Tuesday November 9,2004

Dow and S&P 500 closed in red where as Nasdaq held onto some gains, that makes it seven days in a row that Nasdaq has had a gain. Broader markets however had positive breadth. Check out the difference in the return on the Dow and the Russell 1000 (up 8.4%) or Russell 2000 (up 11.9%) for this year. There is more to the markets than just the Dow. Dow this year has been battered by various components being under scrutiny of one sort or another- like MRK. The Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payor index rose 3.2% on news of ATH and WLP merger allowed to proceed by California . The Housing Index also closed up 1.3% at a 52-week high drive by gains in BZH and USG. Ivory Coast, the largest producer of cocoa, shut down cocoa exports due to unrest inside the country. The unrest caused cocoa futures to climbed sharply Monday, rising more than 10%. This could mean higher costs for HSY and other chocolate dependants. Crude oil closed down to $47.21. Dollar gained some ground against the Euro and the Yen, but gold continues its upward march. Expect the Fed to raise interest rate by 25bp tommorrow. Of note was L increasing its stake in NWS , two media moguls at there best. MSFT decided to enter the cable set-top-box business in collaboration with CMCSA, which means the largest cable operator has no plans to work with TIVO- how does this company make money?