The Market Today

Today was another rotten day for energy stocks. This was also a day when the Dow told us nothing about today’s action. The Dow closed up 0.20%, while the S&P was down -0.19%.
The market is clearly worried about higher long-term interest rates. The movement of the long-end of the yield curve has a huge impact on equity prices (see this post from last month for more details). When long-term yields fall, the market does about twice as well as it normally does. When rates rise, stocks get punished.
The Fed, gold, Iran, none of the matters in comparison with the movement of long-term interest rates.
Even though the Buy List hasn’t been doing that well recently, I’m not at all upset. There are lots of good values out there like Dell (DELL), Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) and Fiserv (FISV). I’m still surprised by the weakness is high-quality stocks. Is there are reason why Sysco (SYY) should be 20% off its high?
The Buy List had a decent day. We outperformed the S&P 500 for the second day in a row.
Our next earnings report will come from Biomet (BMET) on March 21. The stock has been clobbered over the past 18 months, but the earnings still look good. The company has reported record sales and earnings every year since it went public in 1977.

Posted by on March 7th, 2006 at 4:30 pm


The information in this blog post represents my own opinions and does not contain a recommendation for any particular security or investment. I or my affiliates may hold positions or other interests in securities mentioned in the Blog, please see my Disclaimer page for my full disclaimer.