Reply #19: noon blather [View All]

[UpInArms]

12:00PM: Stocks opened higher, and remain slightly positive, prompted by expectations of a year-end rally, cheaper oil prices, few negative catalysts and better than expected economic data... End-of-the-year portfolio positioning has so far left investors hoping a Santa Claus rally is still forthcoming and that stocks will hold onto much of their recent gains... Meanwhile, profit taking in crude oil, which has left the commodity under $46/bbl all morning following the contract's largest weekly gain (15%) in four years, has helped fuel early buying interest...

But losses in oil have been limited following the sale of Russian oil producer Yukos for $ 9.4 bln to an unknown buyer and anticipation of another cold spell hitting the Northeast... Nearly every sector showed strength early on but sellers have stepped in over the last hour to trim broad-based gains... Energy, materials, utility, telecom service, biotech and banks remain in positive territory while software, hardware, transportation and health care continue to show losses... The latter remains under pressure for the second day in a row following negative Celebrex study results from Pfizer (PFE 24.95 -0.80) last week...

The drug maker, which has lost more than $25 bln in market cap since last Thursday, has said, however, it will stop advertising its widely prescribed painkiller... Separately, November Leading Indicators data came in bit better than expected at +0.2% (consensus +0.1%), following five months of declines, but as much of the data was already known the market has held its overall positive sentiment...