The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU) closed for the first time above the 9700 level since the beginning of September, stopping just short of its 20-week moving average. The average has not enjoyed a weekly close above this trendline since the week of July 20. Home Depot helped to lift the shares after meeting Street estimates of 33 cents per share and reaffirming expectations for the rest of the year. SBC Communications and WMT were the only Dow components to close in the red.

The Nasdaq Composite backtracked a bit in trading after Cisco Systems?CEO John Chambers commented that he expects slow growth for the next two to eight Qs. The index rebounded to close near its highs of the day anyway. As some of the trillions of dollars in cash on the sidelines worked its way into the market, tech surged higher, led by Internet and networking.

Tech gains came despite the continued IT cap/ex spending slump. Corporate technology officers expect spending to rise only 2.5% this year, and a tepid 1.5% in 2002, according to a survey.

Closing Summary

Index	Last	Change	% Change
Dow Jones Industrial Avg.	9750.95	196.58	2.06%
S&P 500	1139.09	20.76	1.86%
Nasdaq Comp	1892.1	52	2.83%
Russell 2000 Index	448.34	7.86	1.78%

Crude Oil Rises After U.S. Says It Will Boost Strategic Reserve
Crude oil rose 2 percent after the U.S. said it would buy oil to add to national reserves as protection against any disruption to supply. The move comes a day before OPEC members meet in Vienna to discuss production cuts.

Crude oil for December delivery rose 44 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $21.67 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices are down 37 percent from a year ago, when oil was rising toward a 10-year high of about $36 a barrel.

Nikkei up on Wall St. gains, weak yen
TOKYO Japan's Nikkei rose modestly for the first time in four sessions Wednesday, with sentiment torn between the boost from a weaker yen and the drag of ongoing bad-loan woes.

Stock indexes in Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan posted gains of more than 2 percent as the Taliban's abandonment of the Afghan capital Kabul raised hopes the war would end soon without creating a long-term drag on the global economy.

The Nikkei Average rose 56.20 points, or 0.6 percent, to close at 10,086.76, after having risen as much as 2 percent earlier in the day. The broader Topix Index added 0.3 percent to 1,019.10. (CBS.MW)

- AMAT 4Q earnings report today / conference call at 3:30

- CSCO Cisco's Chambers sees business picking up --albeit slowly. The CEO told shareholders that he is "pretty comfortable" with the networking giant's progress in cutting expenses and says business is showing signs of improving; He expects slow growth for the next two to eight Qs.

- NOK upbeat analysts day expected from Nokia.

- AMZN Amazon feels good about Q4; CFO said the firm is pleased with its results so far during yesterday's conference call. The online retailer has said it is expecting sales growth of up to 10%.

- AOL "Look out Luke Skywalker, go home E.T., and Leo, you may not be the king of the world after Friday when Britain's boy wizard, Harry Potter, debuts in movie theaters in one of the most anticipated films of the year," was the breathless lead in of a recent Reuters story.

It's easy to see why the movie may be a blockbuster, with the books selling a 125 million copies around the world. The film opens in over 3,500 locations in the US. Early reviews have been positive and advance ticket sales are strong.

Shorter term shareholders looking for a near term exit should consider the early box numbers -- and associated stock pop -- as an opportunity. Long term holders see the movie is the start of a multibillion dollar, decade long franchise -- and they may very well be right.

Look Out Below ?
- NTAP reported a second-quarter net loss of $11.2 million, or 3 cents a share, on revenue of $194.7 million. Excluding charges, net income was $7.7 million, or 2 cents a share. Analysts expected the company to break even, excluding charges, on revenue of $192.2 million, on average. After the release, shares traded down $1.21, or 6.7 percent, at $16.97.

- BEAS Server-based software maker BEA Systems beat by a penny, reporting a net loss of 6 cents a share. Analysts expected earnings of 5 cents, compared with its profit a year ago. Shares of BEA Systems declined 30 cents to $16.69 after hours.

- SCMR posted a first-quarter loss of $247.9 million, or $1 a share, wider than a year-ago loss of $26.2 million, or 11 cents a share. Excluding charges, the optical networker reported a pro forma loss of 16 cents a share, vs. analysts expectations of 17 cents. In mid-October, Sycamore warned that first-quarter figures would be lower than previously expected because of a slowdown in spending in the telecom sector. Shares declined 12 cents to $5.12 after hours.

DIGESTING THE BREAKOUT
The Markets pushed out of the resistance at the top of a month old consolidation last week.

The longer price hangs above that S&P500 (SPX) 1110 support zone, the better chance it will have to stay there. Now watch that 1110 breakout level that's now the key support zone as anything below that number gets dicey as the technical picture would go into the toilet. The 1110 breakout caught all the shorts, and they are plenty, leaning the wrong way and caused, and may still cause, more short covering that could send the Market much higher as it's now a pure momentum play.

A big plus is the charts of the Nasdaq and the semiconductor Index (SOX) that pushed through resistance first and suggests an incipient technology recovery is in the works somewhere. The likelihood is that it will pull the NYSE and Dow with it for a while anyway.

The Market is a leading economic indicator, but still the picture looks toppy, in resistance, in a down slope Market, with God awful earnings the norm. Sentiment reads are way too positive, where the NYSE specialists are big time short already, with an Economy on the ropes, where the consumers spending is frozen, not to mention the War and Anthrax fears. One wonders why the Markets are hanging up here anyway. Maybe it's just too rotten to go down anymore but the sentiment reads belie that fact -- so tread lightly. (SOURCE: Dr. John Faessel)

Market Stats

Market	NYSE	Nasdaq
Total Volume	1351.03m	2166.93m
Up Volume	1,101.78m	1,729.48m
Down Volume	224.26m	417.82m
Advancers	2220	2346
Decliners	930	1261
New Highs	108	69
New Lows	26	30

- PMCS broke out Monday on the move over $20; Tuesdays move on better than average volume confirms the break out; Short term target remains filling the gap to $25; Use pullbacks to add to position. This is one of our favorite charts. (added Mid-day Nov 12th)

- NOK the world's largest mobile phone maker broke out this week as increased cell usage seems related to recent tragedies. Lehman Brothers analyst Tim Luke expects an upbeat analyst day, as he tells clients "while data points on demand remain mixed, we believe new applications, licensing deals, new product introductions and upbeat message at Analyst Day may help shares."

Technically, the chart is appealing as it also looks to fill its gap -- not from the September sell off, but a company specific warning back in June. Upside targets are 28 - 30 over the next Q. Buy half here, add to the position on pullbacks (sound familiar?).

-Oracle (ORCL) Glass half empty or half filled? After yesterdays pre-announcement, you can see what you want in ORCL. Despite having nearly 90 million shares traded, ORCL closed down less than 6%. The most it got hit was $1.25. It also closed right at its prior support level and 50 day MA (Both positives). Relative strength was terrible, and the preannounce takes some luster off the trade. Lower risk tolerant accounts can cut this loose here; More aggressive traders can hold to $13.75. (added Mid-day Nov 7th)

--Countrywide Credit (CCR) still recommended as a short; as it continues to show weakness. You can add to the position on an uptick between 44 - 46; STOP LOSS: cover on a breakout over 47.50

Technimentals (Kevin Lane)
Long: Staples SPLS

Things That Warrant Attention On The Charts

Volume decreasing as Markets Moving Higher
The Accumulation/Distribution ratios on both Issues and Volume were quite strong on both the NYSE and the COMP. However, while volume was strong on the COMP, it was merely average on the NYSE.

It looks like Institutions were buying Tuesday on the COMP especially. While that's bullish, it appears that as we approach major resistance on the COMP near 1920-1940, the strength of volume surges is waning, visible in the lower "% above average volume" readings in this chart.

AAII SURVEY
The most interesting note on the general sentiment situation is from Prechter - "Elliot Wave Theorist." He notes that the AAII survey had, until December 1999, reported more than 60% bulls on only 3 prior occasions. They are a consertive population apparently. Since then, however, the 60% bullish level has been exceeded 12 times. A few weeks ago 61% were reported bullish. All these bullish readings bode poorly for the market prospects in general. At a big market low, (sometime in the future?) we will probably get several readings below 20% bulls as these guys throw in the towel. That seems a long way off now. (Jay Shartsis)

"One drawback to being an aging baby boomer is the unpleasant memory of inflation. This scourge ignited during the mid-1960s, when President Lyndon Johnson tried to fight a war with ill-defined objectives and simultaneously to engage in massive government spending without raising taxes. So, how did this Texan in the White House finance all of this? He prevailed upon then-Fed Chairman William McChesney Martin to maintain an accommodative monetary stance."

"We're so lucky that no parallels exist today."

-Professor Howard L. Simons, Department of Finance, Illinois Institute of Technology, in From the Buffaloes to the Bulls

Now is the time to start thinking about tax loss selling. The 3 rallies this year -- December, April and September -- all mean that funds and individuals have booked profits they need to offset with losses.

Think about what you own which may get sold -- and get out of the way early. Also consider what you might like to own -- that may go on sale in December. Put a plan together.

Here's an article worth pursuing along these lines:
Eyeing the Radar Screen for Tax-Loss Selling by Glenn S. Curtis.

EXCERPT: "The heart of tax-loss selling season is approaching rapidly. That's why over the past week or so I've dedicated my column to providing you with a number of stocks that I think have excellent upside potential heading into the new-year. And as promised, here is the third installment of my top year-end tax loss candidates.

Stocks with potential year end tax selling/bottom fishing potential include:
Iomega (IOM), Talbots (TLB), Lucent (LU), Pfizer (PFE), Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPDI), International Game Technology (IGT), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Yahoo (YHOO), McDonalds (MCD), Staples (SPLS), Office Depot (ODP), Cisco (CSCO), Microsoft (MSFT), Salton (SFP), 3Com (COMS), Anheuser Busch (BUD), Cendant (CD), Kimberly Clark (KMB), Tupperware (TUP), WorldCom (WCOM), Park Place Entertainment (PPE)

Downturn dictionary
by Scott Kirsner, 11/12/2001

EXCERPT: The weather in the tech sector is changing, and so are the words we choose to describe it.

The endless summer of the dot-com boom has turned into a "nuclear winter," where companies are totally consumed with issues of survival.

The jargon, aphorisms, and metaphors that trip off the tongues of entrepreneurs and investors these days are every bit as piquant as they were back in the heyday. They've just been dialed down a bit. Hyped-up bloviation is out; irony, hard-headed pragmatism, and gallows humor have taken over.

Matt Harris, the chief executive of Williamstown-based Village Ventures, observes that "in the late 1990s, `filing' meant an IPO and `doing another round' meant another financing, probably an uptick. `Filing' now means Chapter 11 or 7, and `doing another round' inevitably means layoffs."

Historic legacy weighs heavily on Muslim scientists
by Glennda Chui

EXCERPT:
All across the Muslim world, scientists are caught between the glow of a glorious past and the sobering reality of the present day.

They look back with nostalgia to a time, hundreds of years ago, when Islamic civilization was a beacon of scientific enlightenment and achievement, far surpassing Europe.

Today, in contrast, the situation in many countries is grim. The talents of an enormous pool of highly trained people are being wasted or lost to other countries, undermined by a lack of money and opportunity.

At a time when attention is focused on the Islamic world, scientists from predominantly Muslim countries say this contrast between history and the present needs to be addressed more urgently than ever. Scientific research and development could help bring greater prosperity and stability to the Muslim world, but questions of economics, politics and society intervene.

"It's really deep in Arab culture, the love of science and nature," said Antoine Zahlan, a Palestinian physicist who grew up in Lebanon and now lives in London. He has written extensively about science in the Muslim world and works as a consultant to agencies such as the United Nations and the World Bank.

MARKET HUMOR

The Top Signs the U.S. Economy is in a Recession

15> Your boss has been spotted walking through the office muttering "eennie, meenie, minie, mo..."

14> The markets have been so bearish they're now looking for unattended pick-a-nic baskets.

13> Poorer Klan members forced to experiment with disposable diaper headgear.

12> The CEO has downsized to just the one mistress.

11> To jumpstart the NYC economy, Mayor Giuliani orders the return of "Cats" to Broadway.

10> "Who Wants Regis Philbin's Loose Change?"

9> Stale, 30-year-old hard candy in the bowl at Grandma's now 25 cents apiece.

8> Several self-employed people forced to lay themselves off.

7> Soccer moms actually take *two* kids to practice at once in the Excursion.

6> Amazon.com downgrades its name to SissyGirl.com.

5> Daily dilemma: Spend the 49 cents to supersize or to buy 49 shares of GX.

4> Gang members seen picking up shell cases for re-use after every drive-by.

3> PBS fundraisers featuring considerably more cleavage.

2> You don't seriously believe Jordan came out of retirement just for the love of the game, do you?

and Topfive.com's Number 1 Sign the U.S. Economy is in a Recession...

1> When E.F. Hutton speaks, you reply, "Yes, I would like fries with that."

Source: The Top 5 List www.topfive.com
Copyright 2001 by Chris White

--Barry Ritholtz
November 14, 2001