9.14.07

9.14.07

Monday started out to the upside after a good report from Intel, but a lack of buying interest let the market slide back and by the closing bell it was about breakeven for the day. On Tuesday the morning session was slow to the upside but gathered momentum in the afternoon and closed with very nice gains across the board with the NDX being the strongest just as it was on Monday. Volume was lighter that we wanted to see, but a good gain is a good day/s work. The volume, will come in due time. At the end of the day Wednesday, though, the S&P 500 closed the session virtually flat in another low volume session where just under 1.3 billion shares changed hands at the NYSE.  That is fitting given the wait-and-see attitude that seems to be gaining in prominence ahead of next week's earnings reports from the investment banks and the FOMC meeting. On Thursday the market was given a boost from McDonalds increasing their dividend to $1.50 a share and from Countrywide was able to get an additional $12 billion line of credit. For the first time in history Oil closed above $80 barrel. For the second week in a row the NYSE specialists were buyers of stock and this is a reliable indicator that the bottom is here or very close. On Friday the retail sales and the industrial production reports were not good and the indices tanked right out of the gate. Then the market slowly started to work its way back up, and by days end everything was slightly in the green. Overall it was a nice week with low volume. It is apparent that a lot of investors are waiting to see what the Fed will do on Tuesday. We think that it will lower interest rates by ¼ %. Some think it will be ½ % but that is a stretch. We would like to see the ADRAT (advance/decline ratio) print a 2 to1 ratio for three days running, to confirm some other indicators. We should get a lot of direction from the action in the market this coming week. For now we are holding firm with 50% in the NDX and the other half in money markets.

Until next time

The MTA Staff