Shorts are being covered and new positions are being taken in the consumer segment (discretionary spending, staples and healthcare). Volumes have increased, both on the upside and downside.

Yesterday, the DJIA (+135.16 +1.18% to 11602.5), S&P 500 (+17.0 +1.35% to 1277.0) and NASDAQ Composite (+24.4 +1.07% to 2303.96) closed much higher on a broad rally that climbed the wall of falling oil prices.

Crude Oil ($WTIC dropped -$3.40/bbl to 128.42. Along with the squeeze on commodity prices, $GOLD dropped -$15.20/oz to 948.50. Both are looking lower this morning.

With the lower commodity prices, the Toronto Composite index lost -46 -0.34% to 13643.9 and the Toronto Venture board dropped –24 -1.05% to 2263.66.

In NY, Banks ($BKX +8.9%) and Broker-Dealers ($XBD +8.4%) continued their 5-day super-rally as short-sellers continue to protect earlier gains. XLF (+8.4%) was the leading sector ETF, and is now up over +25% in the past week, despite huge losses and an incredibly challenging operating environment, which continues. The three consumer sectors (XLY, XLP and XLV) were up +2.7%, +1.8% and +1.4% respectively at the close.

The big industry mover was Airlines ($XAL +22.2%), which moved because of the plunging fuel costs as well as by further extreme re-organization measures taken by UAL.

Cara 100 stocks on the move higher were the Indian banks (IBN and HDB =13.1% and +9.8% respectively, Carnival Cruiseline CCL +12.2% on the lower fuel costs, and SWK +7.5%, SBUX +7.4%, OXPS +7.1% and GOL +6.8%. The extreme losers were SNDK -24.0%, MICC -22.6%, TEF -6.1% and GG -5.8%.

Today, traders will be reviewing the earnings reports of three DJIA components, BA, T and PFE, as well as PEP. Spinmasters will be looking closely at the Beige Book.

The 30-year US Bond ($USB) lost -0.34% to 114.16 as yields lifted when the equity rally consumer cash. The US T-Bill yield popped +8.7% to 1.50 for that reason.

Earlier today, the Asia-Pacific markets were strong. Tokyo (+0.97% to 13312.9), India (+5.94% to 14942.3), Australia (+1.69% to 5161.6), Hong Kong (+2.69% to 23134.6) were strong, while Shanghai dropped -0.29% to 2837.9.

In Europe this morning at 7:43am, there is a broad rally based on continued downward pressure on commodity contracts. The UK FTSE is up +1.12% to 5424, the French CAC +1.59% to 4396, and the German DAX +1.07% to 6512.

Crude Oil futures are down -$2.11/bbl to 126.31.

At 7:38am ET, Gold, palladium, platinum and silver spot prices are all down, presently at: 937.15 (up from 932.2 at 7am), 389, 1775, and 17.67 (up from 17.53 at 7am). These are well down from yesterday’s 974.38, 417.5, 1874, and 18.61 respectively at about the same time in the morning.

The Euro is at 1.5713 and the $USD at 0.72785 at 7:15am, whereas 30 min ago, the numbers were 1.5689 and 0.72835, so there is a bit of strengthening to the Euro, and gold/silver has recovered slightly.

DJIA futures are presently up +59 to 11621.

---

Comments & Outlook

The public has been getting an earful from the gold bug and silver crazy crowd in the past month and I’m getting sick of it. Look at the 1-month charts for gold and silver and you will clearly see the trend.

The rally in equities is based squarely on falling commodity prices, particularly oil. That is firming the $USD and putting downward pressure on precious metals. This scenario was painted in advance by me, and I alerted broad market short-sellers two weeks ago that they ought to consider taking profits ahead of the summer rally that I figured would be commodity-price based. I warned that the changes to commodity exchange margin requirements would have an impact. I also warned that with the HB&B earnings reports there would be a lot of smoke being blown by desperate executives, which has been the case.

I think you get the picture.

---

Links & Charts

---

International Economics Review

US Economic Calendar.

---

Knobias Cara100 Tables

---

Cara 100 Daily RSI-7 Charts

At least one RSI value >70:

At least one RSI value <30:

---

International Equity Markets Review

Europe

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

---

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

---

Here is the latest session data for the German DAX.

---

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

---

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

---

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

---

Asia-Pacific

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

---

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

---

Here is the latest chart for the Singapore index .

---

Here is the latest chart for the Shanghai Composite index .

---

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

---

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

---

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

---

US Equity Markets Review

DJIA (interactive) chart

NASDAQ Composite (interactive) chart

Table 14: Dow 30 List

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)

---

The Americas

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

---

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

---

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

---

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

You can do this table yourself by entering the following string into the Summary window at Billcara2.com and then clicking on the link for Performance. XLE XLB XLI XLY XLP IYH XLF SMH IYZ XLU XLK SPY . You can also add more ETF’s – up to 30 in total.

For a list of components to any ETF, go to the AMEX.com web site, and click on ETF's.

---

10 (energy: XLE)

Table 2: Senior oil & gas equities

---

15 (basic materials: XLB)

Table 3: Senior metals and steel equities

Table 12: Senior gold equities

---

20 (industrial: XLI)

Table 4: Senior capital goods makers and transportation

---

25 (consumer discretionary: XLY)

Table 5: Senior consumer discretionary equities

---

30 (consumer staples: XLP)

Table 6: Senior consumer staples equities

---

35 (healthcare: IYH)

Table 7: Senior healthcare equities

---

40 (financial: XLF)

Table 8: Senior financial company equities

---

45 (technology, semiconductor: SMH)

Table 9: Senior technology equities

---

50 (telecom: IYZ)

---

55 (utilities: XLU)

---

International Equity Market USD-denominated ETF Review

Table 13: International equities perspective

---

Japanese equity market ETF: EWJ

Here is the Japanese (EWJ) equity market ETF Daily data charts:

Interactive EWJ Daily data:

Interactive EWJ Weekly data:

---

U.K. equity market ETF

Here is the United Kingdom (EWU) equity market ETF Daily data charts:

Interactive EWU Daily data:

EWU Daily data:

Interactive EWU Weekly data:

---

Canada's equity market

Here is the Canadian (EWC) equity market ETF Daily data charts:

Interactive EWC Daily data:

Interactive EWC Weekly data:

---

Bonds & Yields Review

Table 10: Yahoo Finance U.S. Treasury Debt, Municipal and Corporate Bond Yields

---

Here is the $USB 30-year Treasury Bond chart.

---

US Bond Funds -- Interactive Daily Data Charts

SHY Daily data series chart:

IEF Daily data series chart:

TLT Daily data series chart:

AGG Daily data series chart:

LQD Daily data series chart:

TIP Daily data series chart:

---

Table 11: Interest-sensitive securities

Consumer Finance -USA -- Interactive Daily Data Charts

---

Commodities Review

$CRB Index

Open Futures Contracts

Interactive Chart of Daily CRB Commodities Index:

Interactive Chart of Weekly CRB Commodities Index:

---

Oil Review

Here is the e-miNY Mar-08 Crude Oil chart.

Interactive Chart of Daily Crude Oil:

Interactive Chart of Weekly Crude Oil:

---

Gold & Precious Metals Review

Spot gold chart for the week

Interactive Chart of Daily Gold EOD Continuous Contract Index:

Interactive Chart of Weekly Gold EOD Continuous Contract Index:

---

Spot silver chart for the week

Interactive daily data

Interactive Chart of Daily Silver EOD Continuous Contract Index:

Interactive chart of the Silver Bullion index.

Interactive Chart of Weekly Silver EOD Continuous Contract Index:

---

Spot platinum chart for the past three days

Interactive Chart of Daily Platinum EOD Continuous Contract Index:

Interactive Chart of Weekly Platinum EOD Continuous Contract Index:

Interactive chart of the Platinum metal index.

---

Spot palladium chart for the week

Interactive Chart of Daily Palladium EOD Continuous Contract Index:

Interactive Chart of Weekly Palladium EOD Continuous Contract Index:

Interactive chart of the Palladium metal index.

---

Interactive Chart of Weekly Copper EOD Continuous Contract Index:

Interactive Chart of Daily Copper EOD Continuous Contract Index:

Interactive chart of the Copper metal index.

---

Table 12: Senior gold equities

To watch the moves in precious metal miners, you will have to monitor the individual stock charts, preferably in real-time, as follows:

NEM ABX AU GFI GG HMY AUY KGC BVN
Interactive Daily data
Interactive Weekly data

MDG LIHRY AEM BGO IAG EGO RGLD GOLD CDE GRS
Interactive Daily data
Interactive Weekly data

CBJ SSRI SIL NG KRY UXG GRZ TSE_HRG TSE_GUY TSE_AGI
Interactive Daily data
Interactive Weekly data

NXG GSS MNG DROOY MFN RNO RANGY MRB CLG
Interactive Daily data
Interactive Weekly data

---

Here are the key Silver miners and the SLV ETF:

SLV SIL CDE HL PAAS SSRI SLW MGN

Interactive Daily data
Interactive Weekly data

---

Here are the Weekly and Daily Data charts of the indexes:

Interactive Chart of Daily U.S. Goldminers Index:

Weekly U.S. Goldminers Index:

Interactive Chart of Weekly U.S. Goldminers Index:

---

The U.S. goldminer share trust ETF trades under the ticker symbol GDX.

Here are the U.S. Goldminer ETF (GDX) index Weekly and Daily data charts:

GDX Daily data:

GDX Weekly data:

---

The Toronto Exchange-listed goldminer iUnits S&P/TSX Capped Gold Index ETF trades under the ticker symbol TSE:XGD. Yes, just like GDX on the AMEX, you can trade XGD on Toronto.

Here are the Weekly and Daily data charts for the TSX Goldshares (XGD) index:

Interactive Chart of XGD Daily data:

Interactive Chart of XGD Weekly data:

---

Forex Review

Here is the chart of the week's trading in the $USD.

Interactive Chart of Daily U.S. Dollar Index:

---

Interactive Chart of Daily Euro Dollar Index, priced in USD:

---

Daily British Pound Index:

---

Daily Japanese Yen Index:

---

Daily Canadian Dollar Index:

---

Wrap-up