David Fry's Daily Market Outlook

Like I said over the weekend and yesterday, patience through this week is paramount. The theme for 2007 has been to sell energy and buy tech. That’s been working out until today as a combination of bad news hit the markets with Producer Prices rising, Intel Corp.'s (INTC) poor earnings and then a positive Beige Book report that killed for “today” chances of an interest rate cut. Crude oil rallied, bonds fell and tech reversed course.

Inside the numbers, the advance/decline data wasn’t as bad as we might have thought.

However, as we’ve been repeatedly noting, the drag in tech has been semis. The pummeling Intel and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) have taken has exacerbated the problem.

Still in tech Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL) reported last night and the earnings came thru well ahead of expectations so...

I combed thru the earnings release for Lennar Corp. (LEN) on MarketWatch here and read it a few times but couldn’t see much good news for the stock to be up 4%, can you?

In commodity markets grains, led by corn [think ethanol] and less so by wheat [massive drought in Australia] are driving prices higher. PowerShares DB Commodity Index Tracker (DBC) has some of each as components, while PowerShares DB Agriculture Fund (DBA) also features both as constituents.

In the meantime, with few exceptions, overseas markets remain more upbeat.

Tomorrow there will be more data, and options expiration begins Thursday and ends Friday. Expect more not less volatility, so patience is required more than ever.

Have a pleasant evening.

Disclaimer: Among other issues, the ETF Digest maintains positions in: iShares Goldman Sachs Network Index Fund (IGN), streetTRACKS Gold Trust ETF (GLD), PowerShares DB Agriculture Fund (DBA), iShares MSCI EAFE Index Fund ETF (EFA), iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM), iShares Trust FTSE-Xinhua China 25 Index Fund (FXI), iShares S&P Latin America 40 Index Fund (ILF) and iPath MSCI India ETN (INP).