Market Commentary for November 19, 2007


Trading activity was generally quiet on the trading session today with the occasional whip action as we faced the beginning of the shortened trading week due to the Thanksgiving Day Holiday. Many day traders and investors have already headed out to begin their extended holiday week with family and or friends. The market action was clearly controlled by the Bears today as the negative trended controlled the market session. Trading volume was light to moderate today as we watched the DOW sink below the 13,000 mark at the close of the day.

At the closing bell, here is how the major indices ended the session: the DOW (Dow Jones Industrial Average) posted a heavy triple digit loss of 218.35 points on the day to end the session at 12,958.44; the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) posted a heavy triple digit loss of 204.05 points to end the session at 9,497.33; the NASDAQ posted a loss of 43.86 points for a close at 2,593.38; the S&P 500 moved lower by 25.47 points to end at 1,433.27 and the RUSSELL 2000 moved lower by 19.15 points to close at 750.35. The FTSE All-World Index ex-US (top Large/Mid Cap aggregate from over 2,700 stocks from the FTSE Global Equity Index Series (GEIS) which covers 90% of the world’s investable market capitalization) posted a loss of 4.11 points to close at 258.29 and the FTSE RAFI 1000 posted a triple digit loss of 108.93 points to close at 5,858.07.

Statement by U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr. at the G-20
Kleinmond, South Africa -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr. issued the following statement during the G-20 meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in Kleinmond, South Africa. My career in the financial sector has allowed me to witness the emergence and growing relevance of new participants in international financial markets. Indeed, the resilience of many dynamic emerging markets in the face of the current global financial market turmoil is testimony to the sound economic stewardship in these countries and the importance of the G-20 as a forum for contributing to the management of the international financial system. I was pleased to have the opportunity to meet bilaterally with many colleagues. When we discussed the turmoil in the capital markets, I explained that we are going through a period of reassessing risk and that will take time and we will experience volatility along the way. In discussions on the decline in the U.S. housing market I noted it is still unfolding and I view it as the most significant current risk to our economy. Even so, I believe we have a healthy, diversified economy that will continue to grow. As I've noted before, we are taking a two-pronged approach to dealing with the capital markets turmoil and the housing downturn in the U.S. In the short term, we are working to avoid preventable foreclosures and promote orderly markets. We are also focused on policy issues such as transparency, risk management, the accounting and valuation of complex products and the role of rating agencies so we can avoid a recurrence of these events in the future. We took note of the ongoing work of the Financial Stability Forum (FSF) on these topics, which are of great relevance to the G-20. We also agreed to establish a G-20 Study Group to further our understanding of the lessons from the latest credit market turmoil, and this should help supplement the FSF's work. A major focus of this weekend has been reform of the International Financial Institutions. The G-20 is uniquely situated to constructively address this issue; its member countries make up 85 percent of global GDP and emerging markets have a growing and important role in this group. At both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund we have strong leaders who have put forward compelling agendas and who now have an opportunity, with support from the member countries, to energize reform efforts and make good progress. I urged my G-20 counterparts to join the U.S. in showing greater leadership on the Doha talks, and underscored the equal importance of results in agriculture, non-agriculture market access, and services including financial services. Reducing tariff and other trade and investment barriers and maintaining open markets is critical to ensuring that the benefits of trade are shared broadly and success on Doha is the single most effective thing we can do to raise living standards around the world. The United States is committed to working with our global trading partners and is ready to negotiate off the texts that have been produced in Geneva to ensure a successful Doha Round. We spoke about commodity market dynamics, managing commodity-led booms and busts, hedging strategies, and non-renewable resource funds. Non-renewable resource funds are one type of sovereign wealth fund. The U.S. is committed to open investment. Sovereign wealth funds should be able to invest globally, but it is inevitable that when large, government-run, opaque funds are investing around the globe, questions will arise. To address this we believe a considered, multilateral approach to sovereign wealth funds that maintains openness is in the best interest of both countries that have these funds and countries in which the funds invest. We have had good support for our proposal that the IMF develop best practices for sovereign wealth funds. Work is also progressing in the OECD to develop best practices for countries that receive foreign government-controlled investment. Recipient countries have a responsibility to maintain openness. We must continue to stand against threats to the global financial system, including the financing of terrorism and proliferation, money laundering and other forms of illicit finance. Continued cooperation among the IMF, World Bank, and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to promote strong international standards is essential to this effort. In particular, we recognize the recent warning by the FATF about the risks posed by Iran to the international financial system and call on all countries to take appropriate action to mitigate those risks. Leaders in the G-20 have a responsibility to prevent Iran, and illicit actors more generally, from misusing the financial system to support their threatening conduct. Finally, I would like to congratulate and thank South Africa for its outstanding leadership as chair of the G-20 for 2007. The United States was much honored to have contributed by hosting one of the three workshops, on commodity cycles and financial stability, in May at the Treasury in Washington. We look forward to working closely with Brazil as it takes the G-20 chair in 2008.

Commodities Markets
The trend was mostly higher across the board today for the Energy Sector: Light crude moved higher today by $0.80 to close at $94.64 a barrel; Heating Oil closed higher by $0.02 today at $2.62 a gallon; Natural Gas moved lower today by $0.20 to close at $8.15 per million BTU and Unleaded Gas moved higher today by $0.01 to close at $2.38 a gallon.

Metals Market ended the session mostly lower across the board today: Gold moved lower today by $9.00 to close at $778.00 an ounce; Silver moved lower by $0.35 to close at $14.16 per ounce; Platinum moved higher today by $3.90 to close at $1,457.10 an ounce and Copper moved lower by $0.17 to close at $3.03 per pound.

On the Livestock and Meat Markets, the trend was lower across the board again today: Lean Hogs ended the day lower by $0.20 to close at $60.20; Pork Bellies ended the day lower by $1.28 at $89.40; Live Cattle ended the day lower by $0.50 at $97.40 and Feeder Cattle ended the day lower by $0.30 at $108.83.

Other Commodities: Corn moved lower today by $2.00 to close at $394.50 and Soybeans moved lower today by $7.25 to end the session at $1,070.50.

Bonds were higher across the board today: 2 year bond moved higher by 11/32 to close at 100 28/32; 5 year bond moved higher by 21/32 to close at 101 15/32 today; 10 year bond moved higher by 28/32 at 101 17/32 and the 30 year bond closed higher by 1 7/32 at 108 23/32 for the day.

The e-mini Dow ended the session today at 12,978 with a loss of 212 points on the trading session. The total Dow Exchange Volume for the day came in at 252,544 which are comprised of Electronic, Open Auction and Cash Exchange. Traders should review workshops available at the CBOT (Chicago Board of Trade) Educational in-person seminars schedules available on CBOT (Chicago Board of Trade) website.

The end of day results for the CBOT (Chicago Board of Trade) which is comprised of the total Exchange Volume for Futures and Options (EVFO) including Electronic, Open Auction and Cash Exchange ended the day at 4,562,135; Open Interest for Futures moved higher by 39,307 points to close at 10,238,262; the Open Interest for Options moved higher by 54,691 points to close at 9,556,332 and the Cleared Only moved higher by 96 points to close at 14,786 for a total Open Interest on the day of 19,809,380 for a total Change on the day with a gain of 94,094 points.

On the NYSE today, advancers came in at 551; decliners totaled 2,770; unchanged came in at 66; new highs came in at 38 and new lows came in at 606. Active trading stocks on the Big Board today: Fannie Mae (FNM) moved lower on the session with a loss of 3.11 points with a closing price at $37.58; Quanex Corporation (NX) rallied higher on the session to post a sharp gain by 32.69% to tack on 12.01 points with a final trading price at $48.75; Genesco Incorporated (GCO) fell hard on the day with a loss of 23.58% to shed 9.25 points with a high on the session of $38.74, a low of $29.04 to end the session at $29.98; Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Incorporated (FCX) sank by 7.54 points on the day with a high on the session of $98.80, a low of $91.35 to close at $92.50; iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index (FXI) moved lower on the session for a loss of 8.82 points with a high on the day of $174.10, a low of $167.88 for a final trading price at $169.55; PetroChina Company Limited (PTR) posted a loss of 9.38 points with a high on the trading session of $185.15, a low of $178.20 with a closing price at $180.52; Rio Tinto plc (RTP) sank by 26.38 points on the session with a high of $434.15, a low of $409.06 with a closing price at $416.05 and Uniao de Bancos Brasileiros (UBB) tumbled lower on the day for a loss of 8.00 points with a high on the session of $145.16, a low of $138.80 with a closing price at $140.60.

On the NASDAQ today, advanced totaled 588; decliners totaled 2,446; unchanged came in at 103; new highs came in at 22 and new lows came in at 354. Active trading stocks for the day consisted of: Pharmion Corporation (PHRM) rallied higher on the day with a gain of 15.84 points for a final trading price at the bell of $65.12; EchoStar Communications Corporation (DISH) posted a gain of 7.66ints with a high on the session of $50.80, a low of $42.41 for a final trading price at $47.49; Golar LNG Limited (GLNG) took a tumble on the session to shed 4.11 points to close the session at $20.18 and Garmin Limited (GRMN) shed 3.99 points on the day with a high on the day of $99.25, a low of $92.51 for a final trading price at $93.52.

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Millennium-Traders