Stocks Close Near Session Lows on Weakness in Energy and Technology Shares at 2006-02-06 23:45:56
Indices S&P 500 1,270.84 -.91% DJIA 10,851.98 -.93% NASDAQ 2,281.57 -1.25% Russell 2000 726.25 -1.25% S&P Barra Growth 606.07 -.79% S&P Barra Value 660.62 -1.02% Morgan Stanley Consumer 592.27 -.56% Morgan Stanley Cyclical 785.78 -1.20% Morgan Stanley Technology 532.56 -1.73% Transports 4,281.19 -.94% Utilities 408.27 -1.49% Put/Call .97 +15.48% NYSE Arms 1.39 +63.39% Volatility(VIX) 13.23 +7.04% ISE Sentiment 191.00 -12.79% US Dollar 89.38 -.15% CRB 343.14 -.42%
Afternoon Recommendations Goldman Sachs: - Reiterated Outperform on (SSP), (RDEN) and (CSCO).
Afternoon/Evening Headlines Bloomberg: - Shares of Thomas Weisel Partners Group(TWPG), the third investment bank to go public in two years, surged as much as 33% in their trading debut. - Amazon.com(AMZN) said fourth-quarter profit fell 43% as the company increased spending to lure shoppers during the holiday season. - The Federal Reserve wants Wall Street securities firms to keep closer tabs on hedge funds to ensure that practices in the $1.1 trillion industry aren’t putting the banking system at risk. - Electronic Arts(ERTS) said third-quarter profit fell 31%, the fifth decline in a row, as shortages of Xbox 360 consoles slowed sales.
BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio finished lower today on losses in my Semi longs, Medical Information Systems longs, Computer longs and Software longs. I did not trade in the final hour, thus leaving the Portfolio 75% net long. The tone of the market was negative today as the advance/decline line finished lower, most sectors fell and volume was heavy. Measures of investor anxiety were higher into the close. Overall, today's market action was bearish as the major averages finished near session lows with negative breadth. Investors chose to focus on the negatives throughout the day. I will wait to see the market's reaction to tomorrow's likely strong jobs report before shifting market exposure further.
