Market Commentary for April 26, 2007

Earnings and big deals were market makers today. The Bears taunted the major indices today but, the Bulls held the horns, for the most of the session. At the closing bell, here is how the major indices ended the session: the DOW (Dow Jones Industrial Average) moved higher by 15.61 points to end the session at 13,105.50, not only did the DOW make history this week by hitting the 13,000 mark for the first time ever, we had a record close made in history today with the Low of the Day above the 13,000 mark; the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) posted a loss of 31.08 points to end at 9,715.49; as it creeps near its recently hit new 52 week high of 9,752.44 yesterday, the 52 week low was on June 14th, 2006 at 7,712.28; the NASDAQ posted a gain of 6.57 points today for a close at 2,554.46; the S&P 500 moved lower by 1.17 points to end at 1,494.25 and the RUSSELL 2000 moved higher by 1.73 points to close at 833.80. 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 0.63 to close at 255.76 and the FTSE RAFI 1000 closed higher by 0.54 at 6,275.88.

Richard W. Fisher, President of Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas commented today: bad fiscal policy pressures monetary policy; derivatives have helped reduced risk premiums; lower risk premiums come amid strong growth; enormous liquidity in financial system; derivatives have helped smooth economic cycle; sub-prime effects not yet fully felt and yield curve not signal of recession.

Frederic S. Mishkin Member of the Board of Governors commented today: globalization key for institutional development; globalization driving financial reforms in China and China may have gone too far in promoting exports.

Chicago Fed Midwest Manufacturing Index was up 0.5% versus a year ago.

Economic data released for the day:

Jobless Claims: A weekly compilation of new unemployment claims to show the number of individuals who filed for unemployment insurance for the first time. The condition of the labor market is determined by an increase of the number of claims which suggests a deteriorating labor market. U.S. Continuing Claims for April 14th rose by 65K to 2,594,000 and U.S. Jobless Claims fell by 20K to 321K for week of April 21st compared to survey of a drop by 9K.

Help Wanted Index: From 51 major newspapers across the country, the Help Wanted Index is a monthly index of the number of lines of help-wanted advertising. The index indicates the strength or weakness in the labor market. U.S. Conference Board March Help-Wanted Index came in at 30 versus February Index reading at 31.

EIA Natural Gas Report: Weekly information provided by the EIA (Energy Information Administration) on natural gas stock piles in underground storage in the United States and three regions of the country. Prices for natural gas products are determined by the level of inventories. For week of April 21st, weekly change came in at 18 Bcf.

Commodities Markets

The trend was mostly lower across the board today for the Energy sector: Light crude moved lower by $0.78 today to close at $65.06 a barrel; Heating Oil moved lower by $0.01 to close at $1.89 a gallon; Natural Gas closed lower by $0.18 at $7.60 per million BTU and Unleaded Gas closed higher by $0.01 today at $2.29 a gallon.

Metals Market ended the session lower across the board today amidst markets gains: Gold moved much lower by $9.40 to close at $678.00 an ounce; Silver moved lower today by $0.44 to end the session at $13.46 an ounce; Platinum moved heavily lower by $13.60 to close at $1,303.60 an ounce and Copper ended the day lower by $0.10 today to end at $3.51 per pound.

On the Livestock and Meat Markets, the trend was mostly higher across the board today: Lean Hogs moved lower today by 0.85 again today to close at 75.18; Pork Bellies ended the day lower by 0.85 to close at 103.15; Live Cattle moved lower by 0.63 to end the day at 92.70 and Feeder Cattle ended the day lower by 0.03 to close at 110.98.

Other Commodities: Corn fell sharply today with a loss of 6.50 points to end at 375.25 and Soybeans posted a loss today by 2.75 to close at 735.00.

Bonds were lower across the board today: 2 year bond closed lower by 5/32 at 99 21/32; 5 year bond closed lower by 8/32 at 99 17/32; 10 year bond closed lower by 12/32 at 99 13/32 and the 30 year bond closed lower by 24/32 at 97 29/32.

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 3,295,897; Open Interest for Futures moved higher by 76,473 points to close at 9,859,516; the Open Interest for Options moved higher by 62,516 points to close at 6,838,839 and the Open Interest for OTC closed with no change at 4,383 for a total Open Interest of 16,702,738 for a total gain on the day by 138,989.

The e-mini Dow ended the session higher by 49 at 13162. The total Dow Exchange Volume for the day came in at 159,220 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 1,503; decliners totaled 1,699; unchanged came in at 158; new highs came in at 350 and new lows came in at 22. New York Stock Exchange movers for the day today: Harman International Industries Incorporated (HAR) ramped higher on the Big Board today by 19.44% to tack on a gain of 19.94 points to close the session at $122.50 as a Buyout was announced today in an $8 Billion dollar deal by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company and GS Capital Partners, owned by Goldman Sachs Group Incorporated, agreed to pay $120 per share in cash for Harman, which is a premium of 17% over the stock's closing price of $102.56 on Wednesday; Brush Engineered Material Incorporated (BW) plummeted lower today by 16.86% for a loss of 10.41 points for a closing price of $51.33; Laboratory Corporation of America (LH) made a nice run higher by 6.49 points to end the day at $78.97; ITT Educational Services Incorporated (ESI) rallied higher today by 14.50% to move higher on the trading day by 12.09 points to end the day at $95.46 and West Pharmaceutical Services Incorporated (WST) plowed higher by 12.30% to gain 5.69 points for a closing price of $51.95.

On the NASDAQ today, advancers came in at 1,481; decliners totaled 1,587; unchanged came in at 134 new highs came in at 165 and new lows came in at 53. Gainers and losers for the day on the NASDAQ: Covansys Corporation (CVNS) rallied higher by a whopping 24.22% for a gain of 6.49 points to close at $33.29; F5 Networks Incorporated (FFIV) bolted higher today by20.98% to tack on a gain of 13.85% to end the trading session at $79.93 after announcing stronger than expected second quarter earnings as well as an upbeat outlook; Cephalon Incorporated (CEPH) moved nicely higher by 5.12 points to close at $80.42; SAVVIS Incorporated (SVVS) posted a nice gain of 15.09% to climb higher by 6.89 points to close at $52.56 and Align Technology Incorporated (ALGN) gained spiked higher by 33.41% to move higher by 5.91 points to close at $23.60.

Thanks for reading
Millennium-Traders