U.S. MARKET AVERAGES

During the day when prices in the commodity pit ruled volatility in the equity markets in New York, other than two government reports there was very little news that affected the market. Market traded in a narrow range during the session mostly traded on the fears of slowing consumer spending as prices of oil and natural gas had another day of spike. Crude oil up close to 2% natural gas 7% at close after the weekly petroleum report from the Department of Energy sparked fears of crude shortages in the coming months.

At opening on the back of strength in durable orders in the month of August put market rose in the first trading hours. After the release of the weekly petroleum data from the Department of Energy market took a decidedly cautious approach to trading. Stocks in retailing, consumer discretionary, hotels, transportation and tech sector felt selling pressure.

Gold, copper, silver, and platinum registered solid gains moving mining sector to a new high. Shares of Phelps Dodge, BHP Billiton, Newmont Mining registered more than 4% gains. After a seven trading session of losses casino stocks came back to life as Station’s Casino and Las Vegas Sands were recommended by Goldman Sachs.

It was another day of sell-off in the homebuilders stocks as yields in the bond market pit showed a persistent rising bias during the session. Ten-year yield stayed above 4.30% and closed at $4.26 as international central bankers conducted buying near close. Major homebuilders declined for the third day in a row.


MOVERS AND SHAKERS

DaimlerChrysler (DCX: chart) rose 2%. The company benefited by a report published in a German newspaper saying that it is cutting 8,000 jobs at its Mercedes unit, more than previously reported 5,000.

General Motors Corp. (GM: chart) is expected to be active. The company and the Canadian Auto Workers union agreed to a three-year contract yesterday, in order to avoid a future high-priced strike.

Eastman Kodak (EK: chart) also is likely to be in play, because the company said it hopes total digital revenue growth for 2005 will be more than the originally expected 36%, while the year's digital earnings from operations, which were expected to increase by more than 300%, are now projected to be behind the target that company set at the beginning of 2005.

ECONOMIC NEWS

On Wednesday, the Commerce Dept. released August durable goods orders which shows strong order book. However, because the data does not include the impact of Hurricane Katrina, the significance of the report is likely to be relatively limited.

The report showed that durable goods orders rose by 3.3 percent in August following a downwardly revised 5.3 percent decrease in July. Economists had been expecting orders to increase by a more modest 1.0 percent compared to the 4.9 percent drop originally reported for July.

The growth in durable goods orders was partly due to a significant increase in orders for computers and electronics products, which rose 5.5 percent in August after falling 6.5 percent in July. Orders for primary metals, fabricated metal products, machinery, and transportation equipment also had significant increases.

The Commerce Dept. also noted that excluding orders for transportation equipment, orders rose 4.2 percent in August after falling 3.7 percent in July. Orders for transportation equipment rose 1.4 percent in July following an 8.7 percent decrease in July.

Government data released Wednesday showed that crude oil inventories recorded another drop in the latest week, adding to a recent string of declines. However, stocks of gasoline advanced again during the period, adding to the surprise gain they posted in the previous week.

The Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration revealed that crude oil inventories dropped by 2.4 million barrels for the week ended September 23, falling to 305.7 million barrels from the 308.1 million barrels recorded in the previous week. This followed a decline of 300,000 barrels for the prior week. Even with the recent declines, oil inventories remain 11.4% higher than their levels of the same time last year.

Gasoline inventories posted a week-over-week advance of 4.4 million barrels, adding to the 3.4-million-barrel gain posted in the prior week. Gasoline stocks are now only 2.9% below their levels of last year. Inventories of distillate fuel oil fell by 500,000 barrels for the most recent week.

INTERNATIONAL MARKET NEWS