Today's Headlines at 2006-02-06 23:45:55 Bloomberg: - US telephone stocks’ decade of decline may be over as acquisitions spur earnings growth at companies including AT&T(T) and Verizon Communications(VZ). - Morgan Stanley(MWD), Wall Street’s top money-maker in asset management until last year, lost the gift that keeps on giving to Goldman Sachs Group(GS). - Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor, the world’s two largest makers of computer memory chips, raised prices for their biggest customers because of a shortage of microchips. - The US Treasury may pay the lowest yield ever to borrow for 30 years in the first sale of the government’s longest-maturity bonds since August 2001. - Crude oil rose for a second day after Iran said it would pursue nuclear research, defying the UN.
Wall Street Journal: - The US nuclear-power industry will start an ad campaign, run by WPP Group Plc’s Hill & Knowlton A
BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio is slightly lower into the final hour on losses in my Computer longs, Medical longs and Biotech longs. I added to my (IWM)/(QQQQ) shorts this morning and to my (ISRG) long and (COP) short, thus leaving the Portfolio 50% net long. The tone of the market is mildly negative as the advance/decline line is slightly lower, sector performance is mixed and volume is average. Morgan Stanley rated U.S. stocks 'overweight' on its global focus list. It cut Japanese stocks to 'neutral' and cut the weighting of emerging markets in the list. I expect US stocks to trade mixed into the close from current levels as a reversal in energy prices and stable long-term rates offsets worries over Iran and the Fed.
Stocks Close Mixed on Average Volume at 2006-02-06 23:45:55 Indices S&P 500 1,265.02 +.08% DJIA 10,798.27 +.04% NASDAQ 2,258.80 -.17% Russell 2000 727.89 +.51% S&P Barra Growth 601.45 -.13% S&P Barra Value 659.69 +.29% Morgan Stanley Consumer 588.50 -.13% Morgan Stanley Cyclical 783.44 +.46% Morgan Stanley Technology 526.77 +.06% Transports 4,290.49 +.63% Utilities 407.58 +.55% Put/Call .84 -20.75% NYSE Arms .96 -20.30% Volatility(VIX) 13.04 +.62% ISE Sentiment 163.00 +2.52% US Dollar 90.31 +.47% CRB 343.25 -.77%
