian Dollar 0.9056 +0.0051 0.57
New Zealand Dollar 0.78890 +0.0006 0.08

Other Indices of Interest...

The Banks Index dropped 3.95 points (4.11%) to 92.16 points.

Index volume totalled 342.3 million shares. Every single one of the 24 index components fell

Major movers in the same direction as the index:

  • Citigroup Inc (C), down 0.39 (1.31%) to $29.30 on volume of 70 million shares
  • Keycorp (KEY), down 0.38 (1.44%) to $26.04 on volume of 5.1 million shares
  • Northern Tr Cp (NTRS), down 1.26 (1.71%) to $72.54 on volume of 1.2 million shares
  • State Street Cp (STT), down 1.55 (1.85%) to $82.42 on volume of 3.7 million shares

The Semiconductor Index lost 8.11 (2.18%) to 371.62 points. Index volume totalled 202.1 million shares. Of the 18 index components, 1 advanced, with volume of 3.9 million units. Of the remaining 17 stocks in the index, 15 fell, with total volume traded of 173.4 million shares.

Major movers in the same direction as the index:

  • Broadcom Corp Cl (BRCM), down 1.21 (5.16%) to $22.22 on volume of 11.7 million shares
  • Infineon Tech Ads (IFX), down 0.49 (4.39%) to $10.68 on volume of 1.7 million shares
  • Xilinx Inc (XLNX), down 0.98 (4.22%) to $22.23 on volume of 6.9 million shares
  • Altera Cp (ALTR), down 0.59 (3.04%) to $18.83 on volume of 9.1 million shares

The ChildKiller ("Defence") Index lost 1.63 (0.43%) to 382.07 points. Index volume totalled 51.5 million shares. Of the 17 index components, 5 advanced, with volume in advancers totalling 9.6 million units.The remaining 12 stocks in the indek fell, with total volume traded of 41.9 million shares.

Major movers in the same direction as the index:

  • Gencorp Inc (GY), down 0.36 (2.97%) to $11.77 on volume of 348 thousand shares
  • Gen Electric Co (GE), down 0.76 (2.1%) to $35.40 on volume of 32.8 million shares
  • Esterline Tech Cp (ESL), down 0.69 (1.46%) to $46.53 on volume of 182.6 thousand shares
  • Embraer Empresa B (ERJ), down 0.54 (1.21%) to $44.06 on volume of 247.4 thousand shares