The DJIA (-89 -0.68% to 12970), S&P 500 (-6 -0.45% to 1407), and NASDAQ Composite (-13 -0.52% to 2464) started the week off well for the Bears.

The US ISM Services Index was reported at 52.0, well above the 49.8 consensus. I suspect 1-800-HELP is helping the retailers and their bankers that it was intended for. Failing retailers also foreclose or walk away from stores.

But Crude Oil hit a high of $120.36, closing at $119.97, up +3.65/bbl, and the price of gasoline jumped 7c/gal, putting pressure on the Consumer Discretionary sector (XLY -1.1%) and the Retailer ($RLX -2.4%) and Airline ($XAL -2.6%) industries.

Worst hit were the Financials (XLF -1.7%) and Utilities (XLU -1.4%), whereas the Energy producers (XLE +1.5%) and Basic Material producers (XLB +2.3%) were strong.

For the Cara 100, commodity price sensitive diversified metal miner Teck (TCK +5.5%), goldminer Barrick (ABX +3.6%) and steelmaker Nucor (NUE +3.4%) were strong, while consumer product makers and sellers like Whirlpool (WHR -2.5%), JC Penny (JCP -4.1%) and Kohls (KSS -3.8%) were weak.

The US long bond ($USB was flat ($USB -0.09%) at $116.12. The T-Bill yield lifted +5.8% to 1.55.

With all the Fed pumping, the US Dollar weakened ($USD -0.47%) to 73.19. The Euro (+0.40%), Yen (+0.46%) and Cdn Loonie (+0.54%) were stronger, lifting commodity prices and also being lifted by rising commodity prices.

Asia-Pacific equity markets were a bit soft overnight, but nothing remarkable. The European bourses this morning are weaker, down -0.78% to 6167 for the UK FTSE index, and a tad weaker for the French and German markets.

Spot prices for precious metals are a little stronger due to this morning’s weakness in the $USD, down about a quarter of 1 percent. Crude oil futures (June) are at 119.67, a bit softer, while the DJIA June equity futures are down -65 to 12904.

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Comments & Outlook

While I enjoy a few days of rest and relaxation, I am purposefully staying away from the market and the blog as much as possible. I am accomplishing much at the same time.

Have a great day. Prices of equities are likely to back off as long as commodity prices continue to set records. But stock prices remain far too high relative to risk.

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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
GGB	42.07	84.74	75.91	76.65	Distribution Zone (for 2 days)
PBR	126.54	84.09	65.06	64.01
RIO	40.31	82.58	69.73	66.79	Sell alert (trig. 8 days ago [on 2008-04-24 at $37.33, +7.98% chg], after a 2 day DZ)
NUE	76.85	81.27	73.41	64.13	Sell alert (trig. 5 days ago [on 2008-04-29 at $75.08, +2.36% chg], after a 1 day DZ)
PDA	58.80	79.99	74.18	75.50	Distribution Zone (for 1 days)
BHP	84.93	78.04	73.33	64.36
WMT	56.97	77.55	80.22	47.93	Sell alert (trig. 4 days ago [on 2008-04-30 at $57.98, -1.74% chg], after a 6 day DZ)
SYT	59.12	77.38	55.46	39.12
EXC	84.89	76.71	65.03	45.67
ABB	31.02	76.51	76.16	77.57	Distribution Zone (for 8 days)
ECA	80.95	75.93	60.51	51.10
CHRW	65.75	75.67	74.88	80.50	Distribution Zone (for 3 days)
TT	46.33	75.55	66.50	50.45
RIMM	133.18	75.29	73.14	69.98
COST	72.43	74.99	72.45	77.92	Distribution Zone (for 4 days)
ATVI	27.22	73.97	56.75	47.84
BBD	24.42	71.48	75.13	76.06	Distribution Zone (for 2 days)
STO	37.07	71.42	82.38	70.57	Distribution Zone (for 2 days)
CVX	95.62	66.93	77.01	67.95
NTES	23.66	65.97	72.84	92.36
JNJ	67.90	65.95	74.09	68.99
TOT	84.10	65.80	72.30	68.01
MICC	114.93	63.06	64.22	72.63
LLTC	35.17	62.50	74.45	64.73
HDB	116.83	60.55	62.25	71.69
IBKR	31.85	60.30	58.69	74.42
WBK	122.19	60.06	64.72	76.03
HBC	87.15	57.97	74.23	70.04
DIS	33.29	57.75	64.28	72.13
GOOG	594.90	57.65	67.44	78.56
ADBE	40.15	52.40	69.96	75.64
PTR	156.27	51.56	61.41	78.36
GS	197.12	50.70	61.43	70.40
BA	85.92	48.64	67.21	80.48
CTSH	33.24	46.95	61.60	76.78
TM	105.12	40.24	53.96	74.58
OXPS	22.68	39.98	49.21	80.50
BMY	23.25	38.48	59.69	72.69
SNDK	29.78	38.47	63.24	74.64
GOL	17.16	32.58	51.51	70.26	Buy alert (trig. 7 days ago [on 2008-04-24 at $14.69, +16.81% chg], after a 1 day AZ)

At least one RSI value <30:

Ticker	Last	RSI-7M	RSI-7W	RSI-7D	Zone
SBUX	16.34	17.09	37.46	40.88	Buy alert (trig. 7 days ago [on 2008-04-25 at $15.86, +3.03% chg], after a 1 day AZ)
UBS	34.31	24.73	47.24	47.39
GRMN	42.11	26.28	25.59	36.69	Buy alert (trig. 3 days ago [on 2008-05-01 at $43.12, -2.34% chg], after a 1 day AZ)
DELL	19.10	27.04	41.40	51.26
BC	16.73	27.26	50.69	60.16
GFI	13.16	32.16	35.69	29.85
DNA	67.79	36.78	29.95	27.14
YHOO	24.37	41.01	36.81	29.78
KO	58.38	60.55	39.69	26.86

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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
AXP	50.42	0.02	0.04%	5.28%	10.33%	8.31%	-1.21%	10.33%	-13.32%	-20.46%
T	39.85	-0.28	-0.70%	4.05%	6.01%	2.15%	-2.80%	8.49%	-0.47%	0.94%
CVX	95.62	0.30	0.31%	3.37%	3.15%	8.33%	2.31%	19.91%	8.07%	20.58%
AA	36.89	0.78	2.16%	3.22%	1.77%	-1.47%	2.10%	12.92%	-2.66%	3.45%
DIS	33.29	-0.20	-0.60%	2.65%	5.82%	5.62%	4.55%	10.71%	-1.74%	-7.14%
VZ	38.90	-0.69	-1.74%	2.50%	8.18%	4.01%	-9.97%	5.62%	-11.23%	-4.33%
INTC	23.25	-0.33	-1.40%	2.38%	3.52%	6.90%	-8.28%	15.56%	-13.38%	6.16%
UTX	74.62	-0.48	-0.64%	2.16%	3.51%	3.94%	-0.78%	3.14%	-1.96%	9.74%
MCD	60.87	-0.08	-0.13%	2.15%	3.75%	9.38%	4.77%	13.06%	2.01%	21.94%
BAC	38.97	-0.82	-2.06%	2.07%	3.62%	-1.34%	-3.92%	-8.02%	-12.33%	-23.95%
GM	22.36	-0.84	-3.62%	1.91%	5.12%	6.43%	-8.40%	-15.53%	-37.89%	-27.59%
HPQ	48.28	-0.08	-0.17%	1.45%	-0.35%	5.14%	-3.07%	12.33%	-8.11%	10.25%
PFE	20.52	-0.09	-0.44%	1.43%	1.58%	-4.47%	-10.43%	-10.63%	-13.31%	-24.22%
JPM	48.00	-0.66	-1.36%	1.39%	6.12%	5.40%	13.82%	9.36%	12.23%	-8.80%
BA	85.92	0.23	0.27%	1.11%	8.64%	14.59%	-0.81%	5.18%	-12.30%	-8.21%
DD	49.70	-0.16	-0.32%	1.06%	-4.88%	1.45%	13.63%	11.41%	4.21%	-3.01%
JNJ	67.90	-0.36	-0.53%	0.86%	2.38%	2.66%	3.02%	8.00%	5.29%	5.30%
AIG	47.39	-1.65	-3.36%	0.74%	1.83%	-1.35%	-15.83%	-10.47%	-20.39%	-33.11%
PG	66.65	-0.15	-0.22%	0.66%	-1.70%	-5.47%	-7.83%	2.48%	-5.03%	6.79%
MMM	77.55	-1.00	-1.27%	0.54%	-5.82%	-3.29%	-6.24%	-1.95%	-8.82%	-7.91%
MSFT	29.08	-0.16	-0.55%	0.31%	-4.40%	-0.27%	-17.43%	0.03%	-20.83%	-4.84%
IBM	122.03	-1.15	-0.93%	0.28%	-1.87%	4.92%	16.56%	16.20%	7.61%	18.52%
GE	33.18	-0.16	-0.48%	0.03%	2.22%	-10.95%	-9.74%	-3.01%	-17.46%	-10.69%
CAT	82.75	-0.05	-0.06%	-0.34%	-0.70%	7.12%	17.16%	22.56%	12.59%	13.20%
WMT	56.97	-0.53	-0.92%	-0.66%	1.05%	5.05%	21.47%	14.95%	29.39%	18.02%
KO	58.38	-0.39	-0.66%	-1.02%	-3.26%	-3.30%	-4.44%	1.71%	-3.25%	9.72%
HD	29.37	-0.75	-2.49%	-1.21%	1.35%	3.05%	12.49%	4.93%	-1.44%	-24.50%
XOM	89.51	-0.10	-0.11%	-3.18%	-5.04%	0.66%	-4.28%	9.01%	2.11%	11.12%
C	25.75	-0.64	-2.43%	-3.95%	2.88%	4.67%	-10.96%	-4.81%	-28.27%	-52.39%
MRK	38.98	-0.39	-0.99%	-5.94%	-1.64%	-4.41%	-32.06%	-15.17%	-30.31%	-24.92%

You can do this table yourself by entering the following string into the Summaries window at www.billcara2.com and then clicking on the link for Performance.

AA AIG AXP BA C CAT DD DIS GE GM HD HON HPQ IBM INTC JNJ JPM KO MCD MMM MO MRK MSFT PFE PG T UTX VZ WMT XOM

Here are the links to interactive Dow charts from Billcara2.com that I broke into groups of ten, which you can add technical indicators for as well. (list one) (list two) (list three)

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The Americas

Here is the latest session data for the exchanges of the Americas.

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Here is the latest chart for the Brazilian Bovespa stock exchange in Sao Paulo.

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Here is the latest session data for the Toronto Stock Exchange composite index.

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Sector ETF Summary for the US equity market

The tables I show in this section are for ten (GICS) Sector Index Funds (ETF's) only, but they cover the full spectrum of the US equity market.

Table 1: Cara ETF 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
IYZ	25.96	-0.12	-0.46%	3.72%