STOCK MARKET WATCH, Tuesday 23 December (#1)

Markets are open though trading is expected to be light.

At least, those who can afford to! :D

Economic reports for today: Personal income and spending for November, final GDP for the third quarter and Chain Deflator, all due around 8:30. Michigan Sentiment for Dec. (revision) due out @ 9:45.

Tomorrow we get Initial Claims, durable orders and new home sales. The only expectations for real change in all these reports is a rise in spending and more new home sales (see here )

It seems a slow day in the markets so perhaps
someone can help this financial dinosaur.

Last week I downloaded an ugly graph of the
'Us Dollar index (CEC)' that showed a decline
of the index from Jan. 02 (above 120) to
present (88 range).

In 2003, Jan. - Dec., an index decline from about 103
to the present 88 range. Using 8500 as a
median for Jan. 03 and the stock market now at
10,300, has realized a gain of 1800 pts., in
round figures about a 20% gain.

If the stocks in the market are based on the
value of the dollar and the CEC index has
realized a 15% decline, does this represent a
35% speculative surge with no collateral other
than supposed future profits?

Does the CEC Index create a standard that can
be used to evaluate the true value of the
market, or is like comparing apples and
oranges?

As stated above I'm am not well versed in the
world of finance, so an answer of simplicity
will satisfy my curiosity and meager
understanding, best.

LONDON (Reuters) - The dollar steadied against the euro and dipped versus the yen on Tuesday ahead of Christmas holidays in many markets, as investors juggled a heightened U.S. security alert, economic expectations and intervention worries.

Tokyo markets were shut for a holiday on Tuesday and several countries begin Christmas holidays on Wednesday.

But the recent downtrend for the dollar continued, following a heightened U.S. security alert at the weekend, and persistent worries about the U.S. ability to attract investment flows to cover its current account deficit.

<cut>
Geopolitical tensions have weighed on the dollar for much of 2003 -- before, during and after the Iraq (news - web sites) war. The dollar is nearing the end of the year down more than 15 percent against the euro and nearly 10 percent against the yen.

story

European trade chief Pascal Lamy said on Tuesday the euro's current value was "not yet worrying" but it was essential that currency movements did not happen too fast.

Euro zone data showed investment capital poured into the euro zone in October, with combined portfolio and investment inflows rising to 18.2 billion euros in October from 1.0 billion inflow in September.
snip>
"Economic data has not been having an impact on the dollar since early November," said Jane Foley, currency strategist at Barclays Capital.

"Sentiment is still clearly dollar-negative."



That explains some of the cheerleaders talking down investing in the Euro the past week or so - from 1 to 18.2 billion, that's a pretty dang big jump!

Time to get to work, late, but nevertheless. If time permits I will return to contribute to the thread later today.

I wish you all a warm, happy Tuesday.

Ozymandius

later in the day. :hi:

Consumer spending rose smaller-than-forecast 0.4% in November, GDP unrevised at 8.2%, Reuters reports. Details soon.

Forecast was for spending to rise .8%. Not a surprise for the folks around here she said, patting the Marketeers on the back!

http://quotes.ino.com/chart/?s=NYBOT_DXY0&v=s

Last trade 88.03 Change +0.04 (+0.05%)

Settle 87.99 Settle Time 23:30

Open 88.02 Previous Close 87.99

High 88.07 Low 87.85



This morning's chart forms a "W" between 3 and 5 am.
Isn't that special! (Ordinary guys usually "write in the snow".)

Came across this in my morning search. Not sure what to make of it though.
http://www.rbcnews.com/free/20031223141639.shtml
Banks accelerate selling of dollars on currency market

RBC, 23.12.2003, Moscow 14:16:39. The dollar rate on tomorrow deal has not changed at a special session this afternoon compared to this morning. The gap between the low and the high on these deals has been just RUR0.001.

At the same time, trade participants continue selling US currency actively. Dollars are sold in large lots. The average lot has been $2m. The trade volume amounted to more than $200m at the special session at 13:00 Moscow time. Commercial bank dealers say that the currency was purchased by the Russian Central Bank.


Another that caught my eye (some snippets):
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0312230245dec23,1,2496930.story?coll=chi-business-hed
Oil prices drop more than $1 a barrel

Oil prices fell more than $1 a barrel Monday, easing further from nine-month highs as OPEC's incoming president voiced concerns over sustained high prices.

Traders also were prompted to lock in profits from this month's 11 percent rally by forecasts of a warmer week approaching for the U.S. Northeast. The region is the world's biggest heating-oil consumer.

In New York trading, U.S. crude settled down 3.5 percent, slipping $1.15 to $31.87 a barrel. It traded to a low of $31.70, down $1.32, after front-month crude futures hit a post-Iraq war high of $33.93 on Friday.

Activity was limited by the approaching holidays. Brokers said some dealers are locking in profits gained during the $3 rally from the start of December.

OPEC's next president, Purnomo Yusgiantoro, added to the bearish tone by echoing remarks from outgoing president Abdullah al-Attiyah last week.

"Currently the oil price is too high, especially the OPEC basket. We hope the oil price will fall in January. However, the price developments will depend on the weather and also depend on developments in Iraq," said Purnomo, the Indonesian oil minister who takes office as OPEC president on Jan. 1.

Japanese man throws thousands in bills off skyscraper

TOKYO (AP) - A man who wanted to share his stock market winnings with the public tossed $9,350 worth of U.S. dollar and yen bills from the observation deck of a tower in central Japan on Tuesday, causing a scramble for the money in the streets below.
The unidentified man grabbed wads of one-dollar and 100-yen bills from two shopping bags and threw them through an open window of the room at the TV Tower in Nagoya. The room is 330 feet above the street.

The money rained down on the sidewalks and streets, where people chased the wind-blown bills. The 100-yen bill is no longer in circulation.

Afterward, the man told NHK television that he wanted to give away some of his profits from playing the stock market earlier this month.

"I have too much money. I don't need it," he said. "I wanted to give some back to the world."

In spirit, that is the most refreshing financial news I have heard in recent memory.

Expect low volume and high volatility for the next couple of weeks--day traders and other gamblers will be ruling the casino. We may see quite a ride and it may be "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." :shrug:

At 9:33 we have:
Dow 10,330.00 -8.00 (-0.08%)
Nasdaq 1,953.38 -2.42 (-0.12%)
S&P 500 1,091.77 -1.17 (-0.11%)
10-Yr Bond 4.187% +0.023

Groceries for baking day! And you should NOT follow the stock market today if you have any touch of the stomach flu--it's a roller coaster, heading back down...wheeeeee!

Dow 10,344.67 +6.67 (+0.06%)
Nasdaq 1,963.48 +7.68 (+0.39%)
S&P 500 1,094.60 +1.66 (+0.15%)
10-Yr Bond 4.198% +0.034

Sorry guys!
I'm running late this morning!!
Anyway, do you think the CA earthquake was the SHOCKING event Ching predicted for yesterday?
If so, it didn't seem to affect the market any.
:shrug:

Late for work! See you guys later!
:hi:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=281993

Throwing every fear imaginable from terrorists as pilots to dirty bombs.

In May, it lasted 11 days, no they are talking more than 1 month!
This at a cost of 1 billion a week.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3776558/

To show we are getting a lot of bang for that billion bucks, they have caught a guy traveling with the wife and kids with a hacksaw and razor blade in his shoe!

The headlines could be quite interesting for the next month or so. It will be interesting to see where the money starts to flow as people look for safe-keeping for their dollars.

I am getting so confused by the spin these days, especially regarding the Euro. There are the reports that it could easily handle going to 1.35 against the buck. Other reports stating ECB getting nervous about the rise. Some talking down the Euro as a risking investment at this time. Others resurrecting the old stories about Soros and Buffet shorting the dollar and investing in Euros - yet that has been know since April-May, old news being pulled back out- why?

It will be interesting to watch.

Low volume, lots of hot air. Dow is sinking below open during lunch, while the Nasdaq slides along at 1/2% above the waterline.

Dow 10,332.96 -5.04 (-0.05%)
Nasdaq 1,964.00 +8.20 (+0.42%)
S&P 500 1,094.80 +1.86 (+0.17%)
10-Yr Bond 4.213% +0.049

10 year bond? I always get that messed up.

(and I will apologize in advance if I screw this up)

...is that when buyers are scarce (e.g., money leaves the 10 year) the yield goes up, to try and entice them back in. When buyers are plentiful (e.g., the "flight to quality", money coming back into the 10 year) the yield is depressed, since the value is lowered by excessive demand.

And the 10 year bond is generally considered synonymous with treasuries in general.

Hope that helps.

for the future.
http://www.mondaq.com/i_article.asp_Q_articleid_E_23809
United States: Corporate Ethics And The Magi’s Law
22 December 2003
Article by Gabor Sandor Acs

some snippets:
Growing corporate scandals being uncovered through a growing international network of whistleblowers is being enhanced by the rising popularity of bringing about the greater good for the greatest possible number as increasing numbers of individuals become more informed and educated on the broad range of information available on the internet.

To analyze Magi’s Law in the context of the current explosion of international corporate and banking scandals is to understand its potential impact on the global economy and those who observe the good coming out of the processes being implemented at local, national and international levels by participants in the Wisdom Age.

Prior to 1999, a large concentration of international information, currency and attention was focused on the issues surrounding Y2K. When those potential problems were solved, information, currencies and attention began to be focused elsewhere and gradually began the more intense scrutiny paid to the stock markets as they lost steam, which resulted in eroded shareholder values.

Adding insult to investor injury was the false knowledge that devastated shareholders could not pursue legal remedies in U.S. courts against unethical companies such as Global Crossing or Tyco International, which had been raided by their managers after they moved the company headquarters to loosely regulated offshore tax havens in corporate inversions.

Large accounting firms to Fortune 500 executives are pitching corporate inversion. This then is a form of ethicism, but is based on faulty data as a corporate inversion is a corporate reorganization in which a U.S. company with most of its employees and operations in the United States nominally moves its headquarters to a tax haven to avoid federal taxes on intercompany profits and management fees that are transferred to the offshore venue, out of reach of U.S. regulatory control.

Those transactions are estimated to cost the U.S. government as much as US $50 billion in lost tax revenues per year. There are over 2,000 of such companies headquartered in Bermuda alone. Internationally, the number is closer to 50,000, averaging the avoidance of payment of taxes to the United States Treasury in the amount of $1,000,000 annually.

This form of ethicism, as Magi’s Law is applied to it, eventually will result in the gradual changes in the corporate tax laws, resulting in wisdomage. By closing such loopholes completely, a greater good is accomplished by reducing the national debt by $50 billion per annum, further reducing the cost of goods, property and taxes for the benefit of the greater number.

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service has in fact issued temporary regulations, requiring U.S. companies that move their operations offshore to notify the IRS and their U.S. shareholders about the market value of their stock from mergers, reorganizations, or other large transactions, and allow U.S. shareholders to vote on corporate inversions that may give rise to U.S. tax liability.

Because the U.S. SEC did not take action, and in some instances it is yet to take proper actions against existing offshore corporations who are fleecing the body politic, it has temporarily devolved into a magicismist state with evidence that dates back to 1996.

A massive negligence suit against that agency of the US government is pending as a result of the evidence being produced from the cases of Enron, Tyco and thousands of others being processed where it is clearly provable that the interests of the whole were not protected despite the mandates of Congress to the contrary.

As other data comes to light in the cases of Halliburton and the Carlyle Group, the process of wisdomage will be impacted by the contrary ethicism of new groups seeking to bring about the process of change through the expanded whistle blowing atmosphere. The former Chairman of the SEC, Harvey Pitt, who was forced to resign due to his inactions, has recently taken on a new role as a whistle blower.

Yet the lobbyists on the Hill have until now managed to thwart all such efforts with lavish contributions exceeding $200 million to the current administration, money which has been recycled through the process of ethicism. In the opinion of the current administration, they are doing what they believe to be the right thing, but as greater amounts of knowledge, data and wisdom come to light, once again, the truth may not be apparent until the elections are over. Only then will the US dollar recover from its current plight, because those who are in the forest do not see the trees, while those in the international community are evolving their own levels of wisdomage.

The Dow has rollercoastered around below the waterline, but stays close to the opening number. Nasdaq keeps moving sideways.

Dow 10,328.96 -9.04 (-0.09%)
Nasdaq 1,964.17 +8.37 (+0.43%)
S&P 500 1,094.19 +1.25 (+0.11%)
10-Yr Bond 4.235% +0.071

>Let's do the math.
>
>A 4.4% growth in the economy at the same time that the
>government is running a 4.9% (as a percentage of GDP)
>budget deficit is NOT healthy by any stretch of the
>imagination. And believe me when I say that. My imagination
>is so huge (right off the bat, the audience shouts out "How
>huge, Mogambo?") that I can imagine women actually spitting
>on me, kicking me in the groin, and spraying Mace in my
>eyes, are really just flirting with me in the cute way that
>they do... (at least as is alleged in official court
>documents).
>
>I don't know who these people are that are being called
>"economists," but I say that anybody who thinks that the
>economy will grow "a healthy" 4.4% is a world-class idiot.
>As a world-class idiot myself, I am in a position to know.
>
>These "economists," I assume, are the same lackluster
>dimwits as the "they" in this follow-up sentence: "They
>also expect inflation excluding food and energy to rise
>half a percentage point, to 1.8%." This proves two things
>at once, showing a huge increase in productivity, because
>most of us can only prove one thing at once. One is that
>inflation, which is already higher than 1.8%, cannot "rise"
>to 1.8%, by mathematical imperative. And the other follows
>naturally, namely that American economists are obviously
>numerically illiterate.
>
>"Remember Inflation?" asks John Lipsky, chief economist for
>JP Morgan, on the op-ed page of the same edition of the
>WSJ. "The Fed is going to wait longer than investors
>currently anticipate before raising rates. But once
>inflation risks begin to rise, the Fed will act quickly to
>withdraw the existing stimulus." Hahaha! Every single
>indicator of inflation is rising, and HAS been rising, and
>yet the Fed is still holding interest rates to absurd lows!
>
>As I write, the Reuters CRB Index, an indicator that tracks
>17 different commodities, from live cattle to crude oil,
>has risen 11 percent this year. Gold is $407 an ounce, up
>17 percent over the past year. Copper is up 39 percent, oil
>31 percent, and natural gas prices are 51 percent higher
>than at the end of October. In addition, the dollar has
>dropped to record after record low against the euro and has
>fallen to its lowest in more than a decade versus the
>British pound. "The fall of the dollar," adds Bloomberg,
>"helps boosts the price of gold and other dollar-priced
>commodities on international markets and also makes
>imported goods more costly."
>
>So... what kind of jerk does this Lipsky character think I
>am that I would believe that the Fed would act with any
>haste, at ANY level of inflation, when they are already
>proving that they have absolutely no interest in inflation,
>OR its deleterious effects, whatsoever, and in fact, and
>this is the important point, they are doing everything they
>can to create MORE inflation?
>
>At that I abruptly stop laughing.
>
>"Central bankers became convinced that maintaining low and
>stable inflation produces the best possible outcomes," Mr.
>Lipsky writes. Huh? I mean, what planet am I on? Is this
>still early twenty-first century Earth or not? If so, then
>the damnable Fed is on record, Greenspan is on record,
>Bernanke is on record, and I assume that even the mailroom
>clerks at the Fed are on record as saying that they WANT
>higher inflation! They are screaming loud and clear that
>they do NOT want, as Mr. Lipsky says, "low and stable
>inflation!" That is the whole freaking point of their
>monetary insanity!
>
>And yet, here is this Lipsky fella telling me the exact
>opposite? The mind reels, and I stagger and collapse into a
>chair, clutching my chest and gasping for air! I sense the
>world fading to black, as black as my mood, and as I mouth
>the words "Goodbye, cruel world!" I suddenly remember, and
>am cheered, that I don't have any money under management at
>JP Morgan.
>
>While us bozos out here in the real world still live in our
>fantasy world, where rising prices are evidence of
>inflation, the Fed says "no". They figure that
>productivity, output per hour of labor, is rising,
>offsetting the rise in raw materials. "While the supply of
>some commodities may be temporarily scarce, raising their
>price," writes Lipsky, "the supply - and price - of workers
>is not. That enables companies to absorb the commodity
>price increases without passing price increases on to
>consumers."
>
>To which I say, hahahahaha! You crack me up! Hahahaha!
>
>I am already laughing like a hyena, when I spy, right there
>below Lipsky's effluence, on the same page, another piece
>of ridiculous fluff, this time by Joshua B. Bolten, who is
>the director the Office of Management and Budget, which is
>apparently an office of government wonks that employs
>mental defectives as another affirmative action-type thing.
>His asinine screed is entitled, "We Can Cut the Deficit in
>Half."
>
>First off, Mr. Bolten traces the "roots of today's
>deficits" to the economic slowdown as Bush took office,
>three freaking years ago. Next, he implies that deficits
>are not as important as Bush's policies, namely national
>security. Wow! Talk about your government-speak! Fiscal
>rectitude is not as important as policy!
>
>Mr. Bolten is clearly a government spin-meister. Of course,
>deficits don't matter as long as they pay for something
>nifty and wonderful. We are doofuses for sure, if we can't
>see that. Mr. Bolten goes on to explain how three-quarters
>of the deficits are directly related to the post 9/11
>"enhanced homeland security and the global war on terror"
>as if, somehow this justifies immense budget deficits. As
>if this bottomless pit of spending madness will somehow
>metamorphose into healthy economic growth... or something.
>
>Then Bolten, and notice that I have dropped the "Mr."
>because I am obviously working myself into one of my foul
>moods and I am this far away (let the record show that I am
>holding up my thumb and forefinger, and that they are
>almost touching each other) from calling him a lowlife
>insect, probably something that crawls around in sewers,
>then says that the budget deficit is "entirely manageable,
>if we continue the president's strong pro-growth economic
>policies and sound fiscal restraint."
>
>The audience spontaneously laughs at my exaggerated double-
>take, my head snapping around comically and my hair
>standing straight up into the air - fweep! - as I perfectly
>portray a man who cannot believe what he just heard.
>
>"Restraint"?!?
>
>This is the same guy who has run up the national debt by
>$1.3 trillion dollars in three short years! This is the
>same guy who is running a budget deficit of 4.9% of GDP!
>This is the same guy who has not vetoed a single spending
>bill in the entire three years of his administration! "Not
>one?" you ask in that darling and delightful way that melts
>my heart. "Not one lousy veto of any spending bill?" Nope!
>
>And this is, and you would laugh if you saw me because I am
>comically rubbing my bloodshot eyes in stunned disbelief at
>what I am hearing, what the author calls "fiscal
>restraint?"
>
>Huh? Did he say "fiscal restraint?" Did he really say
>"fiscal restraint?" And right around in here someplace is
>where court-appointed experts figure that I was overcome
>with emotion, and, compelled by forces that I could neither
>comprehend nor control, was propelled to action. I grab a
>fully loaded AK-47 that just, you know, happened to be
>leaning against the desk, and jump up on that selfsame desk
>and scream at the top of my lungs, "Did he say fiscal
>freaking RESTRAINT? I can't believe my ears! But I thought
>he said that the President of the United States is showing
>fiscal freaking restraint! RESTRAINT? You want restraint?
>I'll show you a little dang-blang restraint!" I proceed to
>throw that rifle into full-automatic mode and, holding it
>down low against my hip like John Wayne storming a machine-
>gun nest on some God-forsaken Pacific island in WWII,
>proceed to empty an entire banana clip of full-metal
>jacketed mayhem, shooting out all the lights in the place,
>plaster exploding off the walls and ceiling, framed
>pictures shattering in a hail of glass splinters, passersby
>and process servers ducking for cover, a cascade of smoking
>empty shell casings beating a tattoo of tinkling sounds as
>they hit the floor.
>
>Well, at last, the fusillade of gunfire is finished, and
>the silence that follows is punctuated only by the ringing
>in my ears and the sound of approaching sirens, and I sink
>to the floor, spent and exhausted, too weary to even reach
>for another full clip of ammo. But it isn't really needed,
>as I am sure that you get my point, which is to demonstrate
>"restraint."
>
>But the next day, Friday, the Wall Street Journal had an
>op-ed piece by Brian S. Weebury, entitled "Keeping the Bush
>Boom Alive." In it, he owns up to the horrific state of the
>economic world, and says, "Nonetheless, beneath the surface
>problems are brewing. Government spending is soaring,
>business regulation is on the rise, and protectionism is
>gathering some momentum. At the same time, excessively
>accommodative monetary policy threatens an increase in
>inflation." Later he reprises that with "Big government and
>easy money is the perfect recipe for inflation."
>
>And he has some suggestions on how to make this all work
>out, as if there is anything anyone can do to make it all
>work out, and I am charmed by his brave self-confidence,
>and the Mogambo smiles to himself, as if to say, "Ahh,
>little grasshopper! The sunny optimism of youth! To hear
>you is to make me remember my own youth, and I smile."
>
>
>Sincerely,
>
>The Mogambo Guru

>
>
>--- Mogambo Sez: We are getting to the end of the portfolio
>fraud season, where the accounts are totaled up, losers are
>sold and the winners accumulated, and blame and losses are
>shifted to somebody else, and things are done and mistakes
>are made, and all of the other slimy things that occur
>whenever huge amounts of money are involved, because if
>there are huge amounts of money involved, then the
>government is not far away, and that is the path to utter
>ruin, QED.
>
>But soon it will be the new year and a new game, and it
>will get worse and worse in every material respect, day
>after day, until some unforeseen event causes the whole
>thing to just, one day out of the blue, go "bang!" And
>that, and I am talking about at that exact moment, when you
>fully comprehend, in a flash of incandescent, total
>enlightenment, the real value of gold.
>
>And soon after that you will have another epiphany, in
>which you will comprehend the great value of cannons, and
>guns, and bows and arrows, and knives, and pitchforks, and
>machetes, and axes, and slingshots, and clubs, and sharp
>sticks with which to fend off the mobs of suddenly
>impoverished people who ALSO have suddenly comprehended the
>real value of gold, and they don't have any, and in fact
>they don't have anything anymore, except debts and
>creditors hounding them day and night, and then after a
>while you get tired of answering the phone and trying to
>explain to one collection agency after another that if I
>had any money then I would certainly be happy to send it to
>them, but as it turns out I don't have any money and so why
>don't they just stop calling, but they never do, and then I
>finally just stop answering the phone, and turn off the
>lights and cower in the corner behind the sofa and use some
>throw pillows to cover my ears to try and muffle the sound
>of the phone as it rings and rings and rings and rings...

A entertaining, demented, and somewhat less than pithy summary of the things a lot of us think are going on.

Emotionally, however, that's the way I feel in the late night sessions of despair I sometimes have, when I think that there will only be a sliver lining after a very hard rain falls.

On top of the ECB banks agreements expiring, we have this to look forward. Interesting times indeed.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/24Dec2003_news58.html
War looms as WTO `peace clause' expires

Members struggle to bridge differences

Naomi Koppel

The ``peace clause'' that for nine years has protected the $1 billion in daily subsidies paid to farmers in wealthy nations is about to expire, and some countries are threatening to file their first legal challenges to the payments.

``We can be competitive in quality, in quantity and in packaging, but we cannot compete with the treasuries of big, rich countries,'' said Alfredo Vicente Chiaradia, ambassador of Argentina.

With the World Trade Organisation clause expiring at the end of the year, the possibility of a series of multibillion-dollar disputes hangs over subsidies for sugar, cotton, soybeans and other major commodities.

more.....

So, will Shrub deem the WTO as irrelevant next as he did the UN?

54 - Do you happen to have a date on when in '04 the ECB agreement expires? I've clicked myself blue trying to find it, with no avail. Movements by ECB members just prior to that date bear our attention, I think.

http://business-times.asia1.com.sg/story/0,4567,101975,00.html

Still looking for rest of agreement.....

The Dow is up a little bit in the lst 30 minutes - let's see how the last hour goes.

Dow 10,310.82 -27.18 (-0.26%)
Nasdaq 1,963.19 +7.39 (+0.38%)
S&P 500 1,093.05 +0.12 (+0.01%)
10-Yr Bond 4.263% +0.099

Lots of ups and downs, but pretty much back where it started.

Last trade 87.99 Change 0.00 (0.00%)
High 88.07 Low 87.84

Looks like I missed some fun stuff. Scanned some of the articles. haha I love you guys.

Looks like a pretty flat day on the Street eh? Just like most here said, the REAL money is sitting quietly for now.

Gee I missed you guys. Great to go back and read through though. You guys rock.

Julie

:)

A small runup in the last two hours leaves the Dow and the S&P just above the waterline.

Dow 10,341.26 +3.26 (+0.03%)
Nasdaq 1,974.78 +18.98 (+0.97%)
S&P 500 1,096.01 +3.07 (+0.28%)
10-Yr Bond 4.269% +0.105

I'll be missing tomorrow's half day of trading as I will be traveling over the river, etc., so I wanted to give good Holiday Wishes to others who contribute and read up on this thread, especially Ozymandius, Radfringe (who started it all), Maeve, Julie, Coventina, Capn Sunshine, UpInArms, 54anickel, htuttle, ribofunk, Sir_Shrek, ze_dscherman, and anyone else who I missed. And Elad and Skinner, of course, who have created and worked hard to maintain this little playground.

And remember, as the days may darken, it only makes the lights of our loved ones grow brighter. Merry Christmas!

I have two kids sick with a stomach virus and not feeling the best myself...however, may all the Marketeers, past, present and future, find happiness this holiday season!