Service with a Smile

By Todd Harrison Nov 26, 2003 10:33 am

Don't squeeze water from a stone!

Oh, you're a hard one
I know that you got your reasons
These things that are pleasing you
Can hurt you somehow

(Eagles)

The morning fray is underway as Beeks saddles up for his Thanksgiving feast. The data was mixed, although the upside surprises (durable goods, Chicago purchasing manager) trumped the marginally disappointing releases (Michigan confidence, new home sales) by a greater margin. Now, with the exception of the high noon beige book, traders will posture into the holiday.

A quick check of the morning breadth shows winners easily trumping losers by a 2:1 margin. The financials, drugs, semicaps and retail trade somewhat lethargic while the semis, software, storage and transports hold an early bid. Please note the action in the dollar index (down 1%) and gold (up $5) as well--these macro tells have been fairly good reads for equities.

The horse race for now is the strong internals (and performance anxiety into month end) vs. the dollar/gold duopoly. Toss some technical inflection points (S&P 1060) into the mix and you have your basis for a decision. Also, please be aware that there are some meaty buy stops above in the QQQ and traders were gunning for them early. They didn't quite get there but, from what I understand, the orders are still on the floor. Just a heads up as we dance through the drift.

Finally, and oh by the way, Minyanville gift baskets will be available early next week along with a snazzy new E-commerce solution. We've had a lot of requests for both and they're the first of many enhancements rolling out in the coming months. It's all very exciting (to me, anyway) as we continue to build upon the momentum, add more trading oriented features and grow the educational process through the University of Minyanville and the elementary school. And as always, thanks for your continued support!

I'll be back