Short Without The Uptick Rule–Here’s How!
Stocks rallied ahead of the Fed with the indices
closing near their highs. An
oversold market provided an early bid, as did beginning-of-the-month new money.
Today’s action didn’t resolve any market direction. Mixed economic reports did
little to add to the gains, though. Construction spending for March rose 0.5%, a
record. Strength was in offices and malls, not housing. The ISM was 53.3 for
April–lower than expected–vs. 55.2 in March. The Dow and S&P broke a monthly
closing price trendline recently. Oil rallied above $50.
Warburg Pincus and Texas Pacific Group are near a deal to buy Neiman
Marcus
(
NMGA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) for $5 billion, or $100/share.
American Int’l Group
(
AIG |
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PowerRating) will restate 4 years of results.
UBS downgraded Merrill Lynch
(
MER |
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PowerRating), Goldman
(
GS |
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News |
PowerRating) and
other brokers.
OSI Pharma
(
OSIP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Genentech
(
DNA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) were in focus
after Tarceva showed positive results with chemotherapy.
Newspaper stocks (Tribune
(
TRB |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating), Gannett
(
GCI |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating)) were in
focus today as a report by The Audit Bureau of Circulations is expected to show
an industry-wide decrease of between 1% – 3%
For April, the Dow fell 3%; the S&P 500 lost 2%. The Nasdaq lost 4% and
has been down for four straight months. Here is the performance for selected
stocks in April:Â EBAY -15%; AAPL -14%; SUNW -10%; DELL -9%; ORCL -8%.
The SEC approved a pilot program that will allow traders to short on a
downtick. For a list of stocks that can be shorted without the uptick rule, go
to www.nyse.com/regulation. The
uptick rule has been in place since the 1929 crash.
Merrill Lynch upgraded Internets and wireless.
The FOMC meets tomorrow. A quarter-point rise–to 3.0%–is expected. It will
be the eighth consecutive rate increase. Traders will be watching the language
carefully, particularly the ‘measured pace’ phrase.
Eleven IPOs are scheduled for this week, including Lazard LLC and
Morningstar (MORN), which will be a Dutch auction. Chinese software company
Watchdata (WDAT) cut its offering price from $18-$20 to $14-$15.Â
Twenty Chinese companies are expected to go public this year and be listed on
the Nasdaq.
Strong sectors were: Â Oil Services
(
OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.78%Â
Insurance
(
$IUX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.63%Â Natural Gas
(
$XNG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+1.62%Â Â
Weak sectors were: Â Brokers
(
$XBD.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.91%Â Â Â Â
Airlines
(
$XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.51%Â Â Semis
(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.10%
| Dow | +59.19 | 10,251.70 |
| Nasdaq | +7.00 | 1928.65 |
| S&P 500 | +5.31 | 1162.16 |
The dollar was +0.05 at
84.50
Crude Oil was +1.30 at
51.02
Gold was -3.50 at 428.20
1.54 billion on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was positive.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 2023 | Up Vol 1107 |
| Declining | 1241 | Down Vol 612 |
| 1.63 | 1.80 | |
| Nasdaq |
||
| Advancing | 1566 | Up Vol 812 |
| Declining | 1511 | Down Vol 604 |
| 1.03 | 1.34 |
Stocks in the News
Sysco
(
SYY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by a penny.
Tyson
(
TSN |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat, but lowered the high end of guidance.
OSI Pharma
(
OSIP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Genentech’s
(
DNA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) will be in
focus after Tarceva showed positive results with chemotherapy.
Wal Mart same store sales grew just under 1%
Avon
(
AVPA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat estimates and raised estimates.Q1 profit rose
16%.
Brice Wightman