Pre market July 3rd 2007

Today will be a short day (markets close at 1pm EST). Don't expect too much to happen today. On a short trading day the volume will generally be on the light side. Brokers and big money managers are heading out of Manhattan today to get to the Hampton's and beyond before the traffic gets bad !

There is not much in the way of significant news to report this morning. Apple is catching a little bit of pre market up ticks but by the end of the day my feeling is AAPL will be down again. I am near term bearish on apple but long term bullish.

Yahoo (YHOO), a stock that many investors and traders have given up on (including me) saw this morning an analyst upgrade. Oppenheimer raised their FY07 revenue estimates for Yahoo based on their view that the management changes and their new ad revenue system will pay off. For me I will remain the skeptic and wait for the proof in the charts. I am bearish on YHOO.

Crude oil is currently at about $71. Here are some thoughts on the market for the summer months. Remember that the summer period is usually the slowest in the markets. The "summer slump" as some call it. If oil continues to rise then we will have a greater chance of breaking to the downside of our current market trading range (see DOW chart on my public charts list). If that happens then will will indeed have a summer slump with a bearish summer. I maintain my long term bullish stance on the markets. Just have to watch that the oil prices don't send the bulls off to summer camp!

Yahoo (YHOO)

If you have not heard yet yesterday after the market close Yahoo announced that CEO Terry Semel has been replaced. The new CEO will be Jerry Yang, one of the original founders of Yahoo.

If you recall a couple of months ago there was speculation flying that Yahoo and Microsoft might be in discussions to form some sort of partnership. That all seemed to fall apart and not much was ever said of that again. I feel that there has been an inside battle at Yahoo within the Board of Directors over how the company was being run.

That inside battle has festered into a shakeup and a new CEO. Yahoo has been a laggard in the internet sector for quite some time. This news of the company shakeup will most certainly create volatility in YHOO in the short term. For day traders there will be lots of speculative plays in the next day or so as news will be driving YHOO like a tug of war. Long term investment is still questionable. I think Yahoo is now going to explore with new vigor some new ideas for the company. But before I put any money in my long term account on the YHOO horse I want to see it run in a few races first and see if it has legs. Otherwise my feelings on Yahoo will remain as they have been for 2 years now.. which has been that Yahoo is worth more sold off then it is as an operating company itself. Time will tell.