The DJIA (+52.19 +0.41% to 12646.22), S&P 500 (+7.42 +0.53% to 1398.26), and NASDAQ Composite (+21.62 +0.87% to 2508.32) closed modestly higher. Energy (XLE -2.7%) and Basic Materials (XLB -0.7%) reversed fortunes from the prior day, while Healthcare (XLV +2.2%), Consumer Discretionary (XLY +1.9%) and Financials (XLF +1.8%) were strongest.

The Cara 100 winners on the day were: CHA +5.0%, DNA +4.3% and GOL +4.2%. The losers were: TCK -4.6%, CEO -4.2%, SLW and ABX -4.1% and GFI -3.7%.

Paper stocks were up +3.6% for a two-day gain of over +6.8%. Banks ($BKX +1.6%) reversed the prior day’s loss of -1.7%. Yesterday’s losers were Goldminers ($XAU -4.1%) and Oil Service companies ($OSX -2.6%).

On the earnings front, Sears Holdings (SHLD) disappointed with a Q1 loss of -$56 million vs earnings of +$223 million a year ago. But (Cara 100) Costco Wholesale (COST) reported a +32% increase in Q3 earnings to +$295.1 million vs +$224 million a year ago. Canada’s CIBC took a loss, while Royal Bank and National Bank both had lower profits.

There was significant profit-taking in the oil and precious metal contracts in the face of a stronger $USD (+0.70% to 73.02). Crude Oil ($WTIC) plunged -4.41/bbl to 126.62. A couple days ago as the near futures hit $135/bbl, oil trader Boone Pickens did his usual hype that oil was on the way to $150, and traders got sucked in.

$GOLD dropped 23.30/oz to close at 881.70.

The US 30-year long bond ($USB) lost -0.72% to close at $113.94, which is a significant drop this week, but yields today are down and bonds up.

At 9:00am, spot gold, palladium, platinum and silver were: 887.13, 426, 2003, and 16.84.

In futures trading, the Euro (1.5490) was flat, Crude Oil (+0.99 to 127.61) up, and the DJIA futures up about +45 to 12669.

The enthusiasm today is generated from yesterday’s after the close very positive report from (Cara 100) DELL, which beat the $0.34 consensus forecast with a $0.38/share profit. Revenue came in higher at $16 billion vs expected $15.73. Laptop sales in China and via stores were especially strong. This company’s fortunes have been turned around by founder and CEO Michael Dell since he resumed that office. There will be 3700 job cuts but costs are still an issue.

Today I thought it would be DELL at the bell, but perhaps not.

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Comments & Outlook

Despite Dell’s performance, I have to think that as long as the banks and broker-dealers are in tough, and laying off staff, there will not be the usual high demand from that industry for computer systems. So, be wary of the run-up in DELL shares here.

Another thought came to mind today: as more independent traders on the buy-side become increasingly sophisticated, the average time for trades is going to be shortened. That’s due to traders recognizing and managing risk better, and listening less to the sell side. But the situation also leads to increasing need for greater skill for the average trader because day trading is the domain of Humungous Bank & Broker (HB&B).

Eventually, greater high frequency trading will lead to more transparency in markets. Anomalies are now being studied more intensely and jumped upon. Regulators can see what’s going on, and I think they will step in more and start to prosecute the wrong-doers like M&A tipping, and large trade front running practices.

That’s all good for the public.

Have a good day, and weekend.

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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
SYT	60.85	89.90	64.35	49.32
ECA	89.45	83.03	65.21	41.26	Sell alert (trig. 5 days ago [on 2008-05-22 at $94.31, -5.15% chg], after a 8 day DZ)
WMT	57.94	82.76	68.05	66.79
GGB	49.59	80.05	90.57	60.71	Sell alert (trig. 1 days ago [on 2008-05-29 at $49.59, +0.00% chg], after a 1 day DZ)
ATVI	33.73	79.31	87.64	75.55	Distribution Zone (for 1 days)
RIMM	138.98	78.41	75.07	62.13
EXC	89.39	77.21	73.38	62.01	Sell alert (trig. 2 days ago [on 2008-05-28 at $88.82, +0.64% chg], after a 1 day DZ)
ABB	32.53	76.98	84.17	57.28	Sell alert (trig. 4 days ago [on 2008-05-23 at $32.76, -0.70% chg], after a 1 day DZ)
COST	72.98	76.12	63.73	58.31
PBR	70.78	75.70	67.77	52.12	Sell alert (trig. 5 days ago [on 2008-05-22 at $72.02, -1.72% chg], after a 5 day DZ)
TS	60.37	74.84	81.31	62.58	Sell alert (trig. 3 days ago [on 2008-05-27 at $59.21, +1.96% chg], after a 6 day DZ)
CHRW	64.73	74.64	72.88	56.12
TT	46.40	74.43	67.65	53.47	Sell alert (trig. 7 days ago [on 2008-05-20 at $46.53, -0.28% chg], after a 1 day DZ)
SU	67.58	73.41	71.01	50.12	Sell alert (trig. 3 days ago [on 2008-05-27 at $68.73, -1.67% chg], after a 12 day DZ)
QCOM	49.22	73.25	85.87	76.04	Distribution Zone (for 1 days)
PDA	63.95	72.55	86.67	71.27	Distribution Zone (for 2 days)
STO	38.10	72.01	68.44	41.28	Sell alert (trig. 3 days ago [on 2008-05-27 at $39.07, -2.48% chg], after a 7 day DZ)
RIO	39.56	71.27	62.26	38.47	Sell alert (trig. 6 days ago [on 2008-05-21 at $41.78, -5.31% chg], after a 3 day DZ)
NKE	68.39	70.29	63.60	66.50
BBD	23.59	66.07	79.19	61.77
ORCL	22.79	65.61	70.54	68.67
LLTC	36.40	64.61	79.61	52.02
MBT	87.79	64.59	62.92	71.30
ADBE	43.80	62.36	81.89	77.66
RY	51.06	58.36	70.74	62.37
INFY	45.36	53.68	70.47	64.81
CTSH	33.49	48.75	63.97	71.15
AET	46.51	44.48	58.11	70.49
DELL	21.81	42.51	70.07	73.66
SBUX	18.33	28.10	57.77	81.07

At least one RSI value <30:

Ticker	Last	RSI-7M	RSI-7W	RSI-7D	Zone
BC	14.15	17.02	29.07	15.24	Accumulation Zone (for 1 days)
UBS	24.54	20.68	17.89	11.21	Accumulation Zone (for 3 days)
WFMI	28.99	23.35	29.96	43.63	Buy alert (trig. 2 days ago [on 2008-05-28 at $28.69, +1.05% chg], after a 5 day AZ)
GOL	15.42	27.96	39.63	50.83
SBUX	18.33	28.10	57.77	81.07
BDK	64.00	29.67	35.31	38.40
GFI	12.90	31.73	35.25	28.30
GE	30.64	31.86	25.64	25.97
DB	113.35	37.40	34.73	27.05
ERJ	36.76	37.79	22.96	23.40
IBN	37.71	38.40	26.39	20.00
DEO	78.68	44.45	26.61	41.60
HDB	97.62	46.89	35.53	29.53
ABV	69.31	50.99	32.80	18.58
CHL	74.26	52.86	36.08	24.58

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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
IBM	129.71	0.17	0.13%	5.05%	1.72%	7.46%	23.90%	13.92%	20.66%	22.47%
WMT	57.94	0.85	1.49%	4.91%	0.85%	-0.07%	23.54%	16.84%	21.88%	23.43%
HPQ	46.91	0.39	0.84%	4.71%	2.78%	1.21%	-5.82%	-1.80%	-8.11%	2.96%
C	22.04	0.44	2.04%	4.65%	-5.20%	-12.78%	-23.79%	-7.04%	-31.74%	-59.86%
T	40.20	0.69	1.75%	3.37%	1.49%	3.85%	-1.95%	15.42%	5.71%	-0.72%
VZ	38.37	0.60	1.59%	3.09%	-1.49%	-0.29%	-11.20%	5.64%	-9.68%	-11.18%
HD	27.71	0.28	1.02%	2.90%	-4.84%	-3.78%	6.13%	4.37%	-0.61%	-28.31%
AXP	46.75	0.60	1.30%	2.79%	-5.56%	-2.64%	-8.41%	10.52%	-17.82%	-27.34%
JPM	43.57	0.71	1.66%	2.59%	-5.10%	-8.56%	3.32%	7.18%	-0.18%	-15.92%
MMM	77.76	0.86	1.12%	2.15%	0.04%	1.12%	-5.98%	-0.82%	-7.00%	-10.94%
KO	57.87	0.43	0.75%	2.15%	2.35%	-1.70%	-5.27%	-1.01%	-7.84%	10.90%
MCD	59.48	0.79	1.35%	1.19%	-1.59%	-0.17%	2.38%	9.92%	1.94%	17.53%
BA	82.11	-0.02	-0.02%	1.13%	-4.18%	-3.24%	-5.21%	-0.82%	-11.91%	-16.64%
JNJ	66.42	1.54	2.37%	1.05%	-0.58%	-1.00%	0.77%	7.20%	-2.89%	5.34%
PG	65.47	0.60	0.92%	0.46%	-0.05%	-2.36%	-9.46%	-1.07%	-11.71%	2.86%
DIS	33.81	-0.05	-0.15%	0.45%	-2.84%	4.26%	6.19%	4.32%	3.05%	-5.00%
MSFT	28.31	0.13	0.46%	0.21%	-5.41%	-0.74%	-19.62%	4.08%	-15.72%	-8.05%
MRK	38.92	0.26	0.67%	-0.54%	-2.28%	2.31%	-32.16%	-12.14%	-35.05%	-27.12%
BAC	34.60	0.73	2.16%	-0.69%	-5.98%	-7.83%	-14.69%	-12.93%	-22.47%	-32.41%
CAT	82.78	-0.41	-0.49%	-0.74%	0.04%	1.10%	17.20%	14.45%	15.42%	9.28%
GE	30.64	0.09	0.29%	-1.26%	-5.75%	-6.30%	-16.65%	-7.54%	-19.66%	-18.07%
DD	47.80	0.17	0.36%	-1.44%	-3.59%	-2.27%	9.28%	2.97%	3.71%	-6.73%
PFE	19.40	0.10	0.52%	-1.67%	-3.29%	-3.53%	-15.32%	-12.93%	-17.80%	-29.61%
INTC	23.14	-0.33	-1.41%	-2.20%	-2.94%	3.95%	-8.72%	15.87%	-12.15%	3.77%
UTX	70.23	0.00	0.00%	-2.49%	-6.56%	-3.09%	-6.62%	-0.40%	-6.91%	1.80%
AA	40.34	-1.23	-2.96%	-3.26%	-3.95%	15.99%	11.65%	8.62%	10.37%	-0.07%
CVX	98.86	-1.56	-1.55%	-4.04%	1.17%	2.82%	5.78%	14.08%	14.21%	22.49%
XOM	89.35	-1.08	-1.19%	-4.61%	-0.62%	-4.00%	-4.45%	2.69%	0.86%	8.15%
AIG	35.34	0.43	1.23%	-5.66%	-10.40%	-23.51%	-37.23%	-24.58%	-38.36%	-50.84%
GM	17.38	0.23	1.34%	-9.10%	-13.92%	-25.09%	-28.80%	-25.34%	-39.61%