STOCK MARKET WATCH FRIDAY, AUGUST 15.......(#1)

[ozymandius]

Friday August 15, 2003

COUNTING THE DAYS
DAYS REMAINING IN THE * REGIME 526
REICH-WING RUBBERSTAMP-Congress = DAY 275
DAYS SINCE DEMOCRACY DIED (12/12/00) 2 YEARS, 247 DAYS
WHERE'S OSAMA BIN-LADEN? 1 YEAR, 305 DAYS
WHERE'S SADDAM? WHERE ARE THE WMD'S? - DAY 147
DAYS SINCE ENRON COLLAPSE = 631
Number of Enron Execs in handcuffs = 17
ENRON EXECS CONVICTED = 0
Other Arrests of Execs = 53

U.S. FUTURES & MARKETS INDICATORS
NASDAQ FUTURES-----------------------------S&P FUTURES




AT THE CLOSING BELL ON August 13, 2003

Dow 9,310.56 +38.80 (+0.42%)
Nasdaq 1,700.34 +13.73 (+0.81%)
S&P 500..... 990.51 +6.48 (+0.66%)
10-Year Bond 4.59% +0.03 (+0.57%)
Gold future...... 366.00 -1.50 (-0.41%)

DOW..........................NASDAQ.......................S&P

||


GOLD, EURO, YEN and Dollars


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PIEHOLE ALERT

Heads Up!
Preliminary info on appearances by Bush & Co. throughout the country. Details & links are added as they become available so check back. And if you know more, are organizing something, or would like to, contact [email protected]

For information on protests and other actions Citizens For Legitimate Government

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[ozymandius]

1. WrapUp by Scott Middleton

Power Outage

U.S. stocks ended with modest gains today as investors found solace in some fresh evidence that the economy is on the mend. Shortly after the market bell rang power was lost leaving much of the Northeastern U.S. without power for the balance of the evening.

Generating most of the buzz in today’s markets early this morning was the usual Thursday menu of economic figures, of which showed indications the economy has begun to improve over the last couple of weeks. Wholesale prices inched up by just 0.1 percent in July. The miniscule increase followed a 0.5 percent jump in June. It is believed that today’s report may ease, but not eliminate the Fed’s fears about the threat that already low inflation could keep moving lower and turn into deflation.

<..cut..>

It’s been said many time before on this site and I reiterate it here again, the government can continue to use its hedonic indexing to imply that things are improving, but without Corporate America adding to the economy, chances of a recovery will continue to be slow and in the very distant future.

more...

[ozymandius]

2. Wall St. waits for light

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Just getting U.S. stock markets open will be the big event Friday as New York remains in the midst of a major power blackout.

Much of the Northeast U.S. lost its power just after the markets closed Thursday. But even though has not yet been restored to most of New York, the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Stock Market say they intend to open as scheduled using auxiliary power supplies.

The big problem will be getting market participants to the places where they do their trading. New York's subway system won't be operating, and driving in the nation's largest city will be difficult without traffic lights.

story

[ozymandius]

3. July Consumer Prices Up 0.2 Percent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Rising energy costs, higher tuition and gains in lodging and housing costs pushed U.S consumer prices up moderately in July, the government said on Friday in a report that should help ease any lingering worries about deflation.

The Consumer Price Index, the most widely used gauge of U.S. inflation, rose 0.2 percent in July, the same as in June, with energy prices up a solid 0.4 percent, the Labor Department said.

The so-called core CPI, which strips out volatile food and energy costs and gives a better read on underlying inflation trends, also increased 0.2 percent, up from June's unchanged reading. The 12-month change in the core CPI held steady at a 1.5 percent gain.

story

[ozymandius]

4. Uncertain start expected on Wall Street

Futures trade pointed to another uncertain open on Wall Street on Friday in the wake of a massive power blackout that kept many parts of north-eastern America, including New York, without electricity for several hours.

<..cut..>

The markets were expected to open as normal, and for those traders and investors able to get to their desks on Friday, the first focus was likely to be consumer inflation. Economists expect consumer prices to have risen 0.2 per cent in July, from June's rise of 0.1 per cent.

"Apart from rising food and energy prices, there is little source of inflationary pressure in the US economy and core inflation is likely to confirm tepid pricing power," said analysts at Nomura.

story

[ozymandius]

5. Oil Up as Blackout Shuts U.S. Refineries

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Friday on fears of possible fuel shortages after three U.S. refineries were closed down by a massive blackout in the United States and Canada.

The shutdowns caused by the largest power failure in North American history added to concerns over already-low fuel inventories in the world's largest consumer.

story

[ozymandius]

6. Before the Bell: Dell Falls, Trading Slow

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of Dell Inc. (Nasdaq:DELL - news), the No. 1 personal computer company, fell in pre-market trade on Friday, a day after it reported its fifth consecutive quarter of year-on-year profit improvement but said technology demand was not greatly improved but has stabilized.

Instinet said trading in stocks before the open of regular trading was light, a day after the largest electrical blackout in North American history, the two exchanges said.

story ... quite short

[Coventina]

7. The "I Ching" on today's market

Good morning everyone!

Anyone else sick of hearing about "Blackout 2003"?
Big flipping deal! :eyes: I'm sick of phoney crises.
A huge hassle? Yes! End of Western Civilization? No!
Fer crying out loud, like half the Western US went out while I was in college, and it was a mere blurb on the national news.
Ok, I'll end my rant and talk about today's reading which is INNOCENCE changing to CONFLICT.

The INNOCENCE part I'm pretty sure applies only to me personally. But listen to what Ching says about CONFLICT, "Business matters cannot be brought to fruition at this time." I think that about sums it up! :D

I predict a quiet day for the markets....eerily quiet!

[ozymandius]

11. Good one again Coventina.

What can be brought to fruition when some ATM networks are down and people slept in the streets?

In all seriousness: there appears to be too much economic data in flux. The markets do not know where they're headed - even for a little while.

[KoKo]

8. Isn't it unusual that the market hasn't taken a big hit this a.m.?

This power outage will hurt the airlines who are already on the edge, plus all the business losses in such a huge area?

Is this the PPT at work again? It's very odd. Usually any event this big causes a down market opening.

Markets are probably running on a limited basis because so many people couldn't make it into the city or work, but still....doesn't make sense.

[Shrek]

9. Today is the 3rd Friday

So maybe all of the options traders are having some effect.

But even so, like you I'm surprised that there wasn't a big push down right at the opening bell.

[ozymandius]

10. It may be too early to guage losses.

Trading is also at a crawl.

9:59
DJIA 9,311.47 0.91 (0.01%)
NASDAQ 1,698.55 -1.79 (-0.11%)
S&P 500 988.96 -1.55 (-0.16%)

[ozymandius]

12. 10:36 figures

DJIA 9,320.43 9.87 (0.11%)
NASDAQ 1,701.50 1.16 (0.07%)
S&P 500 990.43 -0.08 (-0.01%)

[ozymandius]

13. 11:35 numbers - just hanging there

DJIA 9,317.56 7.00 (0.08%)
NASDAQ 1,702.75 2.41 (0.14%)
S&P 500 990.57 0.06 (0.01%)


I may be back later this afternoon. It all depends on how long some appointments will run. In light of the possibilities - have a wonderful weekend!

[mrsteve]

14. Started small downward slide into the red...

just as Ozy was posting the last update. The numbers are not that bad, and trading is light.

Dow 9,295.50 -15.06 (-0.16%)
Nasdaq 1,698.39 -1.95 (-0.11%)
S&P 500 988.56 -1.95 (-0.20%)
10-Yr Bond 4.504% -0.082

From Yahoo finance:

"12:30PM: Selling pressure has intensified since the last update and the Dow has set a new session low... The Nasdaq continues to outperform the blue-chip averages on a relative basis and is roughly unchanged at this juncture"

[mrsteve]

15. At 1:30 - still nothing to write home about

Volume is, as Yahoo Finance sez, "simply rueful". Guess a lot of traders stayed home instead of trading today.

Dow 9,292.63 -17.93 (-0.19%)
Nasdaq 1,699.14 -1.20 (-0.07%)
S&P 500 988.04 -2.47 (-0.25%)
10-Yr Bond 4.544% -0.042

Also, I'm worried about the gasoline situation. As stated above, the refineries in the Northeast are shut down for lack of power (or restarting production slowly after missing 12 - 15 hours of production). Another refinery is burning to complete destruction in Michigan due to lack of power for water pumps. And a gas pipeline in Arizona is shut down for maintenance.

Maybe the oil companies see a way to use this blackout confusion to pack their coffers, but I'm wondering what a severe oil shock would do to the vaunted "Economic Recovery" currently in progress (if you believe the economic cheerleaders). Maybe *'s oil buddies are ready to stab him in the back, like the fair weather friends they are.

[htuttle]

16. Last I'd heard (early this morning)

There were no subways yet, and Penn Station had to be shut down again, since it's backup generator failed (that was early...maybe it's opened back up).

So there may be very few traders working this morning (isn't the exchange itself still running on backup generators right now?). I mean -- where would they go to drink their lunch?

[mrsteve]

17. 2:00 numbers

Dow 9,298.31 -12.25 (-0.13%)
Nasdaq 1,699.84 -0.50 (-0.03%)
S&P 500 987.14 -3.37 (-0.34%)
10-Yr Bond 4.538% -0.048

Yahoo Finance bleating about the inactivity:

"1:55PM: More of the same and in speaking with Briefing.com's contacts among institutional traders, the lack of enthusiasm for being at work today seems to be the prevalent theme given the total lack of direction or volume... Given the confluence of the power outage issues and a typical slow summer Friday, some individuals have called it a week and gone home early... In addition, some of our contacts did not even make it to work today given the power issues still being ironed out in New York...
However, traders point to the possibility of some action at the end of the day related to today's expiration of stock options, index options, and single stock futures..."

"where would they go to drink their lunch" Ha! Good point!

[mrsteve]

18. 2:15 - up quite a bit compared to the last two hours

But still no happy-happy-joy-joy.

Dow 9,302.36 -8.20 (-0.09%)
Nasdaq 1,700.06 -0.28 (-0.02%)
S&P 500 987.14 -3.37 (-0.34%)
10-Yr Bond 4.526% -0.060


Well, gott run to some meetings. Will try to follow up with closing numbers later today, unless Ozy beats me to it.

[ozymandius]

19. 2:39 and ever more unhappy about the lack of power.

Responding to an earlier question: As I understand - the exchange is on backup power generators. When I worked in broadcasting, we had the same type of backup (state-of-the-art as far as diesel engines go) plus a huge battery bank for the UPS but they only provided minimal power supply for critical systems. So the air conditioning was non-existent in the offices and just passable for heavy tech equipment areas. I wonder if the NY exchange is any better.


DJIA 9,292.49 -18.07 (-0.19%)
NASDAQ 1,699.88 -0.46 (-0.03%)
S&P 500 988.42 -2.09 (-0.21%)

You will beat me for the final for sure. I am home on my lunch break but heading back out in a few minutes.

Than you, mrsteve, for keeping the updates rolling!

[ozymandius]

20. Alternative Energy Stocks Gain

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of alternative energy companies posted some of the biggest gains on the Nasdaq Friday, after the largest blackout in North American history sparked interest in firms aiming to remake electric grids.

The massive outage, and a vow by President Bush to modernize the system, boosted shares of nearly every sector related to power.

"Investors are anticipating that people are going to hear a lot of information on the electricity grid and that keeps this sector active," said Chris Kwan, analyst with broker TD Newcrest International, based in Toronto.

story

[ozymandius]

21. 3pm and I'm outta here (while figures nose up a bit).

DJIA 9,311.05 0.49 (+0.01%)
NASDAQ 1,701.30 0.96 (+0.06%)
S&P 500 989.77 -0.74 -0.07%)

Have a great weekend folks!

Ozymandius

[mrsteve]

22. Final Numbers

Things seemed to have nosed up to just above water level across the board for the end of the day:

Dow 9,321.69 +11.13 (+0.12%)
Nasdaq 1,702.01 +1.67 (+0.10%)
S&P 500 990.67 +0.16 (+0.02%)
10-Yr Bond 4.528% -0.058

Although the 10 year bond took a little hit. What's that about? Gold's down almost a percent, too. Signs and portents, or just noise?

Yahoo Finance wrapup - all in all, a slow day of very little...

"Close: Nothing, nada, zero, and zilch are the words that aptly describe what happened in the market today as the indices spent the entirety of the session vacillating around the unchanged line in ranges of 56, 6, and 12 points for the Dow, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq, respectively... Given the aftereffects of yesterday's power outage strike in New York, operations were not as smooth as usually and many traders either left work early or didn't show at all, turning a typically slow August Friday into a never-ending story of sorts...
The lack of participation is best reflected in the dreadful volume totals for the day with 566 mln shares were traded on the NYSE and 680 mln on the Nasdaq... Like the major averages, the vast majority of the sectors spent the day not making much headway one way or another... Exceptions to the rule included the financial and biotech sectors to the downside and the defense, retail, housing, networking, disk drive, and computer hardware sectors to the upside... Because of the generally languorous trade, the economic reports of the day came and went unnoticed..."