Markets lower, but oils lift the Dow

Stocks started high but then hovered near break even for the rest of the day. Strength came from oils on expectations that earnings reports later this week will be favorable (aided by the strength in oil prices in Q3). Dow was up 14 (½ higher & ½ lower), decliners were ahead of advancers almost 2-1 & NAZ was off a very big 25 after Baidu (BIDU), the Chinese Internet search company, warned its revenue could take a hit as it switches its advertising system. The stock plunged 50.

Baidu --- 3 months




Banks fell again to the middle of the 180-210 trading range for the last 3 months.

S&P 500 FINANCIALS INDEX

Value 196.58

Change -1.37

% Change -0.7%

Without an adjustment to yesterday's closing price for the Alerian MLP Index, it's difficult to tell how well MLPs are really doing. A quick look at MLPs in the Yahoo gadget on the right indicate they are probably up fractionally helped gains in oil stocks. Some MLPs have announced higher (over the prior qtr) distributions bringing out more buyers. The Dow Jones REIT Index fell 2½ & junk bond funds were mixed after negative comments by Bill Gross. Treasuries were very strong, the yield on the 10-year Treasury bond fell 9 basis points to 3.46%. The VIX, volatility index, rose .63 to almost 2r, far above the recent low of 20.

Alerian MLP Index --- YTD




Dow Jones REIT Index --- YTD




VIX --- YTD





Oil is heading back up to the 80s but gold slips again off its record highs last week.

CLZ09.NYM

..Crude Oil Dec 09

..79.37

.. 0.69 ......(0.9%)

GCV09.CMX

..Gold Oct 09

..1,036.30

.. 5.80 ......(0.6%)

IBM (IBM) will spend another $5B on its stock buyback program, another sign of hope inthe markets.

• IBM to spend $5 billion more on stock buyback- AP

IBM --- 1 year





In the prior earnings months, Apr & Jul, Dow did very well,gaining 474 in Apr & 634 in Jul (off smaller bases). So far, Dow is up only 170 in Oct & that's from the first few days in the month. The big oil companies should give good numbers which will help, but the reception from regular companies can only be described as muted.

7609
8083 474

8447
9081 634

9712
9882 175


Dow Jones Industrials --- 1 month




Dow Jones Industrials --- YTD