Crude Carries Energy Spider
Slowing home sales
lifted blue-chip stocks while rising crude carried energy
stocks higher, boosting tradable funds focused on those
sectors. Another late-session round of selling hit techs,
taking exchange-trade funds in those waters down a notch.
I’d not expect
much from most of the tradable funds until Friday’s payroll
data. As of Wednesday’s settlement in the Chicago trading
pits, the fed funds futures contract priced in a 36%
probability that the Federal Reserve policy makers will
raise the Federal Funds interest rate by a quarter point at
the Aug. 22 meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. In
other words, the fed funds contract implies a 64% likelihood
that the central bank will stand pat.
There was a
notable exception to the tech selling. The B2B Internet
HOLDR
(
BHH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose 3.6%, the day’s biggest gain among the
exchange-traded funds.
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The basket of
business-to-business e-commerce stocks includes Internet
Capital Group
(
ICGE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), which gained 1 1/2 to 32 1/4;
Ariba
(
ARBA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 1 13/16 to 114 13/16; and FreeMarkets
(
FMKT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 2 3/4 to 50. Like the HOLDR itself, though,
these moves remained within ranges. Not much to get excited
about.
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The Energy SPDR
(
XLE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
rose 1.9% as oil service stocks were lifted by two bullish
energy reports.
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On Wednesday, the
Energy Department reported that crude stocks dropped 10
million barrels in the prior week. That topped an already
bullish report by the American Petroleum Institute, which
reported that oil stocks declined 9 million barrels. Most
market participants thought oil stocks would rise.
Oil service stocks
rallied on the news. For more on the oil patch, check out my
latest
The News commentary.
The Biotech HOLDR
(
BBH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) progressed 1.2%. Keep this one
on your radar screen. It could be building a base here.
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On the downside,
the Internet Architecture HOLDR
(
IAH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) sank 2.0%, the
day’s largest decline among the exchange-traded funds. The
Dow Jones Telecommunications iShares
(
IYZ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) fell 1.2%,
the Nasdaq 100 Tracking Stock
(
QQQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) 1.1%, the
Semiconductor HOLDR
(
SMH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) 1.0%.
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