Reply #83: updating blather [View All]

[UpInArms]

12:05PM: The major indices have extended their losses as crude's rise has given traders a reason to retain the bearish bias that yesterday's FOMC announcement produced. Although the commodity pulled back from session highs following the EIA's weekly report that gasoline and distillate supplies unexpectedly rose, the fact that crude oil inventories unexpectedly fell 323K barrels (analysts estimated a 1.0 mln bbl rise) exacerbated supply concerns that Katrina triggered and that Hurricane Rita have worsened ...

A dearth of data on the economic front has kept price momentum across the energy complex in the spotlight; moreover, a series of profit warnings from multiple industry groups has underpinned today's cautious tone...To that end, The New York Times (NYT 30.56, -1.57), Avon Products (AVP 26.92, -3.68), Jack In the Box (JBX (31.18, -2.34), and Diebold (DBD 38.50, -5.87), and American Eagle Outfitters' (AEOS 21.27, -0.54) are among the recent warners of note. The Consumer Discretionary segment has lost 1.2% today and leads all economic sector's in the loss department...

Selling pressure remains broad-based, but homebuilders (+0.7%) have bucked the trend and stand as one of the sector's few pockets of strength...With the exception of Energy (+1.2%), every sector trades underwater. The negative standings of the influential Financial and Tech sectors have served as the heaviest drags. Financials, off 1% on the day, are particularly pressed by banks' 1.0% slip that comes on the heels of the latest 25 basis point hike to the overnight borrowing rate. Despite another upbeat earnings report from the brokerage group - Morgan Stanley's $1.21 in Q3 EPS beat estimates by $0.16 - the brokers have slipped 1.0% as well...

As for Tech, Qualcomm's (QCOM) 1.3% rise, sparked by its heightened fiscal Q4 EPS guidance, and Intel's (INTC 24.86 +0.38) 0.4% gain, due to Merrill Lynch's upgrade, have not been able to counter sector wide selling activity...DJTA +0.52, DJUA -1.07, DOT -0.42, Nasdaq 100 -0.82, Russell 2000 -0.80, SOX -1.43, S&P Midcap 400 -0.90, XOI +0.18, NYSE Adv/Dec 1149/1949, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 802/2047