USRant for Monday, July 13th

I‘ve written before about Meredith Whitney – the former banking analyst for Oppenheimer (‘former’ because she has started her own firm). Her SELL call on banks in 2007 was as prescient as the call to sell semiconductors by Jonathan Joseph back in 2000 (for which he was absolutely pilloried).

Well, at the risk of raising the ire of Whitney’s hubbie (pro wrestler Death Mask), let me just say that I understand why Whitney made her ‘Buy GS’ call. It was not driven by any analytical consideration whatsoever: it was purely a business decision: it guaranteed her ‘face time’ on CNBC, and Goldman shares were primed for a boost as a result of swirling talk of them beating their number.

Now it’s not hard to beat estimates when you have a direct pipeline to the US Treasury which guarantees that you will recceive par for securities which are trading at 20c in the dollar. Goldman’s corrupt ties ot government are a matter of historical record – Goldman is a vampire squid with its feeding sucker slammed firmly down the throat of the US taxpayer.

Actually, I don’t mind that Whitney’s call (which will prove to be a disaster longer term) helped fuel the Monday Rally in US markets: it enabled the long Gold position (see the Twitter updates on the right) to get well into the black (it’s now up by about $10 per contract)… and even the long Crude position is almost back above water.

Both of these were just ‘trading’ calls – unless Gold can get through $970 an ounce soon, it risks leading to a bunch of stale bulls. Crude is hostage to geopolitical trends – the fact that the US has all-but declared defeat in Iraq has taken iran off the table for the moment, which has reduced risk premium in Crude.

There was no economic data of note released in the region today.

Headline Indices

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 185.16 points (2.27%) to 8331.68 points. The index high for the day was 8331.68, while the low was 8130.42.

Total volume traded in the 30 components of the index was 1.29bn shares. Not a single stock declined withinin the index: 29 of the 30 index components rose, with total upside volume of 1.29bnshares. The biggest gainers (percentage-wise) were -

• Bank Of America (BAC) +1.11 (9.3%) to $12.99 on volume of 381.74m shares;
• Citigroup (C) +0.19 (7.3%) to $2.78 on volume of 218.29m shares;
• JPMorganChase (JPM) +2.37 (7.3%) to $34.71 on volume of 67.36m shares; and
• General Electric (GE) +0.68 (6.3%) to $11.46 on volume of 99.99m shares.

The S&P500 Index gained 21.92 points (2.49%) to 901.05 points..

Total volume traded in the 500 components of the index was 3.99bn shares. Advancers outpaced decliners by 25.1 to one, with 452 advancers to 18 decliners. Advancing volume exceeded declining volume by 3.55bn to 418.51m shares. The biggest gainers (percentage-wise) were -

• American Int’l. Group (AIG) +2.83 (24.1%) to $14.57 on volume of 69.66m shares;
• Fannie Mae (FNM) +0.07 (13.7%) to $0.58 on volume of 13.53m shares;
• Federal Home Loan Mtg. (FRE) +0.06 (10.9%) to $0.61 on volume of 5.09m shares;
• Principal Financial Group (PFG) +1.74 (10.2%) to $18.88 on volume of 4.37m shares; and
• MGIC Investment (MTG) +0.34 (9.9%) to $3.77 on volume of 2.08m shares.

The Nasdaq Composite added 37.18 points (2.12%) to 1793.21 points. while the Nasdaq100 rose 27.86 points (1.96%) to 1447.70 points..

Total volume traded in the 100 components of the index was 762.96m shares. Advancers outpaced decliners by 6.4 to one, with 83 advancers to 13 decliners. Advancing volume exceeded declining volume by 659.79m to 92.74m shares. The biggest gainers (percentage-wise) were -

• Flextronics International (FLEX) +0.26 (6.4%) to $4.34 on volume of 10.35m shares;
• Lam Research (LRCX) +1.47 (5.6%) to $27.75 on volume of 3.62m shares;
• SanDisk (SNDK) +0.78 (5.4%) to $15.25 on volume of 7.13m shares;
• Amazon.com (AMZN) +3.84 (4.9%) to $81.47 on volume of 7.85m shares; and
• Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) +7.05 (4.9%) to $149.65 on volume of 1.03m shares.

Volatility

The CBOE Volatility Index lost 2.81 points (9.68%) to 26.21 points. and the CBOE Nasdaq100 Volatility Index dropped 2.74 points (9.34%) to 26.59 points..

Breadth and Internals

A total of 3819 issues traded today on the NYSE; today’s total volume was 1bn shares. A total of 2994 stocks posted gains for the day, and volume in advancing issues totalled 0.08bn shares. Exerting downwards pressure on the index were 700 losers, which accounted for a total declining volume of 0.87bn shares. 21 stocks made new 1-year highs on the NYSE, while 49 shares plumbed new 52-week depths.

On the Nasdaq 2795 tickers traded today; total Nasdaq volume was 1.84bn shares. A total of 1942 stocks posted gains for the day, with aggregate volume of 1.55bn shares changing hands in the day’s winners. The red zone of the Nasdaq exchange comprised 736 losers, and total declining volume was 0.26bn shares. 20 Nasdaq-listed stocks hit new 52-week highs, while 30 shares dipped to new 1-year lows.

Dow Darlings

• Bank Of America (BAC) +1.11 (9.3%) to $12.99 on volume of 381.8m units
• JPMorganChase (JPM) +2.37 (7.3%) to $34.71 on volume of 67.4m units
• General Electric (GE) +0.68 (6.3%) to $11.46 on volume of 100m units
• American Express (AXP) +1.3 (5.6%) to $24.52 on volume of 17.6m units
• Caterpillar (CAT) +1.27 (4.2%) to $31.8 on volume of 10.8m units

Dow Duds:

Most Traded Dow stocks:

• Bank Of America (BAC) +1.11 (9.3%) to $12.99 on volume of 381.8m units
• General Electric (GE) +0.68 (6.3%) to $11.46 on volume of 100m units
• JPMorganChase (JPM) +2.37 (7.3%) to $34.71 on volume of 67.4m units
• Microsoft (MSFT) +0.84 (3.8%) to $23.23 on volume of 65.5m units
• Intel (INTC) +0.45 (2.8%) to $16.49 on volume of 60m units

Precious Metals

Precious metals futures performed as follows -

The Gold Bugs index (XAU) gained 2.26 points (1.74%) to 132.25 points. Total volume traded in the 16 components of the index was 76.99m shares. Advancers outpaced decliners by 15 to one, with 15 advancers to 1 decliners. Advancing volume exceeded declining volume by 74.71m to 2.29m shares. The biggest gainers (percentage-wise) were -

• Silver Stand Resources (SSRI) +0.79 (4.7%) to $17.73 on volume of 0.96m shares;
• Coeur d’Alene (CDE) +0.44 (4.2%) to $10.95 on volume of 2.43m shares;
• Pan-American Silver (PAAS) +0.7 (4%) to $17.99 on volume of 1.13m shares;
• Harmony Gold (HMY) +0.26 (3.1%) to $8.76 on volume of 3m shares; and
• Silver Wheaton (SLW) +0.22 (2.9%) to $7.68 on volume of 5.07m shares.

Energy Complex

Energy futures performed as follows -

The Oil Services index (OSX) added 2.47 points (1.65%) to 152.25 points. Total volume traded in the 15 components of the index was 90.5m shares. Not a single stock declined withinin the index: 15 of the 15 index components rose, with total upside volume of 90.5mshares. The biggest gainers (percentage-wise) were -

• BJ Services (BJS) +0.45 (3.5%) to $13.17 on volume of 6.56m shares;
• Rowan Co (RDC) +0.6 (3.2%) to $19.08 on volume of 4.21m shares;
• Halliburton (HAL) +0.55 (2.9%) to $19.48 on volume of 16.19m shares;
• Nabors Industries (NBR) +0.36 (2.4%) to $15.15 on volume of 8.39m shares; and
• Oceaneering International (OII) +1 (2.4%) to $42.09 on volume of 0.65m shares.

Currency Futures

Currency futures performed as follows -

Bellwethers

The nine-stock group that makes up the Rant bellwethers advanced on average by 5.3%. The fallout occurred as follows:

• General Electric (GE) +0.68 (6.31%) to $11.46 on volume of 100.01m units.
• Citigroup (C) +0.19 (7.34%) to $2.78 on volume of 218.3m units.
• Wal-Mart (WMT) +0.26 (0.55%) to $47.83 on volume of 15.64m units.
• IBM (IBM) +2.79 (2.77%) to $103.62 on volume of 9.21m units.
• Intel (INTC) +0.45 (2.81%) to $16.49 on volume of 59.98m units.
• Cisco Systems (CSCO) +0.23 (1.25%) to $18.57 on volume of 60.73m units.
• Google (GOOG) +9.90 (2.39%) to $424.30 on volume of 3.94m units.
• Fannie Mae (FNM) +0.07 (13.73%) to $0.58 on volume of 13.53m units.
• Freddie Mac (FRE) +0.06 (10.91%) to $0.61 on volume of 5.09m units.

Other Indices of Interest…

The Banks index (BKX) added 2.24 points (6.53%) to 36.52 points. Total volume traded in the 24 components of the index was 951.54m shares. Not a single stock declined withinin the index: 21 of the 24 index components rose, with total upside volume of 951.54mshares. The biggest gainers (percentage-wise) were -

• Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) +0.62 (9.5%) to $7.16 on volume of 23.57m shares;
• Bank Of America (BAC) +1.11 (9.3%) to $12.99 on volume of 381.74m shares;
• Zions Bancorp (ZION) +0.94 (8.5%) to $11.94 on volume of 5.11m shares;
• Wells Fargo (WFC) +1.93 (8.4%) to $24.8 on volume of 83.1m shares; and
• Citigroup Inc (C) +0.19 (7.3%) to $2.78 on volume of 218.29m shares.

The ChildKiller ("Defence") index (DFX) advanced 0.08 points (0.04%) to 227.38 points. Total volume traded in the 17 components of the index was 128.72m shares. Not a single stock declined withinin the index: 16 of the 17 index components rose, with total upside volume of 128.72mshares. The biggest gainers (percentage-wise) were -

• General Electric (GE) +0.68 (6.3%) to $11.46 on volume of 99.99m shares;
• FLIRr Systems (FLIR) +1.01 (4.8%) to $21.85 on volume of 2.83m shares;
• United Technologies (UTX) +1.78 (3.6%) to $51.42 on volume of 5.44m shares;
• Rockwell Collins (COL) +1.16 (3%) to $39.97 on volume of 0.83m shares; and
• Esterline Tech (ESL) +0.7 (2.9%) to $24.9 on volume of 0.26m shares.