Then the Interventionists arrived on the scene. Standard & Poor’s supposedly independent ratings group opined that the end is near for sub-prime mortgage related Collateralized Debt Obligation (CDO) write-downs at big financial institutions. Hence the rally.

The DJIA (+35.5 +0.29 pct to 12145.7), S&P 500 (+6.71 +0.51 pct to 1315.5), Nasdaq Composite (+19.74 +0.88 pct to 2263.6) and Toronto Composite (+1.10 pct to 13443) closed in positive territory.

The leading sectors were Basic Materials (XLB +2.44 pct), Energy and Industrials. The Consumer sectors, Financials and Technology were not strong.

Among industry groups, the Goldminers ($XAU +3.49 pct) and NatGas ($XNG +2.42 pct) were strong. Papers, drugs, hospitals were weak, but not by so much.

Of the stocks in my monitor that were up most, there was Nucor (NUE +7.4 pct) plus Barrick, Goldcorp, Gold Fields, and Silver Wheaton. The losers were HDB, PTR and YHOO.

US Retail Sales for February dropped -0.6 pct; analysts had called for a modest advance. Import prices for February increased +0.2 pct.

Crude Oil ($WTIC) ended the day higher by +0.55 pct at an all-time session closing record $109.17/bbl.

The $USD sank -0.48 pct to an all-time record low close of 71.99. The Euro, Pound and Yen gained +0.31 pct, +0.22 pct and +0.73 pct to 1.5536, 202.86 and 98.79, respectively.

With the rally into equities, the 30-year Treasury bond sold down by -0.52 pct to 119.39 as the yield ($TYX) gained +0.31 pct to 4.454. The 10-year yield gained +1.46 pct to 3.534.

Precious metals ($GOLD +1.36 pct to 993.80) gained sharply with the $USD decline.

This morning the Asia-Pacific equity markets closed mixed. The ones that were lower are: Nikkei 225 -1.54 pct to 12241; Shanghai Composite -0.22 pct to 3962.7; and Hong Kong -0.29 pct to 22237. The winners were: Australia +1.40 pct to 5288.5; and India’s Sensex BSE 30 +2.63 pct to 15760.5.

Today in Europe at 8:56am, the FTSE, CAC and DAX are up +0.80 pct, +0.94 pct and +1.06 pct respectively, which is a gain of about +0.75 pct in the past hour, which is evidence of the strengthening markets early today as US inflation data is not as bad as expected.

In the futures market at this time, the futures are in extreme action: the March Euro is up to 1.5589; April Crude Oil is 110.725; and the DJIA March futures are down a couple hundred points from this time yesterday at 11973.

At 9:00am ET, the Spot gold, palladium, platinum and silver prices are down a bit from yesterday morning at this point: 994.34, 501, 2104.5 and 20.54.

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Comments & Outlook

The US inflation data is being spun any possible way to try to regain consumer confidence. Today the spin is that inflation is under control.

Yesterday, in the US equity market, even the rally did not extend to the consumer sectors (health, discretionary and staples spending), financials or tech. And the rally was based on the economic sectors that are boosted by inflation: basic materials, energy and industrials.

I think the market has it right.

I do think we are at a peak though for the commodity play, and that the $USD may now start to strengthen. I would not be short the $USD or long Oil/Gold.

I would also not be long Banks and Brokers like Bear Stearns and BMO.

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Links & Charts

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International Economics Review

US Economic Calendar.

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Knobias Cara100 Tables

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Cara 100 Daily RSI-7 Charts

At least one RSI value >70:

Ticker	Last	RSI-7M	RSI-7W	RSI-7D	Zone
PBR	111.87	80.11	52.43	42.44
GGB	33.34	79.04	65.54	62.81	Sell alert (trig. 8 days ago [on 2008-03-04 at $31.29, +6.55% chg], after a 1 day DZ)
ECA	78.91	77.72	76.18	74.51	Distribution Zone (for 1 days)
ATVI	27.23	76.62	59.68	52.87
GG	44.85	75.60	75.22	64.53	Sell alert (trig. 5 days ago [on 2008-03-07 at $42.75, +4.91% chg], after a 2 day DZ)
ABV	79.95	75.03	56.83	50.01
SLW	19.17	74.00	72.57	72.40	Distribution Zone (for 1 days)
RIO	34.18	73.87	55.27	51.76
TT	45.88	73.40	72.34	70.77	Distribution Zone (for 1 days)
ABX	53.05	73.33	65.61	61.92
RIMM	105.65	72.08	54.83	60.76
NUE	72.47	70.46	78.78	70.05	Distribution Zone (for 1 days)
AMAT	21.06	62.47	71.18	71.05
DNA	81.43	61.20	82.07	73.22
TS	49.89	59.22	72.31	74.52
TCK	43.50	56.71	72.47	68.44
GFI	16.43	49.18	59.54	71.54
INTC	21.28	42.00	45.67	71.45

At least one RSI value <30:

Ticker	Last	RSI-7M	RSI-7W	RSI-7D	Zone
SBUX	17.63	15.41	29.44	46.18	Buy alert (trig. 3 days ago [on 2008-03-11 at $17.74, -0.62% chg], after a 2 day AZ)
UBS	30.29	20.67	19.39	40.59	Buy alert (trig. 3 days ago [on 2008-03-11 at $30.13, +0.53% chg], after a 6 day AZ)
SNDK	23.00	21.82	24.85	50.06	Buy alert (trig. 2 days ago [on 2008-03-12 at $22.52, +2.13% chg], after a 8 day AZ)
BC	15.82	24.35	35.82	46.36
KB	57.60	25.56	28.14	39.87	Buy alert (trig. 3 days ago [on 2008-03-11 at $58.45, -1.45% chg], after a 3 day AZ)
LEH	45.99	25.66	24.65	38.57	Buy alert (trig. 3 days ago [on 2008-03-11 at $46.31, -0.69% chg], after a 3 day AZ)
GSK	41.44	25.68	23.23	32.05	Buy alert (trig. 3 days ago [on 2008-03-11 at $41.86, -1.00% chg], after a 1 day AZ)
BMY	21.41	26.78	20.36	31.87	Buy alert (trig. 3 days ago [on 2008-03-11 at $21.73, -1.47% chg], after a 3 day AZ)
BA	74.18	26.86	31.78	29.91	Buy alert (trig. 1 days ago [on 2008-03-13 at $74.18, +0.00% chg], after a 2 day AZ)
PAYX	31.51	26.90	32.29	46.29	Buy alert (trig. 3 days ago [on 2008-03-11 at $31.63, -0.38% chg], after a 3 day AZ)
DELL	19.85	27.05	39.04	53.05
TGP	27.80	27.97	35.19	17.41
ADBE	33.30	28.22	34.39	50.08	Buy alert (trig. 3 days ago [on 2008-03-11 at $32.60, +2.15% chg], after a 1 day AZ)
GOL	15.20	28.48	23.60	23.34	Accumulation Zone (for 6 days)
JCP	39.68	29.02	35.14	21.87
INFY	34.93	29.08	25.26	29.46	Accumulation Zone (for 1 days)
WFMI	31.88	31.35	25.81	18.44
OXPS	21.44	34.28	21.69	40.07
GOOG	443.01	35.89	23.98	42.10
AET	44.68	36.21	19.69	31.41
TGT	50.56	37.04	41.32	29.29
IBN	42.24	41.24	17.28	28.89
PTR	133.14	41.60	28.00	36.45
HDB	98.10	48.29	25.00	39.50

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International Equity Markets Review

Europe

Here is the latest session data for the bourses of Europe.

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Here is the latest session data for the London stock exchange FTSE.

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Here is the latest session data for the German DAX.

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Here is the latest session data for the French CAC 40.

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Here is the latest session data for the Milan Italy stock exchange MIBTEL.

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Here is the latest session data for the Swiss market index.

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Asia-Pacific

Here is the latest session data for the Asia-Pacific stock exchanges.

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Here is the latest chart for the Japanese Nikkei 225 index.

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Here is the latest chart for the Singapore index .

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Here is the latest chart for the Shanghai Composite index .

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Here is the latest chart for the Hong Kong Hang Seng index .

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Here is the latest chart for the India BSE 30 index .

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Here is the latest chart for the Australian All Ordinaries index .

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US Equity Markets Review

DJIA (interactive) chart

NASDAQ Composite (interactive) chart

Table 14: Dow 30 List

Sorted by 1-Week Price Performance

Symbol	Close	1Day Change	1Day %Change	1W %Change	2W %Change	4W %Change	YTD %Change	3M %Change	6M %Change	12M %Change
INTC	21.28	0.16	0.76%	7.10%	3.86%	0.33%	-16.06%	-21.65%	-16.06%	11.30%
CAT	75.67	0.42	0.56%	6.95%	1.72%	5.61%	7.14%	1.95%	3.67%	19.47%
GE	34.25	0.29	0.85%	4.23%	1.18%	-2.09%	-6.83%	-8.86%	-15.45%	0.47%
MSFT	28.62	-0.01	-0.03%	3.81%	2.47%	-1.17%	-18.74%	-18.74%	-1.85%	7.11%
MCD	54.89	1.19	2.22%	3.49%	0.49%	-3.09%	-5.52%	-10.76%	1.09%	26.24%
AXP	42.70	-0.04	-0.09%	3.41%	-3.87%	-8.86%	-16.34%	-20.69%	-29.54%	-22.01%
IBM	115.91	-1.16	-0.99%	3.01%	0.58%	6.91%	10.72%	7.15%	-0.03%	25.02%
XOM	87.05	1.08	1.26%	3.01%	-2.61%	1.82%	-6.91%	-6.12%	-1.77%	24.52%
HD	26.48	0.35	1.34%	2.80%	-4.44%	-6.56%	1.42%	-4.20%	-25.64%	-29.10%
JPM	38.11	-0.50	-1.29%	1.98%	-10.20%	-13.58%	-9.63%	-16.72%	-16.43%	-18.39%
DD	47.31	0.73	1.57%	1.81%	0.15%	1.39%	8.16%	2.36%	-1.21%	-6.02%
BAC	37.14	0.11	0.30%	1.70%	-10.33%	-14.29%	-8.43%	-13.73%	-25.51%	-24.91%
MMM	79.08	0.66	0.84%	1.45%	-0.90%	-2.83%	-4.39%	-9.02%	-11.24%	5.76%
T	35.50	0.18	0.51%	1.37%	-1.28%	-8.20%	-13.41%	-15.07%	-12.93%	-4.72%
PG	67.36	0.32	0.48%	1.28%	0.58%	0.54%	-6.85%	-9.46%	-0.15%	10.12%
WMT	50.60	0.31	0.62%	1.24%	-0.20%	-0.12%	7.89%	4.70%	17.51%	9.57%
JNJ	62.81	0.26	0.42%	0.29%	0.16%	-0.95%	-4.70%	-7.46%	-0.48%	3.36%
AA	38.47	0.68	1.80%	0.26%	-1.66%	8.34%	6.48%	5.89%	11.77%	17.47%
DIS	31.33	-0.08	-0.25%	0.26%	-3.72%	-4.42%	-1.60%	-4.37%	-6.53%	-6.81%
KO	58.93	-0.26	-0.44%	-0.29%	-0.89%	-0.77%	-3.54%	-8.05%	5.48%	25.22%
UTX	68.51	0.31	0.45%	-0.46%	-5.07%	-6.81%	-8.91%	-11.73%	-8.68%	6.53%
C	21.07	-0.14	-0.66%	-0.47%	-15.75%	-20.01%	-27.14%	-32.05%	-54.55%	-56.78%
CVX	87.04	0.31	0.36%	-0.87%	-2.22%	5.99%	-6.87%	-6.49%	-3.39%	28.30%
AIG	42.48	-1.17	-2.68%	-0.93%	-15.29%	-6.68%	-24.55%	-25.54%	-34.75%	-36.94%
MRK	41.93	-0.52	-1.22%	-1.09%	-7.23%	-11.86%	-26.91%	-29.87%	-15.90%	-3.32%
HPQ	47.02	-0.25	-0.53%	-1.59%	-3.15%	6.74%