Close Dow -15.41 at 10,048.23, Nasdaq +7.68 at 1,909.48, S&P -2.63 at 1,091.32 Participants took their indecisiveness to a whole new level in today's session as the major averages spent the bulk of the session in volatile trade, vacillating around the unchanged line and ultimately not getting very far... The Nasdaq outperformed its blue-chip counterparts on a relative basis and its advance was particularly notable in the face of the resilient semiconductor sector, which closed up 2.4%, as indicated by the SOX index ... Note that the semiconductor group has led the Nasdaq's decline in 8 of the last 9 weeks and the group's resilience was encouraging, particularly in view of the lackluster trade in the broader market... Other leaders to the upside included the storage, casino & gaming, apparel & accessories, and hotel sectors... Among the laggards of note were the gold, oil services, broker dealer, steel, aluminum, managed healthcare, metal mining, and insurance sectors... The market continued to exhibit nervousness in the face of geopolitical issues, as evidenced by the fact that a report of a bomb being found on a French rail line sent the major averages to fresh session lows... Nevertheless, selling was controlled - a welcome improvement over the action seen over the past several weeks... This morning's economic reports were favorable, with the Durable Goods report up 2.5% (consensus 1.5%), New Home Sales report at 1163K (consensus 1100K), and the Mortgage Bankers Index showing a 0.2% rise in applications for the week ended Match 19, with purchases falling 0.8% and refinancings rising 0.1%... Elsewhere, the bond market pulled back, with the 10-year note closing down 5/32, bringing its yield up to 3.71%... NYSE Adv/Dec 1145/2099... Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1422/1689.
- 15:19 ET Treasuries close slightly lower in another narrow day : Hawkish comments from Fed's Guynn and an unexpected jump in new home sales gave treasuries a bearish sentiment early in the session. Demand for today's $26 bln 2-year auction, though well received, lacked the cover and indirect participation some traders were looking for and gave them little reason to step in front of the market. The 10-year finished the day -05/32nds, inching the week's range out to a narrow 9.8 basis points. Currencies were by far the big movers of the day, with the dollar finishing off a spectacular run-up of over 2.75 cents vs the sterling and 2 cents vs the euro, as the markets price in a 50% chance of a European Central Bank rate cut by June. Tomorrow we focus on GDP and unemployment data to give the market some direction, remembering that the longer the market continues its drift sideways, the larger and the faster its breakout will be. Many are looking towards the March nonfarm payrolls report to be the catalyst. The 10-year is currently -05/32nds; yielding 3.711%, 2-year is currently unch; yielding 1.460%, 5-year is currently -01/32nds; yielding 2.662%, 30-year is currently -05/32nds; yielding 4.661%.
- 14:41 ET Floor Talk : After a faily choppy open, the market briefly sold off after reports of a bomb on a French railway trickled out, but has since been drifting in positive territory. As noted earlier, the Nasdaq found support at this week's low and experienced a vertical intraday move off this area. However, now that the technical traders have stepped in and the shorts have done a bit of covering, the overall listlessness that has characterized trade over the past week or so has resumed. In general, the geopolitical issues that have dominated the headlines on Monday and Tuesday have subsided quite a bit, with talk of al-Qaeda being replaced by discussions about the EU's ruling on MSFT as well as anticipation of MU's earnings after the close. Regarding MSFT, a number of the traders we've talked to think the name is pretty much washed out, while the importance of MU's earnings announcement tonight is being magnified due to the overall lack of actionable news today.
- 12:31 ET Nasdaq Composite: Time For Rally? (COMPX) 1920 +19: -- Update -- -- Technical -- Index has rebounded nicely after probing this week's low (only fractional breach). While still near resistances at its 20 exp avg --yesterday we have oversold daily indicators (potential divergence), an extreme down/up volume readings on March 22 and a possible cycle bottom. Intraday support now at 1913/1911.
- 11:10 ET Market extends losses, traders cite Bloomberg report of bomb found on French rail line :
- 08:37 ET Gold Oil and Dollar Summary : The Dollar is rising strong against the Euro (1.2168) this morning after comments made by ECB President Trichet about re-evaluating its outlook for the Euro if consumer spending and confidence disappoints. The Yen is rising near 106.38 against the Dollar...Gold is trading lower near 415.85 an ounce as Platinum steals the spotlight by notching a new 24-year high at 924.00 an ounce...Oil (37.50) is relatively flat this morning ahead of the US weekly inventory report. According to a Reuters poll, analysts expect "heavy imports to have raised crude stock[piles] by 2.1 million barrels...although gasoline inventories were seen falling by 1.2 million barrels." Prices have been on the rise as of late due to geo-political unrest, growing Asian demand, and recent OPEC production cuts.
- 06:24 ET European Summary : European stocks showing moderate losses despite gains in semiconductor related issues including Infineon Technologies AG and Royal Philips Electronics NV trading up after market researcher Gartner Inc. said global semiconductor sales may surge as much as 30 percent this year. Also, Thomson SA, the largest supplier of television sets in the U.S., climbed after forecasting higher sales this year. The French government sent a thinly veiled warning to Swiss drugs group Novartis (NVS) that its plans to merge with Aventis (AVE) were unwelcome, reiterating it did not want moves in the drugs sector to harm the national interest. Europe's third- largest retailer Metro AG reported profits ahead of its own and most market forecasts and predicted further growth this year as it continues to invest in foreign expansion, sending shares higher by 6 percent... The euro slipped on Wednesday after cautious comments by European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, while the yen hit a one-month high on the dollar after a ratings agency raised its outlook for Japan, Reuters reporting... UK -0.20%, France -0.57%, Germany -0.42%
Guy Boscart,