Stockscom
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Publisher: Colin Alexander Editor: Ken Wilson (450-691-4617)
Subscriptions and Administration: Pierre Fichaud (toll-free: 866-487-9711)
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Market Synopsis
With the springtime holiday period upon us, markets used this first week of quarterly results to take a little money off the table in the lead up to the long weekend. Volumes tapered considerably by the end of the week as traders used the opportunity to take some additional vacation time. Meanwhile the reporting season begins in earnest this coming week with a multitude of company announcements and thus we should start to see some semblance of direction in response to the earnings releases.
These quarterly earnings will be competing for attention with the rising price of crude oil, which once again borders on $70 per barrel and threatens to mark a new 52-week high surpassing September’s high. Furthermore, investors now have inflation concerns to contend with as the 10-year treasury’s yield burst through the noteworthy 5% yield level this week and current overnight electronic trading has the price of gold higher by $7 an ounce. Some indication of the Fed’s perception of inflation or perhaps more specifically, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s, will be revealed on Tuesday when the minutes from the March 28th meeting are released.
Technically Speaking
Equity indexes were steady this week in a relatively quiet holiday-shortened week. Though losses for the week were seen on all the large cap indexes except for the slim gain on the Dow Jones, traders and investors are keenly aware that with banks such as Citigroup, drug companies like Pfizer and tech heavyweights such as Intel, Apple and Motorola (to name just a few), on deck to release their earnings, this week could prove to be a pivotal week for overall stock performance in 2006. The influence of these shares and their results to the overall market cannot be underestimated. This is especially true as some charts such as the Dow Jones find critical support along the upward channel boundary.
New Buy Recommendations (in order of preference):
None.
New Short Sales
None.
Stock Positions to Sell/Exit:
None.
Portfolio Comments:
New stops have been added to the list while others have been modified. Those that have blanks, are being carried unstopped for now. Please see our complete list of stops in the table below.
List of Current Stock Recommendations:
Action Ratings. The following is the legend for designating immediate action
for our stock recommendations. The first is B, meaning the stock is timely
to buy but the case for doing so right here is not overwhelming. Either the
stock may have gotten ahead of itself and may be vulnerable to a retracement or
else the stock has been performing disappointingly but may simply be
regrouping. B+ and B++ indicate stocks for which there is a technical case
to buy now, with plusses adding weight according to how many there are, up
to a maximum of two. Stocks rated H are ones to hold, awaiting confirmation
to buy more or to sell. SELL, of course, means what it says. It seldom pays
to override this designation. In the case of stocks held short, the rating is S
where positions should be retained. S+ and S++ indicate stocks for which there
is a technical case to add to the positions with plusses adding weight similar
to long positions. The maximum number of plus signs is 2.
N.B. There are no longer restrictions on foreign stocks held in Canadian retirement savings accounts.
|
Date of Entry |
Name |
Symbol |
Entry Price |
Current Price |
Stop |
Action Rating |
|
|
Amer Sci & Eng |
ASEI |
71.08 |
84.90 |
|
B
|
|
|
Anadigics |
ANAD |
6.85 |
8.20 |
|
B
|
|
|
Birch Mtn Resour. |
BMD |
6.65 |
7.93 |
|
B
|
|
|
Cdn Natural Res |
CNQ |
58.00 |
60.02 |
|
B
|
|
|
LSI Logic |
LSI |
11.25 |
11.21 |
|
B+
|
|
|
Nasdaq Stock Mkt |
NDAQ |
45.98 |
42.24 |
|
H
|
|
|
Nuvelo Inc. |
NUVO |
12.95 |
17.05 |
|
B
|
|
|
Progenics Pharma |
PGNX |
29.70 |
25.42 |
23.00 |
H
|
|
11/07/05 |
Redback Networks |
RBAK |
11.78 |
22.20 |
18.00 |
B
|
|
03/20/06 |
RTI Int’l Metals |
RTI |
47.70 |
57.92 |
|
B
|
|
01/09/06 |
Seabridge Gold |
SA |
9.49 |
8.47 |
8.00 |
H**
|
|
01/09/06 |
Sierra Wireless |
SWIR |
13.60 |
13.71 |
|
B
|
|
04/10/06 |
Silver Wheaton |
SLW |
11.06 |
10.64 |
|
H
|
|
02/27/06 |
Stereotaxis |
STXS |
13.57 |
11.50 |
11.00 |
H
|
|
03/27/06 |
Texas Industries |
TXI |
64.55 |
58.36 |
57.00 |
H
|
|
11/14/05 |
Tom Online |
TOMO |
20.66 |
27.59 |
|
B
|
|
03/08/04 |
Transcanada Corp |
TRP |
21.34 |
29.37 |
28.00 |
B |
New stops in BOLD
* Stop on a closing basis
** Buy if above entry price
*** Split-adjusted price