Interdum stultus opportuna loquitur...

Friday, February 01, 2008

USRant: See-Saw Day On Dull Data...

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

Economic News
  • the ISM Manufacturing index rose to 50.7 - showing (according to its self-promotional literature) expansion in business conditions. Well, I will say two things... first the ISM survey is a farce; it is not correlated with anything including the price of tea in China. Second, if they managed to get a survey group that thinks the US economy is expanding, they must've taken the survey either in a sheltered workshop or a crack house.
  • the Non-farm Payrolls report sucked big time. It showed the first fall in new payrolls since 2004 - a drop of 17500 was pencilled in , versus consensus estimates for a GAIN of 70,000.

The Department of Labor also revised history - and as always, it revised away the fake jobs that it sticky-tapes in every month to make its political masters look better. Sticky tape in phantom workers when the government needs for there to have been employment growth, and then revise them away later - because nobody on "The Street" gives a flying rats ass about the actual numbers - they only care to the extent that they can use the current published number to try and hawk stocks to unsuspecting rubes.

This round of revisions did away with 376,000 jobs at the stroke of a mouse. Thus an economy with 150 million workers generated (as it now stands) only 1.137 million jobs for the year... and that will be revised down as well - it's part of the shell game that is 'government statistics'.

Fed Open Market Operations

Given that the Fed knew that the economic umbers were going to be woeful, it stands to reason that they would pump loads upon loads of dough in through the repurchase market, in order to help prevent a serious decline leading into a weekend (because otherwise folks get nervy over the weekend and sell hard on Monday).

So they did a monster repo -
  • 12 billion dollars, weekend term, at a 75 basis point discount to the Fed Funds rate. No wonder bloody stocks bounced...
Headline Indices


The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced +92.83 points (0.73%) to 12743.19 points. The index high for the day was 12767.74, while the low was 12602.32.

Major Advancers in the Dow were

  • Citigroup (C) +1.52 (5.4%) to 29.69 on volume of 120.1 million units
  • Alcoa (AA) +1.19 (3.6%) to 34.28 on volume of 15.1 million units
  • Intel (INTC) +0.6699 (3.17%) to 21.7699 on volume of 65.4 million units
  • Walt Disney(DIS) +0.82 (2.75%) to 30.66 on volume of 13.9 million units
  • General Motors (GM) +0.77 (2.73%) to 28.98 on volume of 15.5 million units

Major Decliners in the Dow were

  • Microsoft (MSFT)  -2.1502 (6.6%) to 30.4498 on volume of 290.1 million units
  • Home Depot (HD)  -0.19 (0.62%) to 30.45 on volume of 17.1 million units
  • AT&T Inc. (T)  -0.21 (0.55%) to 38.28 on volume of 27.9 million units
  • Exxon Mobil (XOM)  -0.45 (0.52%) to 85.95 on volume of 27.4 million units
  • Boeing (BA)  -0.42 (0.5%) to 82.76 on volume of 5.9 million units

Most Traded Dow stocks were

  • Microsoft (MSFT) fell -2.1502 (-6.6) to 30.4498 on volume of 290.1 million units
  • Citigroup (C) rose 1.52 (5.4) to 29.69 on volume of 120.1 million units
  • Intel (INTC) rose 0.6699 (3.17) to 21.7699 on volume of 65.4 million units
  • Gen Electric (GE) rose 0.8 (2.26) to 36.16 on volume of 55.8 million units
  • Pfizer (PFE) rose 0.23 (0.98) to 23.59 on volume of 51.2 million units

The S&P500 Index advanced +16.87 points (1.22%) to 1395.42 points. The index high for the day was 1396.02, while the low was 1375.93. The Nasdaq Composite advanced +23.50 points (0.98%) to 2413.36 points, and the Nasdaq100 advanced +13.85 points (0.75%) to 1855.27 points. The index high for the day was 1864.97, while the low was 1826.43.

The CBOE Volatiity Index lost 2.18 points (8.32%) to 24.02 pointswhile the CBOE Nasdaq100 Volatilty Index lost 2.83 points (9.11%) to 28.25 points. The index high for the day was 30.14, while the low was 28.25.

NYSE Total Volume totalled 4.62billion units.

Nasdaq Total Volume totalled 3.09billion units.

Major Market Statistics
Index Close Gain(Loss) %
Dow Jones Industrial Average 12743.19 +92.83 0.73%
S&P500 Index 1395.42 +16.87 1.22%
Nasdaq Composite 2413.36 +23.50 0.98%
Nasdaq100 1855.27 +13.85 0.75%
CBOE Volatility Index 24.02 -2.18 -8.32%
CBOE Nasdaq100 Volatility Index 28.25 -2.83 -9.11%
NYSE Total Volume 4.62bn - -
Nasdaq Total Volume 3.09bn - -
Precious Metals

Precious metals futures advanced as follows -

Precious Metal Futures
Index Close Gain(Loss) %
Gold 904.1 -18.6 -2.02
Silver 1681.5 -18.0 -1.06
Platinum 1769.9 +32.5 1.87
Palladium 413.00 +18.50 4.69

The Gold Bugs Index lost 1.69 (0.92%) to 184.61 points. Index volume totalled 114.7 million shares. Of the 16 index components, 4 advanced, with volume in advancers totalling 32.2 million units. Of the remaining 12 stocks in the index, every other stock fell, with total volume traded of 82.5 million shares.

Major movers in the same direction as the index:

  • Gold Fields Ltd A (GFI), down 0.92 (6.13%) to $14.08 on volume of 18.3 million shares
  • Yamana Gold Inc (AUY), down 0.61 (3.7%) to $15.89 on volume of 11.7 million shares
  • Harmony Gold Mng (HMY), down 0.34 (3.36%) to $9.77 on volume of 2.7 million shares
  • Randgold Res Ltd (GOLD), down 1.04 (2.18%) to $46.67 on volume of 1.9 million shares

Energy Complex

Energy futures performed as follows -

Energy Futures
Index Close Gain(Loss) %
Crude Oil 88.95 -2.80 -3.05
Heating Oil 2.4500 -0.0791 -3.13
Gasoline RBOB 2.2840 -0.0732 -3.11
Natural Gas 7.730 -0.344 -4.26
Ethanol 2.155 -0.040 -1.82

The Oil Services Index added 7.16 (2.75%) to 259.97 points. Index volume totalled 86.5 million shares. Of the 15 index components, 14 advanced, with volume in advancers totalling 76.4 million units. Of the remaining 1 stocks in the index, every other stock fell, with total volume traded of 10 million shares.

Major movers in the same direction as the index:

  • Cameron Intl Cp (CAM), up 2.2 (5.51%) to $42.12 on volume of 6.4 million shares
  • Global Inds Ltd (GLBL), up 0.96 (5.44%) to $18.62 on volume of 1.6 million shares
  • Oceaneering Intl (OII), up 2.78 (4.83%) to $60.36 on volume of 697 thousand shares
  • Natl Oilwell Varc (NOV), up 2.49 (4.14%) to $62.69 on volume of 5.8 million shares

Bellwethers

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

  • General Electric (GE) up $+0.80 (2.26%) to $36.16 on volume of 55.83 million units.
  • Citigroup (C) up $+1.52 (5.4%) to $29.69 on volume of 120.09 million units.
  • Wal-Mart (WMT) up $+0.44 (0.87%) to $51.18 on volume of 25.64 million units.
  • IBM (IBM) up $+1.97 (1.84%) to $109.08 on volume of 8 million units.
  • Intel (INTC) up $+0.6699 (3.17%) to $21.7699 on volume of 65.4 million units.
  • Cisco Systems (CSCO) up $+0.44 (1.8%) to $24.94 on volume of 57.28 million units.
  • Google (GOOG) down $48.4 (8.58%) to $515.90 on volume of 17.56 million units.
  • Fannie Mae (FNM) up $+1.62 (4.8%) to $35.40 on volume of 14.95 million units.
  • Freddie Mac (FRE) up $+2.06 (6.78%) to $32.45 on volume of 14.72 million units.
Other Indices of Interest...

The Banks Index added 0.24 (0.25%) to 94.63 points. Index volume totalled 470.3 million shares. Of the 24 index components, 22 advanced, with volume in advancers totalling 420.6 million units. Of the remaining 2 stocks in the index, every other stock fell, with total volume traded of 49.6 million shares.

Major movers in the same direction as the index:

  • Washington Mutual (WM), up 1.95 (9.81%) to $21.82 on volume of 58.7 million shares
  • Citigroup Inc (C), up 1.52 (5.4%) to $29.69 on volume of 120.1 million shares
  • Huntington Bcshs (HBAN), up 0.66 (4.91%) to $14.11 on volume of 7.1 million shares
  • Capital One Finan (COF), up 2.35 (4.3%) to $56.97 on volume of 13 million shares

The Semiconductor Index added 20.73 (5.46%) to 379.73 points. Index volume totalled 287.4 million shares. Of the 18 index components, 18 advanced, with volume in advancers totalling 287.4 million units. Of the remaining 0 stocks in the index, every other stock fell, with total volume traded of 0 million shares.

Major movers in the same direction as the index:

  • Altera Cp (ALTR), up 2.53 (14.98%) to $19.42 on volume of 15.9 million shares
  • Micron Technology (MU), up 0.82 (11.73%) to $7.81 on volume of 32.8 million shares
  • Infineon Tech Ads (IFX), up 0.93 (9.08%) to $11.17 on volume of 5.4 million shares
  • Sandisk Cp (SNDK), up 2.1 (8.25%) to $27.55 on volume of 12.3 million shares

The ChildKiller ("Defence") Index added 6.35 (1.65%) to 383.70 points. Index volume totalled 85.5 million shares. Of the 17 index components, 15 advanced, with volume in advancers totalling 78.3 million units. Of the remaining 2 stocks in the index, every other stock fell, with total volume traded of 7.2 million shares.

Major movers in the same direction as the index:

  • Flir Systems In (FLIR), up 2.31 (7.63%) to $32.59 on volume of 1.4 million shares
  • Gencorp Inc (GY), up 0.39 (3.32%) to $12.13 on volume of 460.2 thousand shares
  • Embraer Empresa B (ERJ), up 1.2 (2.76%) to $44.60 on volume of 814.9 thousand shares
  • Gen Electric Co (GE), up 0.8 (2.26%) to $36.16 on volume of 55.8 million shares