| Index | Last | Chg | % Chg |
| DJ Industrials | 13619.89 | 174.93 | 1.30% |
| Nasdaq Comp | 2709.03 | 42.67 | 1.60% |
| S&P 500 | 1507.34 | 22.33 | 1.50% |
| DJ Wilshire 5K | 15203.36 | 239.85 | 1.60% |
| Russell 2000 | 786.95 | 21.31 | 2.78% |
| Nasdaq 100 | 2127.65 | 28.34 | 1.35% |
Comments: Today's rally was driven by the supposed housing "solution" coming out of the Whitehouse. Most likely it won't solve anything long term, but it seems that it may help short-term psychology, hence the big bounce in the homebuilders today. But this will most likely be a short lived rally. As of today the Week-to-Date performance of the indexes are solidly in the green. DOW +1.86%, Nasdaq +1.81%, S&P +1.77%, Wilshire 5K +1.81, R2K + 2.5%, Nas 100 +1.85%. The small cap rally is quite extraordinary. Also, the S&P closing above the key 1490 level is also significant. With an expectation of good job numbers tomorrow (e.g. consumers can keep spending) and Fed rate cut of at least 25 bp next Tuesday (Dec. 11) the market is anticipating the good news already. The real fun happens AFTER these events. Jobless claims are rising and retail sales are weak. Expectations of more pain in the financials still looms on the horizon. The economic headwinds are not abating. This weeks market upswing could lead to a smart sell-off, Santa Claus rally excluded. Trading volumes are decreasing on the updays, which does not bode well. Bulls might have ruled the day and week, but I think the bears will be feasting all winter long.
| Issues | NYSE | Nasdaq | Amex |
| Advancing | 2,523 | 2,171 | 878 |
| Declining | 667 | 816 | 416 |
| Unchanged | 69 | 99 | 83 |
| Total | 3,259 | 3,086 | 1,377 |
| | | | |
| New 52 Wk Hi | 102 | 72 | 28 |
| New 52 Wk Low | 42 | 134 | 59 |
| | | | |
| Total | 1,369,854,710 | 2,018,677,410 | 45,519,815 |
| Advancing | 1,162,144,190 | 1,610,570,459 | 35,485,465 |
| Declining | 201,962,220 | 382,915,996 | 9,460,850 |
| Unchanged | 5,748,300 | 25,190,955 | 573,500 |
| Futures | Last | Change |
| Crude Oil | 90.48 | 2.99 |
| Natural Gas | 7.319 | 0.134 |
| Gold, Feb | 808.2 | 4.5 |
From Briefing.com:
| Moving the Market |  | Sector Watch |
| Initial jobless claims drop, good sign after the jump last week November retail chain same-store sales are decent, but Target disappoints President Bush outlines housing plan | Strong: homebuilding; trucking; thrifts & mortgages; health care facilities; construction materials; residential REITs; construction & engineering; office electronics; multi-line insurance; oil & gas drilling Weak: gen. merchandise stores |
Stocks rallied on Thursday as investors welcomed the White House's subprime mortgage-relief plan. Stocks traded modestly above the unchanged mark for the majority of the trading day as investors awaited President Bush's speech on housing, and subsequently rallied as market participants embraced the White House's subprime plan. President Bush laid out three ways for people to get help that can afford their current starter mortgage rate, but would not be able to afford the higher payments when their mortgage rate resets higher: 1) refinancing into a new private loan; 2) moving into a Federal Housing Authority-Secure loan; or 3) by freezing their rate for 5-years. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson spoke after Bush. He stated the subprime relief involves "no government money." On a related note, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), third quarter U.S. mortgage delinquencies rose to a 20-year high and foreclosures hit an all-time high. News of the subprime fix outweighed the negative MBA report, as indicated by the strong performance in the homebuilding (13.4%) and thrifts & mortgages (6.7%) group. The plan will indeed help some people keep their home who otherwise would have lost it. Their ability to stay in their homes means fewer homes will be pushed on the market through foreclosure, and hence, it creates a modicum of relief for a housing market already afflicted by bloated inventory levels. On the margin, then, this is a favorable development for the economy and, by extension, for the stock market. In economic news, new claims for unemployment for the week ended Dec. 1 fell to 338,000 from 353,000 the week before. This is actually fairly important as it shows last week rise is not a part of an uptrend that typically precedes a recession. Retailers were in the spotlight today following their November same-store sales results. Readings can be characterized as mixed, discount retailers and department stores put up some of the best numbers while the specialty retailers were hit and miss. Target (TGT 55.57, -4.56) warned sales trends would need to improve meaningfully in December in order to achieve its fourth quarter EPS growth, which mitigated much of the enthusiasm for the strength seen at some retailers. The S&P 500 Retailing Index (+0.1%) spent most of the day in the red, but managed to post a small gain thanks to the late-day White House induced rally. Nine of the ten economic sectors traded higher with financials (+2.6%) and energy (+2.4%) pacing the way. Only the utilities sector (-0.1%) ended the day with a loss. Crude oil rallied $2.74 at $90.23 per barrel. Yesterday, crude prices actually declined despite a large draw in inventories and OPEC deciding to not increase output. |
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