2 mooie sessies op Wall Street na forse daling.

Na vorige vrijdag al een poging tot herstel te hebben ingezet liet Wall Street een 3 op 4 zien, de 3 positieve sessies waren ook sterk met telkens een Dow Jones die 1% kon winnen. Via deze rubriek ziet u wat er gisteren gebeurde.

Vandaag 18 maart:

Cijfers van Morgan Stanley (MWD).
Economische cijfers met weekly initial claims, February Leading Indicators, March Philadelphia Fed, en de Januari PPI.

Close Dow +115.63 at 10,300.30, Nasdaq +33.67 at 1,976.76, S&P +13.08 at 1,123.78: The market celebrated St. Patrick's Day wearing green, as the major averages spent the session creeping higher and closed with gains of 1.1-1.7% for the major averages... The favorable bias was at least partially rooted in a sense that the market's sell-off experienced through most of March has created attractive entry opportunities... As much was stated in Smith Barney's and First Albany's upgrades of Yahoo (YHOO 44.95 +2.38) to Buy from Neutral... Also supporting today's advance were a batch of better than expected earnings reports, including those from Federal Express (FDX 71.81 +3.38) and Bear Stearns (BSC 89.00 +1.00)... The Consumer Price Index, which checked in at 0.3% and excluding food and energy at 0.2% demonstrated that inflation remains a non-issue in the current economic recovery... This was also consistent with FOMC's assessment as the committee voted to uphold the federal funds rate at its 45-year low of 1.0% in yesterday's meeting... The bulk of the sectors closed the session in the green, with leaders to the upside including the hardware, internet, networking, semiconductor, software, telecom, biotech, banking, gold, oil services, transportation, utility, and broker/dealer groups... Laggards of note were harder to come by, with drug among the few notables... Elsewhere, the 10-year note closed down 6/32, bringing its yield up to 3.70%... NYSE Adv/Dec 2542/800... Nasdaq Adv/Dec 2351/807.

• 17:50 ET Wednesday After Hours : prices levels vs. 4 pm ET: Some of today's buying enthusiasm has calmed, and resulted in a relatively subdued extended session. Presently, the S&P futures, at 1124, are 2 points above fair value, and the Nasdaq 100 futures, at 1431, are 1 point below fair value. Tonight's earnings announcements have come from a number of different industries and have been mostly upbeat:
• Herman Miller (MLHR) -6%: Home furnishings retailer beats by a penny in its Q3 (Feb) report on light revenues; Goes on to guide Q4 (May) EPS to $0.12-0.17 versus the market's expectation of $0.20; Company has warned for 4 out of the last 5 quarters and traders take profits from its 20% run since Feb
• Kirklands (KIRK) TD> -19%: Specialty retailer of home decor meets the Reuters Research EPS estimate of $0.73 on revenues that rose 6% to $132.7 mln; Company guides Q1 (Apr) EPS to the low-end of analyst estimates; Management also makes comments about a 'persistently sluggish sales environment' in its press release
• Tibco Software (TIBX) +3%: Software company surpasses the Q1 (Feb) consensus EPS estimate by $0.02 on revenues that rose 17% to $74.4 mln (consensus of $69.8 mln); Stock moved 9% higher today in anticipation of the release, and has charged higher off the better than expected results.
• 15:22 ET Treasuries tempt mortgage traders, trade 3.65%, end session unchanged: The market struggled to maintain the early highs amidst profit-taking, supply, general disbelief that prices can go much higher, and complete reluctance to get long at these levels. Things started to sell off about mid-day and continued lower until drifting back to unchanged on quiet short covering into the session close. Interestingly, the Baghdad bombing did not offer much in the way of price support, although it had begun to look as if sensitivity had come back into play to some extent. Tomorrow's release of the new and improved PPI number joins forces with initial claims, with leading indicators and Philly Fed booked for later in the day. As noted in today's Looking Ahead piece, players have to beware that the PPI number is ancient data and step away from overdone reactions. Thursday is likely to see consolidation after the market pressed up and ticked yields through the long watched 3.65%, again, and...did nothing. The mortgage-backed players have been in the market and are quietly working their plays; there is reason to believe the unsettling action we saw over the summer that was lain at their feet won't be seen again as strategies and panic-sensitivity has changed. The ten-years are currently -04/32nds yielding 3.696%; twos and threes are -01/32nds yielding 1.486% and 1.868% respectively; fives are -04/32nds yielding 2.652%; thirties are -07/32nds yielding 4.656%.

• 11:31 ET U.S. judge won't dismiss govt suit vs tobacco companies over regulatory regime -- Reuters:

• 10:35 ET FON: Hearing market chatter that Verizon will make bid for Sprint 17.40 +0.38:

• 08:55 ET Gold Oil and Dollar Summary: The Dollar is weaker versus the Yen (108.21) this morning as speculation continues that the Bank of Japan has mitigated its record yen-selling intervention to protect its exporting business. The Euro (1.2244) is little changed against the greenback...Gold (403.05) holds above the 400 level as the Dollar slides lower after the Fed leaves interest rates unchanged...Oil (37.74) continues to rise ahead of today's US weekly inventory report. It is speculated petro supplies increased as US imports rose and global fuel supplies remain tight. Recent strength in price is contributed to expectations that OPEC will proceed with production cuts at its March 31 meeting.

Guy Boscart,