Markets January 9

[ron]

we have a positive opening today ....that is not to say that the bias is not mixed in the wake of ystrd's technical breakdown, however so far mrkts are posting green across the board with Dow up 76 Points, Naz +18.73, S&P +6.40 and NDX +20.06.....fueling the upside is Fed's Poole comments emphasizing "US economic fundamentals remain strong and 2008 looks to be a year of rising growth"....on a separate note - Petroleum inventory data is due out today at 10:30 E.T. and Dow Component Alcoa (AA) marks the start of earnings season with its report after the close.

[ron]

Stocks rebound into positive territory shortly after reassuring comments from a Fed official.......St. Louis Fed President Poole said U.S. economic fundamentals remain strong and 2008 looks to be a year of rising growth. He also noted it is too early to tell if housing problems will push the economy into a recession. Six of the ten economic sectors are in positive territory, led by a bounce in technology (+1.0%). Tech was the worst performing sector at yesterday's closing prices, down 10% 2008....Dow continues to sustain for now upwards of +80 Points, 2 12,663.36, Naz +17.44, @ 2,457.95, S&P +7.76, @ 1,397.095 and NDX +20.72, @ 1,93105 rtq (real time quotes).

[ron]

Avrgs are holding on to positive bias but have lost early upside momentum..meanwhile Merrill Lynch earlier popped a dollar to session highs of $49.48, ..... strength attributed to rumor that co could announce a smaller than expected write-down...dow up 38 Points, Naz +7.12, S&P +2.30, NDX +7.10 rtq.

[lamborghini]

The E.I.A. reported that crude oil inventories had a draw of 6736K (Bloomberg consensus is a draw of 2100K) .. gasoline inventories had build of 5221K (Bloomberg consensus is a build of 1600K) .. distillate inventories had a build of 1516K (Bloomberg consensus is a build of 1000K).

This morning Fed's Poole spoke about subprime mortgages and stated that the Fed is watching both recession risk and inflation risk. He believes it is too early to tell if housing problems will push economy into recession and that the U.S. economic fundamentals remain strong and 2008 looks to be a year of rising growth. Poole noted that U.S. conforming mortgages are not under strain. He believes there is considerable uncertainty surrounding outlook and that he does not know if the U.S. will suffer a recession.

[ron]

The positive bias was short-lived, as economic concerns weighed on investors. Goldman Sachs said it expects a recession in 2008, citing economic data over the last few weeks led it to this conclusion. On CNBC, the firm's Chief Economist said the U.S. is in a recession or will be there shortly, noting the increase in unemployment. Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley have also predicted a recession, according to Bloomberg.com....Dow -9.27 Points, Naz -8.32, S&P -3.49, NDX -1.02 rtq.