But after that rough start, the indexes turned stronger with higher closing numbers across the board: the DJIA (+51 +0.40% to 13020), S&P 500 (+11 +0.77% to 1418), and NASDAQ Composite (+19 +0.78% to 2483).

On the economics front, the week ended May 3 ICSC-UBS Chain Store Sales Index fell modestly -0.2%.

The sector leaders were Energy (XLE +2.7%), Technology (XLK +1.2%) and Financials (XLF +1.1%). The laggard was Utilities (XLU), which was flat. Natural Gas ($XNG +3.3%) and Airlines (-2.7%) were the strongest and weakest, obviously affected by the weak USD and stronger energy prices.

After the prior day close, (Cara 100’s) Disney (DIS) and Cisco (CSCO) posted strong quarterly reports. The leading gainers were Cameco (CCJ +5.8%) and Yahoo (YHOO +5.5%). The YHOO move was on a volume of 180 million shares (+337% average daily volume). The losers included a number of international banks: South Korea’s Kookmin (KB -3.4%), Brazil’s Bradesco (BBD -3.2%), India’s ICICI (IBN -1.9%) and UBS of Switzerland (-1.6%).

The US long bond was down ($USB -0.61%) at $115.42. Yields lifted across the board: $TYX 30-year +1.3% to 4.642; $TNX 10-year +1.3% to 3.893; $FVX +0.3% to 3.145; and T-Bills +2.9% to 1.595.

With presumably more Fed pumping, and a non-believable Treasury Secretary telling the world that the credit/banking crisis is almost over, the US Dollar weakened again ($USD -0.26%) to 73.00. The Euro (+0.24% to 1.5530), Yen (+0.08% to 95.43) and Cdn Loonie (+1.17% to 99.79) were stronger, lifting commodity prices and also being lifted by rising commodity prices.

Crude Oil ($WTIC) gained 1.87/bbl to close at 121.84 after hitting a session high of 122.73.

$GOLD gained +3.60/oz to 877.70 yesterday, but is a bit softer this morning.

Asia-Pacific equity markets were soft overnight except for Japan, which was catching up (+0.38% to 14102) after a vacation day. The Aussie All-Ords lost -0.35% to 5758; Shanghai -4.13% to 3579; Hong Kong -2.48% to 25610 and India’s BSE 30 -0.19% to 17339.

In trading at mid-session in Europe, there were gains of +0.7% to +0.9%. The June Dow 30 futures are down a bit to 13016.

June Crude Oil is down -0.31% to 121.46 and the June Euro -0.66% to 1.5397. Slovenia will be joining the Euro in June 2009. Like Austria, the banks in Slovenia are well run.

Spot prices for precious metals are a little weaker due to this morning’s strength in the $USD: gold -0.70% to 870.84; palladium -0.95% to 419; platinum -0.41% to 1932; and silver -0.82% to 16.70. But most of these prices are close to yesterday morning.

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Comments & Outlook

Prices of equities did not back off on account of record oil prices, as I thought would be the case. To compound that, Talking Heads yesterday were discussing the prospects of $200 oil, which I think is irresponsible chatter or paid infomercial – take your pick.

Whatever anybody says that the US economy can grow through further spikes in crude oil prices, I disagree. In effect the tax rebates in the US will just go to paying the higher cost at the fuel pumps for a few months. Who wins by that other than the already booming oil companies?

I think we are all agreed at this point that Fed pumping is what is keeping the equity market afloat in the face of calamity in the Financials and record high fuel costs. But the Fed money is simply more debt, which is supposed to be temporary. Can we trust the Fed statements that these transactions with the commercial and investment banks (loans and dubious asset-backed paper purchases) will one day be reversed. We already have evidence of being misled.

So the bottom line is that many traders are waiting out the present speculation in the equity market. Yes, it’s hard on the psyche when central banks can simply print money and use it to boost the fortunes of the bankers. But, there is no need to act imprudently.

What it does mean is that bankers have made day-trading in vogue. That’s not good because the majority of the public are not equipped to trade against the best brains and computers of the largest banks.

At least this blog is trying to fight back for the People.

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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	130.29	88.82	66.60	71.44
GGB	42.54	83.31	74.66	78.26	Distribution Zone (for 3 days)
NUE	79.01	81.96	75.59	71.53	Distribution Zone (for 1 days)
SYT	59.98	80.64	60.24	48.59
RIO	40.90	80.48	68.65	69.95
PDA	57.80	78.63	66.69	68.37	Sell alert (trig. 1 days ago [on 2008-05-06 at $57.80, +0.00% chg], after a 2 day DZ)
BHP	86.83	77.21	70.69	69.39
ECA	83.92	76.05	67.93	61.35
TT	46.37	76.04	66.21	52.33
WMT	56.35	75.18	66.42	39.68	Sell alert (trig. 5 days ago [on 2008-04-30 at $57.98, -2.81% chg], after a 7 day DZ)
RIMM	132.10	75.07	72.86	66.58	Sell alert (trig. 1 days ago [on 2008-05-06 at $132.10, +0.00% chg], after a 1 day DZ)
ATVI	27.42	75.03	61.79	58.00
NKE	67.58	74.76	60.40	51.07
CHRW	67.27	74.75	84.75	85.13	Distribution Zone (for 4 days)
BBD	23.65	73.50	69.96	62.68	Sell alert (trig. 1 days ago [on 2008-05-06 at $23.65, +0.00% chg], after a 2 day DZ)
ABB	30.81	72.28	75.78	71.09	Distribution Zone (for 9 days)
EXC	86.06	71.78	67.98	54.91
COST	72.65	70.79	72.36	79.50	Distribution Zone (for 5 days)
STO	37.70	70.35	82.06	74.62	Distribution Zone (for 3 days)
CHL	88.10	68.08	72.29	63.00
CVX	96.87	67.88	79.09	74.22
MICC	120.30	65.72	67.37	79.72
TOT	85.07	65.64	76.96	73.51
NTES	23.67	65.35	77.71	92.15
LLTC	35.98	64.71	83.52	73.72
CHA	71.84	61.97	57.43	72.71
IBKR	32.24	61.44	60.86	77.12
DIS	33.73	60.68	65.67	77.20
WBK	121.92	59.98	64.25	74.39
HBC	87.26	57.49	69.26	71.69
GOOG	586.36	56.68	68.27	70.62
INTC	23.58	56.45	67.82	70.56
DOW	40.91	55.11	66.42	71.56
INFY	45.80	54.41	69.56	75.62
ADBE	40.25	52.89	68.09	76.31
GS	197.61	52.29	62.51	71.41
PTR	156.73	51.72	62.23	79.15
BA	86.15	49.58	67.81	81.25
CTSH	33.75	49.24	65.53	80.33
TM	105.66	42.84	55.73	77.16
OXPS	22.65	40.99	50.45	79.13
BMY	23.18	39.02	58.96	70.46
SNDK	29.74	38.51	65.47	74.01

At least one RSI value <30:

Ticker	Last	RSI-7M	RSI-7W	RSI-7D	Zone
SBUX	16.36	17.68	30.92	41.57	Buy alert (trig. 8 days ago [on 2008-04-25 at $15.86, +3.15% chg], after a 1 day AZ)
UBS	33.77	27.79	45.52	42.10
BC	16.74	28.17	51.10	60.72
GRMN	43.85	28.29	27.94	47.09	Buy alert (trig. 4 days ago [on 2008-05-01 at $43.12, +1.69% chg], after a 1 day AZ)
DELL	19.19	29.12	40.79	54.24
DNA	68.17	37.00	29.61	31.27
KO	58.27	58.31	38.39	25.91

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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
AA	38.00	1.11	3.01%	9.67%	6.44%	2.21%	5.18%	17.25%	-1.48%	6.56%
AXP	50.96	0.54	1.07%	6.14%	15.90%	9.66%	-0.16%	11.10%	-12.99%	-19.61%
GM	22.34	-0.02	-0.09%	5.38%	8.92%	6.48%	-8.48%	-13.11%	-38.22%	-27.66%
MRK	38.84	-0.14	-0.36%	4.58%	0.86%	-5.04%	-32.30%	-15.03%	-30.63%	-25.19%
INTC	23.58	0.33	1.42%	4.24%	7.23%	11.86%	-6.98%	18.37%	-14.22%	7.67%
MSFT	29.70	0.62	2.13%	3.70%	-1.82%	3.30%	-15.67%	4.14%	-18.43%	-2.81%
BAC	39.24	0.27	0.69%	3.65%	6.05%	2.24%	-3.25%	-7.30%	-13.87%	-23.42%
AIG	48.40	1.01	2.13%	2.98%	6.91%	3.53%	-14.03%	-7.10%	-22.00%	-31.69%
DIS	33.73	0.44	1.32%	2.96%	7.80%	8.56%	5.94%	7.08%	-1.03%	-5.91%
T	39.56	-0.29	-0.73%	2.51%	4.63%	1.96%	-3.51%	8.68%	-1.20%	0.20%
JPM	48.20	0.20	0.42%	2.38%	5.59%	7.45%	14.30%	10.25%	9.27%	-8.42%
CVX	96.87	1.25	1.31%	2.25%	3.02%	8.50%	3.65%	24.98%	6.87%	22.16%
UTX	74.68	0.06	0.08%	2.15%	4.54%	4.01%	-0.70%	3.91%	-2.53%	9.82%
CAT	83.23	0.48	0.58%	2.11%	1.49%	7.27%	17.84%	22.43%	11.09%	13.86%
DD	49.65	-0.05	-0.10%	2.01%	-1.02%	0.38%	13.51%	10.97%	2.63%	-3.10%
VZ	38.89	-0.01	-0.03%	1.78%	8.84%	5.82%	-10.00%	5.97%	-11.09%	-4.35%
HPQ	48.64	0.36	0.75%	1.67%	0.98%	5.58%	-2.35%	15.37%	-8.93%	11.08%
MMM	77.76	0.21	0.27%	1.17%	-4.21%	-2.65%	-5.98%	-1.79%	-9.00%	-7.66%
PG	66.65	0.00	0.00%	1.14%	-1.22%	-5.66%	-7.83%	2.05%	-5.42%	6.79%
PFE	20.42	-0.10	-0.49%	0.89%	3.18%	-2.76%	-10.87%	-9.61%	-14.67%	-24.59%
BA	86.15	0.23	0.27%	0.72%	9.66%	14.84%	-0.54%	7.81%	-11.82%	-7.97%
JNJ	67.58	-0.32	-0.47%	0.58%	0.88%	1.90%	2.53%	7.18%	4.60%	4.81%
GE	33.00	-0.18	-0.54%	0.55%	2.07%	-10.69%	-10.23%	-3.51%	-17.87%	-11.17%
MCD	60.49	-0.38	-0.62%	0.48%	3.67%	8.27%	4.11%	12.58%	1.26%	21.17%
IBM	122.82