- 17:40 ET Monday After Hours : prices levels vs. 4 pm ET: A quiet after hours trade that has reflected the limited number of corporate releases - presently, the S&P futures, at 1140, are flat with fair value, and the Nasdaq 100 futures, at 1466, are 1 point above fair value. The Nasdaq's descent below its 50-day simple moving average continues to curb widespread buying interest.
- 17:29 ET S&P announces changes : Standard & Poor's will make the following changes to the S&P 500, S&P MidCap 400 and S&P SmallCap 600 Indices after the close of trading on a date to be announced. 1) S&P MidCap 400 constituent M&T Bank (MTB) will replace
Concord Concord - Synopsys (SNPS) -14% : - Supplier of electronic design automation (EDA) software announces it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Monolithic System Technology (MOSY) in a 50/50 cash and stock transaction valued at ~ $432 mln, or $13.50/share; Synopsys also beats by $0.02 in its Q1 (Jan) report, but warns for Q2 (Apr) partially citing the Monolithic deal
- 16:06 ET Labranche cut to junk by Moody's (LAB) 10.22 -0.18:
- 15:32 ET Bond Market Summary : Bonds have spent the day crawling into positive territory after hanging lower overnight and initially seeing downward follow-through from Friday's session. With no economic news to drive the market today, bonds have been bid throughout the session on a weaker dollar and a continued belief that the Federal Reserve will leave rates alone. The 10-years have returned to last week's 3.99% to 4.102% trading range, and went out just above last week's median 4.046% as the slow push to new highs accelerated some going into the session close. Tomorrow's 10:00 AM ET Existing Homes Sales and Chairman Greenspan's talk concerning Government Sponsored Enterprises, will likely leave the market unimpressed. Today's 3- and 6-month bills were well received with covers of 2.14 and 2.46 respectively from 2.17 and 2.32 last week. The 10-year closed +13/32nds, yielding 4.046%; the 5-year closed +09/32nds, yielding 3.014% while the 30-year closed +19/32nds, yielding 4.913%.
- 14:37 ET Nasdaq Composite little interest develops after test of 2000 (COMPX) 2005 -32.00: -- Update -- -- Technical -- The market has responded to the slide back to support at 2000 with a yawn and from a short term perspective without sustained action back above initial resistances at 2008 and 2012 it will remain vulnerable to another downside foray. First supports below the 2003 close (2003.37) and the Nov/Dec range top (2000) are at 1996 (congest) and 1989 (62% retrace of Dec/Jan rally).
- 14:01 ET Floor Talk: Market continues slide, trading desks express indifference : Broader market has had trouble finding its legs the past several days. Weakness in tech has been more prolonged, with Nasdaq showing declines for the 5th straight week (as of Friday). Interestingly, institutional and retail investors alike have been relatively quiet during the last week of action (suggesting that market participants not all that surprised by the pullback). Responses from institutional desks are generally the same: 1) technicals continue to deteriorate, 2) little value to be found in the market, 3) no catalysts on the horizon, 4) market not dropping hard enough to create fear and not rallying enough to create sustained buying. After enjoying the spoils of being long in a hot market, there seem to be more traders looking for short positions (primarily focusing on chart breakdowns, while avoiding conspicuous short-killers such as TASR, OSTK, NFLX). Also beginning to hear concerns about the bird flu becoming more of an issue.. Looking at the Nasdaq, the Index is bordering on moving into the red for the year (which would be viewed as a short-term psychological negative). However, technicians generally looking for Naz (currently 2011) to find support at the 2,000 level, even if only temporarily.
Guy Boscart