Market Commentary for March 26, 2007

The report released for New Home Sales coming in much worse than was anticipated pushed the major indices into the red zone where they battled to find firm footing through out the session. It appears we have an increase of concerns over the situation in the Middle East, with Iran claiming that they refuse to halt the country’s uranium enrichment, “even for a second”.

At the close, here is how the major indices ended the session: the DOW (Dow Jones Industrial Average) moved lower today by 11.94 points to end the session at 12469.07; the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) moved higher by a mere 2.96 points to end at 9341.36; the NASDAQ moved higher by 6.70 points today for a close at 2455.63; the S&P 500 moved higher by 1.39 points to end at 1437.50 and the RUSSELL 2000 moved lower by 0.57 points to close at 808.94. The FTSE All-World Index ex-US (top Large/Mid Cap aggregate from over 2,700 stocks from the FTSE Global Equity Index Series (GEIS) which covers 90% of the worlds investable market capitalization) moved lower by 0.51 to close at 244.86 and the FTSE RAFI 1000 moved higher by 2.70 to close at 6043.52.

Dallas Fed March Business Activity came in at 12.7 versus February reading of 26.0 and Dallas Fed March Manufacturing Production Index came in at 27.2 versus February reading of 18.1.

Chicago Fed National Activity Index rose by 0.03 in February versus drop by 0.72 in January and Chicago Fed Index 3-Month average fell by 0.02 in February versus a drop by 0.23 in January.

Economic data released for the day:

New Home Sales: Number of newly constructed homes with a committed sale, for the month. The economic momentum and consumer purchases of furniture and appliances helps determine the housing market trends for, new home sales. U.S. February New Home Sales fell by 3.9% to 848,000 well below consensus of 1,002,500; U.S. January New Home Sales were revised down to 882,000 from 937,000 and the Commerce Department reported today that U.S. building permits for February were unrevised down 2.5% from January to a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.532 million.

On the commodities markets, the trend was mostly higher across the board today for the Energy sector: Light crude moved higher by $0.63 today to close at $62.91 a barrel; Heating Oil moved higher today by $0.06 to close at $1.78 a gallon; Natural Gas moved lower by $0.01 today to end at $7.38 per million BTU and Unleaded Gas closed higher by $0.07 at $2.07 a gallon.

Metals Market ended the session higher across the board today: Gold moved higher by $6.60 to close at $663.90 an ounce; Silver closed the day higher by $0.18 to end the session at $13.41 an ounce; Platinum moved higher today by $3.10 to close at $1,236.50 an ounce and Copper ended the day higher by $0.07 to end at $3.14 per pound.

On the Livestock and Meat Markets, the trend was mostly higher across the board today: Lean Hogs closed higher by 0.48 at 74.25; Pork Bellies ended the day lower by 0.95 to close at 102.28; Live Cattle moved higher by 0.43 to end the day at 95.13 and Feeder Cattle ended the day higher by 1.23 to close at 107.95.

Other Commodities: Corn moved firmly lower today by 12.25 points to end at 391.00 and Soybeans moved strongly lower today by 11.00 to close at 758.50.

Bonds were higher across the board today: 2 year bond closed higher by 1/32 at 100 9/32; 5 year bond closed higher by 3/32 at 100 3/32; 10 year bond closed higher by 2/32 at 100 4/32 and the 30 year bond closed higher by 1/32 at 99 6/32.

The end of day results for the CBOT (Chicago Board of Trade) which is comprised of the total Exchange Volume for Futures and Options (EVFO) including Electronic, Open Auction and Cash Exchange ended the day at 2,764,049 Open Interest for Futures moved lower by 66,546 to close at 9,409,328; the Open Interest for Options moved lower by 547,942 to close at 8,057,879 and the OTC Open Interest closed at 1,678 for a total Open Interest of 16,284,466 for a total loss on the day by 614, 488.

The mini Dow ended the session lower by 36 at 12531. The total Dow Exchange Volume for the day came in at 99,439 which are comprised of Electronic, Open Auction and Cash Exchange. Traders should review workshops available at the CBOT (Chicago Board of Trade) Educational in-person seminars schedules available on CBOT (Chicago Board of Trade) website.

On the NYSE today, advancers came in at 1,569; decliners totaled 1,652; unchanged came in at 153; new highs came in at 203 and new lows came in at 11. New York Stock Exchange movers for the day today: RTI International Metals (RTI) climbed higher today by 2.05 points to close at $93.55; Movado Group Incorporated (MOV) gained 2.41 points on the day to end at $34.04; General Maritime Corporation (GMR) fell sharply by 31.76% to shed 13.77 points on the day to close at $29.58; Beckman Coulter Incorporated (BEC) fell by 4.57 points to close at $62.51 and Abbott Laboratories (ABT) rose by 3.32 points on the session to close the day at $57.18.

On the NASDAQ today, advancers came in at 1,410; decliners totaled 1,655; unchanged came in at 138; new highs came in at 112 and new lows came in at 37. Gainers and losers for the day on the NASDAQ: Apple Incorporated (AAPL) gained 2.30 points on the day to close at $95.82; Alexza Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (ALXA) rallied higher by 52.42% to move higher by 5.23 points to a closing price at $15.21; Biosite Incorporated (BSTE) rallied by 51.38% to tack on 28.45 points to end the session at $83.83; Synchronoss Technologies Incorporated (SNCR) fell by 17.64% to shed 3.24 points on the day to close at $15.13 and Bankrate Incorporated (RATE) fell by 3.36 points to end the day at $34.19.

Thanks for reading
Millennium-Traders

what about all the FED speakers????

Bernanke says reasonable to conclude that at current rate against dollar, Yuan is "undervalued"
Fed's Moskow sees enough slack in U.S. economy to cut inflation in 2008

German Finmin says not concerned about Euro strength
Eurogroup's Juncker says Euro FX rate does not present risk
ECB's Liikanen says he sees medium-term upside risks on inflation