[Posted 7:00 AM ET]
Iraq
It was the week that almost was as an interim constitution that
attempts to define the role of Islam as the official religion of Iraq,
but not as a source of legislation, was to be signed on Friday.
But at the last minute, Shi’a Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani
pulled his support over the issue of how much autonomy should
be granted the Kurds. It’s possible a second attempt will be
made on Monday, as the U.S. maintains the June 30 deadline for
handing over power to an Iraqi government is still in place.
It was also a week filled with death and destruction as Tuesday’s
horrific attacks that claimed at least 180 lives in both Karbala
and Baghdad were another tragic reminder there are more than a
few who would rather see this country plunged into civil war
than holding free elections by year end.
Just last week I had ridiculed Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld for
his statement that Iran and Syria weren’t doing enough to keep
terrorists from crossing their borders with Iraq, as I wondered
why we were even having this discussion when it was clear back
in April this was the case. So what did we hear this week
following the attacks? Ayatollah al-Sistani blamed the coalition
for this very failure, citing the “noticeable procrastination in
controlling the borders of Iraq and preventing infiltrators.”
[Washington Post]
Then on Wednesday, coalition head Paul Bremer pledged to
tighten the borders, saying $60 million would be spent on the
effort with more border police on the way. Again, I ask you,
why are we even debating this? Plus Bremer spoke of 8,000
police currently in place for this duty and I know that if I went
back through my archives I’d be able to show that the coalition
had told us there would be at least 30,000 by now. Of course,
you can’t possibly secure every outpost, but the U.S.
administrators look like a bunch of idiots and American
taxpayers should question how our money is really being spent.
We already know we stupidly didn’t start out paying the police
and new Iraqi soldiers a fair wage, until thousands of recruits
realized they could make more money doing something else and
not be as much of a target at the same time.
Thankfully, further attacks on Tuesday were prevented in Basra,
but in Pakistan over 40 Shi’a were killed in another round of
bloodletting. Some claimed there was no coordination between
the two countries, but how you can draw that conclusion is
beyond my pay grade.
It’s come down to this. Can the more moderate clerics in Iraq,
representing all factions, win out over their extremist brethren,
let alone the terrorists? So far, al-Sistani and Co. have largely
kept the peace, but patience is running thin. I also know the
Bush administration doesn’t want pictures of body parts on our
television screens closer to November 2.
Wall Street
Interesting week, I think you’d agree. The government released
another sad report on job creation, just 21,000 for the month of
February, while 400,000 (by one count) gave up the hunt. We
also learned that thanks to the real estate bubble and a big
rebound in equity prices, the net worth of U.S. households hit a
record last quarter. But, at the same time, household debt rose
10.4% in 2003, the fastest pace since 1987, while the total
national debt climbed 8%. So we keep milking our homes to pay
for goods we don’t need (like a new designer kitchen), or for
those where we have no real choice; like health insurance,
property taxes and college tuition.
Friday’s jobs report, in a perverse way, will only exacerbate the
situation because the weak numbers helped fuel a spectacular
bond rally, as the yield on the key 10-year Treasury plummeted
to 3.84%. Time to buy more property…no money down!
But when it comes to the state of the economy in general, aside
from the admittedly important fact we can’t create more than
about one job for every community in America, there’s a lot to
be positive about. Wal-Mart, for example, reported a surge in
same-store sales for February and manufacturing activity, as
measured by various indicators, continues to rebound. Plus
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan keeps telling us a
pickup in jobs is just around the corner! Yippee! [Granted, he’s
said this every month for a year now, but he’s getting old, you
know.]
Perhaps just as importantly, though, are the figures coming out of
tech land. For every positive, such as the fact global
semiconductor sales are up 27% year-over-year (through
January), thanks to China, you have something like Intel’s mid-
quarter update that, while positive on balance, nonetheless
conceded it had to lower expectations on the revenue front. Then
you have the fact that the domestic revival in tech was really
fueled to a great extent by government spending and this is now
projected to rise only 1% for fiscal 2005. [Alex Berenson / New
York Times] In a market where so many stocks, especially in
this sector, are already priced for perfection, you have been duly
warned.
Street Bytes
–Nasdaq finally broke its losing streak, finishing up (0.9%) for
the first time in 7 weeks. The Dow Jones gained just 12 points to
10595 while the S&P 500 was the best performer of the three, up
1% to 1156. Late Friday, however, it was all about Martha
Stewart. As my friend Jimbo said, this should now be a required
fable for future generations of schoolchildren. Tell the truth.
–U.S. Treasury Yields
6-mo. 0.98% 2-yr. 1.55% 10-yr. 3.84% 30-yr. 4.76%
Platinum hit a 24-year high, copper a 9-year high, gasoline is
heading north across the country, yet don’t tell any of this to the
bond market. Inflation? What inflation? Bond traders were
simply focused on the jobs report this week, which cemented the
belief the Fed won’t be raising interest rates…ever again. Well,
believe it or not, I have to stick with my May prediction of a rate
hike, partly because I don’t allow myself to change my initial
opinion on something like this, or a year end prediction on the
broad stock averages. It’s about maintaining the integrity of the
site, you understand. I continue to focus on the actual calendar,
and it reveals Fed meetings on 5/4, 6/29-30, 8/10 and 9/21. If
Greenspan and Co. don’t act soon, even ‘official’ inflation will
start gaining the upper hand, while at the same time, for
legitimate reasons, the Fed needs to stay out of politics as much
as possible, which is why I come back to my selection of May.
And when this date passes, and if there has been no action, I’ll
just say “Never mind” and move on. I’m sure you’ll forgive
me.
–Energy: Oil climbed over the $37 mark this week, speaking of
inflation, largely on supply concerns from leading producer
Venezuela. President Chavez has threatened to cut the flow to
the U.S. to protest Washington’s perceived efforts to oust him,
particularly after he saw what happened to Haiti’s President
Aristide. And protests against Chavez’s rule continue to mount
as the Chavez-packed Supreme Court threw out a recall petition,
making it far more difficult to remove Fidel Castro’s best friend
before the next scheduled vote in 2006. The problem here,
however, is that no matter how the politics of the nation shake
out, Venezuela’s energy infrastructure is in tatters at a time
when the world needs every drop it can get its hands on,
assuming OPEC is able to keep a relatively tight rein on the
cartel’s overall production. OPEC meets again at month’s end
and there’s a chance it will formally raise output, not cut as
previously announced, contingent on prices remaining around
current levels.
As for the talk of $3 gasoline in the U.S., we have no one to
blame but ourselves. Taking California, for example, the 13
existing refineries in the state are way overextended yet there are
no plans whatsoever to build more. Nope, not in my backyard,
plus you need to protect the smelly seals.
Separately, U.S. News and World Report had its annual survey
of sectors where job prospects are strong and one is the oil
industry. True, thanks to mergers and improved productivity,
100s of thousands have been laid off over the past decade, but
now there is a crying need for petroleum engineers, especially to
help find new sources of both oil and gas. So if you’re a parent,
start steering your children this way. It’s a stimulating,
challenging, and well-paying career. [Employment advice…
another free service of StocksandNews.com.]
–Related to the last item, you’ll recall how Royal Dutch / Shell
recently reduced its estimates for its own oil and gas reserves by
20%, thereby giving the SEC cause to launch an investigation
into how this could happen. This week Shell Chairman Sir
Philip Watts was forced to resign, but he gets to keep the ‘Sir’
title, meaning he will still be welcomed in the world’s finest
salons.
–China’s Central Bank is increasingly wary of inflation, while
the government announced growth in the economy will approach
the 7% level this year, rather than the 9% rate of 2003.
–McDonald’s is phasing out its super-sized fries and drinks, and
the company announced its same-store sales had increased a
stupendous 23%. I actually tried the Philly cheesesteak
sandwich the other week and it was, shall we say, O.K., and
overpriced. I’d knock a buck off it.
–Brazil’s AmBev and Belgium’s Interbrew are merging to create
what could be the world’s largest brewer, displacing Anheuser-
Busch. I have to try all the different brands these two own
before I pass judgment on the deal. Give me two weeks.
–Meyer Blinder died at age 82. Co-founder of the brokerage
firm Blinder, Robinson & Co., a k a Blind’ Em & Rob ‘Em, he
was convicted in 1992 for racketeering and money laundering.
Blinder headed a bucket shop, a rather large one, and his hideous
operation sucked countless investors into penny stocks that the
firm then manipulated to its own benefit as the lambs were
slaughtered, bloodying the finances and dreams of good, hard-
working folk. This guy was scum, but of course some of the
obituaries you may have read spoke of his charity work. Regular
readers know not to fall for this crap.
–Speaking of the charity circuit, look for Wall Street’s head
honchos to people the society pages as they spend some of their
new largesse to curry favor and ensure their own obituaries speak
of this “good work.”
–The investigation into the specialist function at the New York
Stock Exchange is expanding to include some two dozen
individuals, according to the Wall Street Journal. Many of these
folks probably first learned how to abuse the public at Blinder,
Robinson.
–While it doesn’t seem like a problem today, as interest rates
tumble anew, some of us continue to warn bond fund holders that
they need to understand the risks when rates inevitably reverse.
Thanks to Mark R. for passing along a report from Mariana F.
Bush at Wachovia Securities that attempts to define the threat for
those holding ‘leveraged’ closed-end municipal bond funds.
Should rates rise 100 basis points (1%), for example, the hit to
your net asset value could be in the neighborhood of 12%
(assuming an 8-year duration). Which is why about twice a year
I feel compelled to issue my own duration tutorial. I’ll spare you
this time, just make sure you understand what you own.
–Ford announced it had record sales of SUVs. For us energy
bulls, this is terrific news. And don’t come bitching to the editor
when it costs $50 to fill the tank, if it doesn’t already. Of course
the flip side is this. Until there is a real crisis, the Bush
administration will not put the screws to Detroit on raising fuel
efficiency standards. We made this bed, now we have to sleep in
it.
–Inflation Update: Mark R. reports that Aunt Jemima’s frozen
waffles are up 26% at Shop Rite. No word on what Wal-Mart is
offering them at.
–On a far more serious inflation note, Brad K., entrepreneur and
an old friend from my high school days, passed along a note he
received from a metal service center concerning steel producer
Nucor. Nucor is breaking contracts, giving it and other mills the
ability to raise prices 65-80% off what they originally contracted
for going into this year. The impact on many smaller companies,
in particular, will be deadly.
–Thanks to the popularity of the Atkin’s diet, Florida orange
juice sales are down, oranges being seen as having too much
sugar. 888 million gallons were sold in the 2000-2001 growing
season and it’s expected to be just 844 million for 2003-2004.
[Source: High Plains Journal] So, oranges aren’t good for you.
Milk isn’t. Potatoes. Steroids…what’s the world coming to?
–Sun Microsystems’ debt was cut to ‘junk’ status by S&P.
–Crime Watch: In addition to the Martha verdict, WorldCom’s
former CEO Bernie Ebbers was indicted as former CFO Scott
Sullivan rolled over, pled guilty, and agreed to cooperate in the
prosecution of his boss, just as another CFO, Andrew Fastow, is
doing in the case of his Enron honcho, Jeffrey Skilling. So a
warning to you CEO types out there. Do you really know your
CFO?
–So much has already been written on the Disney boardroom
debacle that I mention it here merely for the archives. In an
extraordinary move, 43% of shareholders withheld their vote for
Chairman / CEO Michael Eisner’s reappointment, so the board
acted immediately and named fellow board member and former
Senator, George Mitchell, to the chairman slot, with Eisner
remaining as CEO. This inside job exacerbated the ill feelings of
those opposed to Eisner, though it’s not a certainty Eisner will
hold on much longer. Otherwise, I always thought Mickey
Mouse was a real creep.
–Ask Jeeves acquired search engines iWon and Excite.com.
Coupled with the news the company was raising revenue and
earnings guidance for the year, shares soared and in one year
have surged from $5 to $29. My friends and I used to joke about
this site, but I guess it’s having the last laugh. Anyway, I felt
compelled to check it out, not having done so in years, so I asked
Jeeves, “Where will the Dow Jones be by year end?” I kid you
not, the 5th reply listed was a March 2001 piece on Goldman
Sachs’s Abby Joseph Cohen and her call back then that the Dow
would finish up 23% that year to the 13000 level. Jeeves should
be fired, or at least outsourced.
–My portfolio: I remain about 35% energy, 5% Japan (a little
appreciation here), 2% India (second go ‘round…flat this time),
2% Internet telephony (up some), 2% pharm (doing O.K.) and
the rest cash…which I opted to hide, about 15 N. / 147 E.
International Affairs
China / Taiwan / Hong Kong: I had cause to go onto the Chinese
Embassy web site the other day and there was a statement on the
home page from a spokesperson for the National People’s
Congress, slamming Taiwan’s upcoming referendum on China’s
missile deployment as well as the presidential election. But the
gentleman added, “As long as the slightest hope remains, we will
spare no efforts to seek a peaceful reunification.” Ah, sir? Why
not dismantle the 500 missiles targeting Taiwan then?
Last weekend Taiwan’s President Chen Shui-bian helped form a
human chain of at least one million people, stretching basically
the length of the island, to protest the missile threat; a rather
impressive display of solidarity in a land of but 23 million.
According to a Wall Street Journal piece, 41% of the people now
identify themselves solely as Taiwanese, versus just 17% eleven
years ago; not the kind of thing Beijing wants to see as it offers
up its “one country, two systems” solution. But Chen has also
stated that following the March 20 vote he wants the United
States to help mediate talks between his people and the mainland.
No way China goes for this, at least initially.
And then there is the growing tension between the Communist
Party bosses in Beijing and the democracy advocates in Hong
Kong. The former is doing all it can to intimidate the citizens of
Hong Kong, most of whom would like to speed up the 2007-
2008 timetable for free elections. But Chief Executive Tung
Chee-hwa (just to remind you, Beijing’s toady) is now saying,
‘Hold on a minute. Not so fast.’ Tung was especially miffed
that a delegation of reformists went to Washington to plead its
case, not exactly thrilling Beijing either.
So to sum it up…it’s getting kind of exciting in these parts,
though one has to be concerned just how Beijing will react on
both fronts when push comes to shove.
North Korea: The six-party talks on the North’s nuclear
weapons program broke off with little progress, as expected,
though there was some hope discussions would resume in April.
[Sooner for smaller working groups.] The U.S. wants the North
to dismantle, totally, not just freeze its operations before
contemplating any aid and / or security guarantees and on this
Japan concurs. South Korea, however, is pursuing a more
moderate path and it is President Roh’s ongoing efforts at
reconciliation that stoked a protest by 20,000 in Seoul on
Monday, as Korean War vets marched with U.S. flags, urging
Roh to take a tougher line.
As for the North, remember how I said Kim Jong-il would be
smart to wait until after the election before cutting any deals, if
ever? It turns out that Senator John Kerry’s speeches are being
broadcast on state television and radio. The regime knows he’d
be easier on Pyongyang and look for Republicans to take
advantage of this as the Kerry camp goes into damage control
mode.
Of course with the lack of progress at the bargaining table, it’s
not as if the Bush administration can claim any kind of victory
itself because Kim’s Orcs continue to slave away…doing
whatever it is they do.
Iran: Reports of past ties on the nuclear weapons front between
the mullahs here and Libya’s Gaddafi continue to stream in now
that the West has infiltrated Libya’s skunkworks. And there is a
strong indication that Iranian extremists are trying to prevent
Gaddafi from cooperating any further with Washington for fear
of the impact of the disclosures.
But as the students in Tehran and around the country make noise
this spring, hoping for more than moral support from the West,
the Weekly Standard’s Reuel Marc Gerecht offers up the
legitimate question, will the Bush administration succumb to
fatigue from rebuilding Iraq and miss an opportunity in Iran by
taking it too easy on the tyrannical clerics?
Russia: President Vladimir Putin selected a technocrat with ties
to the securities services, Mikhail Fradkov, to be the new prime
minister as Putin gears up for the March 14 election. There is a
bit of concern, though, that at least 50% won’t turn out, seeing as
there is no race, period. That number is needed to validate the
vote.
Meanwhile, there is increasing evidence Russia was helping Iraq
in the missile development arena, illegal under U.N. sanctions at
the time, but no one wants to confront Putin as the Kremlin
claims there was no way it knew this was going on….cough …
cough. [The editor is also stifling a laugh.]
And recently we passed the 60th anniversary of Stalin’s 1944
forced deportation of 600,000 Chechens to Kazakhstan.
Tragically, you see echoes of this today as the Kremlin is
insisting thousands of current refugees return to war-ravaged
Chechnya from squalid camps in neighboring Ingushetia.
Mark Franchetti of the London Times had the following graphic
description of the plight of one family, the Chimayevas.
“Within days of their homecoming two months ago, the family’s
house was raided by Russians in the middle of the night. The
brother, Aslan Davletukayev, a 31-year-old welder who had
helped human rights groups gather evidence of Russian war
crimes, was led away at gunpoint by soldiers in camouflage and
black masks.
“His body was found in a roadside ditch 10 days later. He had
been mutilated so badly that relatives barely recognized him.
“The men who tortured Davletukayev had broken one of his legs
and an arm. Half his nose had been ripped off. His body was
covered with bruises and holes, probably from a screwdriver. He
was finished off with a single shot to the back of the head. The
day after Chimayeva buried him, she fled back to the
neighboring Russian republic of Ingushetia.”
Haiti: Some of you may have been surprised I wrote nothing on
this topic last week but that’s because I knew the upcoming one
would be newsworthy. Having said that, and with President
Aristide in exile, welcome to nation-building. Granted, I
couldn’t care less about this hell-hole and it’s not as if the
Haitian people themselves haven’t already had enough chances
to show that they belong in the community of nations. And you
saw how quickly the news coverage evaporated. But at this point
the U.S. is involved, like it or not, and we won’t be able to just
cut and run, so add a few $million to the budget deficit. Of most
immediate concern to Americans at this point should be keeping
the refugees out, because many of them are carriers of disease.
Israel: The Supreme Court ordered the government to suspend
work for one week on a section of the West Bank fence, but I
haven’t seen what the next step is. Meanwhile, 3 Palestinian
boys, ages 12-14, were arrested after Islamic Jihad had cruelly
recruited them to be suicide bombers. Thankfully, Israel’s
security forces picked them up beforehand. One other note,
concerning Israeli Prime Minister Sharon. A newspaper in Israel
had an 11-page expose discussing the recent lopsided prisoner
exchange of 400 Palestinians for one Israeli businessman and 3
bodies. According to the report, Sharon has old ties to the father-
in-law of the man released but Sharon claims he hasn’t spoken to
his buddy in decades. Meanwhile, other corruption investigations
into Sharon’s activities continue and his popularity is at an
all-time low.
European Union: On May 1, 10 new countries will be admitted
to the E.U., 8 from the former Soviet empire, though these same
Eastern European nations continue to see the West shut the door
on immigration. So I got to thinking that the traditional May
Day celebrations in parts of this region may get more than a bit
testy this year. You heard it here first.
Germany / Turkey: Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s Social
Democratic Party got creamed by the Christian Democrats in an
important election in Hamburg, the worst result for the party here
since WW II. It’s the Christian Democrats who most vehemently
oppose Turkey’s admission to the E.U. and along this line the
London Times’ Anthony Browne interviewed Turkey’s Prime
Minister Erdogan.
Erdogan: “We don’t see the E.U. as an economic union, or a
coal and steel union, or a club of Christians. We view the E.U.
to be a union of political values. We do not want to see the E.U.
as a place where civilizations clash, but where they meet. Only
then will there be a strong E.U.”
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul chimed in, contemplating a
negative vote. “All the Islamic world will once more think yes,
there is always a double standard, there will always be a clash of
civilizations. Other Islamic leaders are very much interested in
this issue…There will be a common understanding, that
whatever you do, the E.U. will say no.”
Random Musings
–Some have complained I’ve been too tough on President Bush
the last 10 months or so, especially compared to the level of
criticism I’ve directed at the Democratic presidential candidates.
The reason is simple; Bush is in power and his actions have
consequences. A throwaway line from John Edwards, on the
other hand, had none, outside of generating some ink.
But now the battle is formally joined, Bush vs. John Kerry, and
let me reiterate that I’m a supporter of our president and Bush
has my vote. That doesn’t mean I’m about to roll over and I’ll
criticize his policies where I see fit. As for John Kerry, it’s
obvious this is a deeply flawed nominee, but to at least 45% of
Americans it doesn’t matter. This man who has shown zero
conviction on just about every topic imaginable is the anti-Bush
and that’s what Democrats care about. Since Bush starts out
with his own 45%, the two now battle it out for the final 10,
with 1 or 2 percent perhaps casting their lot with Ralph Nader.
[Don’t believe this 6% figure for Nader from the AP poll. Isn’t
gonna happen.]
Two other items, for now. I can understand how some relatives
of the victims of 9/11 may have been disturbed by the images
from the first Bush campaign spots. If I were producing them I
would have shown the World Trade Center, intact, rather than a
picture of firemen carting a body. But 9/11 itself is, in the words
of Rudy Giuliani, “a part of the president’s record.” Case closed.
If you don’t like how Bush has responded since then, well, you
have a choice in this democracy. The president, though, is
unfairly taking some cheap shots and as for a few of the victims’
families, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Frankly, I’m
tired of them, but before you lay into me for this heretical
statement, know that I gave $thousands to a 9/11 widow, money
she’ll never know the source of.
This was an attack on America, not just someone’s husband or
wife. I also have to report, again, that my own thoughts always
go back to Oklahoma City, a place I’ve visited twice in the last
few years to show my solidarity with these good folks who
received nothing and can’t believe the behavior of those 9/11
families who appear to be money grabbers. [This is admittedly a
minority, but a significant number nonetheless.]
But where I do agree with some of the family members is the
issue of President Bush not giving the 9/11 commission more
than an hour. Mr. President, this is one dumb political move,
especially when everyone in the country sees you flitting about
doing fundraisers. In other words, don’t dare use the excuse
“I’m too busy doing the peoples’ business.”
And while we’re on the issue of Campaign 2004, I’m going to
dispatch with the gay marriage issue. This column wasn’t
originally designed for your editor to use the bully pulpit when it
comes to many of my personal beliefs, especially in the realm of
religion, though it should be pretty clear where my overall value
system lies. But I’m floored like many of you at the rapidity
with which we have reached the divide on gay marriage and I’ll
leave it up to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to sum up
my own feelings on the matter.
“If you want to change the laws, don’t grandstand. Go to Albany
and get it done.”
Eventually, then, it will find its way to the U.S. Supreme Court
and you and I, regardless of our own belief, will have to abide by
their decision at that time because we are a nation of laws.
Period.
–Unbelievably, Howard Dean captured 58% of the vote in the
Vermont primary. Yearrghh!
–John Kerry wants to dump Democratic National Committee
Chairman Terry McAuliffe. Here’s hoping he succeeds,
McAuliffe being one of the 2 or 3 most obnoxious people on the
planet.
–Bill Richardson is still my choice to be Kerry’s running mate.
–In a Wall Street Journal survey, 6 in 10 Americans say foreign
trade takes jobs from their state. 2 in 10 say it adds jobs. And
this, sports fans, is why Kerry is running with the issue. I myself
remain a big time supporter of free trade.
–In exit polls on Super Tuesday, voters listed the top issues as
the economy and jobs. Mine is the war on terror, because
without success here, there is no economy, nor jobs.
–Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger continues to confound the
expectations of some of us, like yours truly. Not just in
obtaining a 57-43 vote in favor of restructuring California’s debt,
to the tune of $15 billion, but in getting both sides of the debate
to compromise on a host of other issues thus far. That’s
leadership. But on the issue of gay marriage he is now in direct
conflict with President Bush, so it will be interesting to see how
this plays out.
–Reader Scott P. on America’s losing its way on the values
front. “It’s as if the country’s moral compass is permanently
fixed on magnetic south.”
–Baseball stars Barry Bonds, Gary Sheffield and Jason Giambi
better take note of the Martha Stewart verdict. If they
themselves lied in the BALCO steroid case, they’re toast.
–USA Today reported on the threat posed by passenger liner
crew members who may be affiliated with terrorist groups. An
insider obviously makes it easier to sneak a bomb or biological
weapon onboard once in port…not that you didn’t already know
this.
–We note the death of an Estonian soldier, part of the coalition
in Iraq, killed in action, and we thank the Estonian people for
their help in this important cause.
–During the Oscars, host Billy Crystal nonchalantly saluted the
troops and I was disturbed there was no standing ovation from
the audience. In fact, the applause was muted. Not that I’m
surprised, mind you, given the makeup of the attendees, but it
was insulting to the brave men and women helping to ensure we
can hold events like this without incident. And so I’ll continue to
honor them in my own small way.
—
God bless the men and women of our armed forces.
God bless America.
—
Gold closed at $401
Oil, $37.26
Returns for the week 3/1-3/5
Dow Jones +0.1% [10595]
S&P 500 +1.0% [1156]
S&P MidCap +2.4%
Russell 2000 +2.4%
Nasdaq +0.9% [2047]
Returns for the period 1/1/04-3/5/04
Dow Jones +1.4%
S&P 500 +4.0%
S&P MidCap +6.9%
Russell 2000 +7.7%
Nasdaq +2.2%
Bulls 59.4
Bears 18.8 [Source: Chartcraft / Investors Intelligence]
Have a great week. I appreciate your support.
Brian Trumbore
