Reply #48: Closing numbers and blather

[DoBotherMe]

Dow 10,498.59 +37.03 (+0.35%)
Nasdaq 2,046.09 +26.14 (+1.29%)
S&P 500 1,174.07 +5.66 (+0.48%)
10-Yr Bond 41.92 +0.03 (+0.07%)
NYSE Volume 1,637,206,000
Nasdaq Volume 2,088,162,000

Close: Stocks embraced another round of strong earnings reports, firming overall sentiment, and extended Tuesday's rally into the close... Much like yesterday, most of the S&P constituents (18 out of 26) reporting earnings beat analysts' expectations, with SBC, LLY, COP, GD, EK and MO to name just a few, compared to just 4 large cap names missing forecasts...
In slight contrast to yesterday's action, however, was the fact that market internals actually strengthened during the final hour of trading, lifting advancers on both the NYSE and Nasdaq to a 2 to 1 margin over decliners and adding further support for the sustainability of recent market advances... With a full 68% of companies having now turned in better than expected results for the quarter, versus disappointments from only 14%, concerns regarding slowing profit growth have been somewhat mitigated, as broad-based buying interest pushed virtually every sector into positive territory... The Nasdaq, the most oversold (-7.1%) of the major indices in 2005, paced the way surging 1.3% while the Dow and S&P recovered some of the -2.9% and -3.6%, respectively, lost so far this year...

Better than expected Q4 results from Texas Instruments (TXN 22.66 +1.54) fueled a 2.6% surge in semiconductor while encouraging FY06 guidance from Oracle Corp (ORCL 13.67 +0.08) lifted software (+2.3%)... Internet (+4.2%) was also higher, assisted by an upgrade on Yahoo (YHOO 35.47 +1.43) from Merrill Lynch while biotech, homebuilding, airline, retail and utility all posted gains of more than 1.0%... Energy also surged almost 1.0% despite oil prices falling 1.7%...

Crude oil futures ($48.78/bbl -$0.86), which were very close to breaking through the psychological $50/bbl barrier yesterday, pulled back 1.6% from their highest levels since November in volatile trading following mixed weekly oil inventories data... The Energy Dept. reported a 3.4 mln barrel rise in crude supplies (consensus +1.0 mln) but a 2.3 mln barrel decline in distillate stockpiles (consensus -1.8 mln)... The materials sector, which was weak earlier due to a sell off in steel (-0.9%), and transportation, under pressure intraday from weakness in railroads (-0.7%), both closed slightly higher while consumer staples was the only major industry group to show modest weakness...

The dollar was also weak, falling against both the euro (1.3079) and the yen (103.02), while treasuries, which had no economic data to digest all day, showed modest buying interest, pushing the benchmark 10-year note up 1/32 to yield 4.18%... DJTA +0.2, DJUA +1.7, DOT +2.2, Nasdaq 100 +1.2, Russell 2000 +1.5, S&P Midcap 400 +1.0, XOI +1.0, NYSE Adv/Dec 2345/945, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 2116/975


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