Rates and Oil Still Move the Markets

The markets appeared to look confused Friday. A jump in confidence numbers brought bonds lower and yields higher and threw stocks for a spin. Later on in the session oil appeared to "shoot the stops". Oil Traders have been very careful as of late to protect any gains that they have put in protective stops to secure these gains. Anyhow, stocks seemed to ignore the earlier rise in rates and cheer the sell off in oil. Result...equities closed a bit on the plus side.
This week is pretty soft w/economic numbers:

Mon. Opec Convenes ,Budget Deficit (-80B)
Tues. Chain Store Sales ,Retail Sales (.3%) ,Retail Sales ex-autos (-.1%), FOMC Opines
Wed. Mtge Data, Trade Deficit (-$62.8B), Import Prices, Crude Invent., Greenspan at NYU
Thurs. Iraq Elections,CPI (-.4%), Jobless Claims (.1%), Empire Index (17), Tsy Int'l Cap. Inflows (.2%), Cap. Util. (.5%), All the M's, Natural Gas Invent.
Fri. BOJ Opines, Quarterly Witching Exp.

The futures market is pricing in 2 more rate hikes after Tuesdays assumed 1/4. Greenspans thoughts will be looked at carefully on Wednesday for any unusual signals. Crude should keep everyone alert and the Iraqi elections should be the story on the geo-political front.

Japan was very strong overnight. Looks like we may start well also. Direction later on will be dependant on oil and rates. Have a great week!

Sara

A couple of months back Mike Colon and I went on a shoot with Sara who modeled for Mike in the past. We shot at Fashion Island in Newport Beach and because we didn't have a permit to shoot on location we were asked to leave. Just as Sara was getting comfortable! Here is a slideshow of Sara from that day. Click here to view slideshow.

WHS Football 2005

It was fun shooting these games, always a challenge. Vapor lights aren't exactly what you might call a photographers friend, especially at night. The kids of the Westminster High School football team had a very good season and they put a valiant effort in the playoffs. They just ran into some unfortunate circumstances. Not that I am making any excuses for them but when it came to the playoffs they weren't given any favors by getting Alhambra and El Monte as their first two games. They battled but in the end I think injuries and player losses were just too much to bear.

I want to thank Ted McMillan and his entire staff for allowing me to shoot on the sidelines this season. And I know I wont hear the end of it if I don't mention Jag's name so.......Jag! So what will it be? If Greg takes the Tampa Bay job then maybe we can get you to coach at Tampa Bay. Then again he may just stay at Rutgers...you'll still take that too, right? John thanks for holding the flash during the Saddleback game and babysitting my telephoto while I went in to the locker room to shoot. Oh ya, Kraig King! Westminster Herald Kraig...look forward to shooting some more with you! It's nice to see my pictures in the paper. Thank you. Hope you all enjoy the show.

Click here to view slideshow.

Ana and David

Greg and I shot a wedding last weekend. I want to thank Greg for asking me to shoot the wedding with him (hit the celltel if you need help again, it was great shooting with you!). Ana and David are very nice people and I wish them the very best. They enjoyed themselves tremendously and their guests did as well. The event certainly was a fun wedding to shoot...it sure was a hot day...if you were a photographer.

It took about 40 hrs of work to complete this wedding from beginning to end (shoot to the end of processing). There is no doubt that I had more fun shooting than processing, which is always the case for me. Click here to view slideshow.

Sure beats sitting in the car waiting for Katie Holmes!

Isn't she pretty?

Now what can possibly be going through Brooke's mind? She's actually playing on the computer. Playhouse Disney I think it was. Or could it be that she is a UCLA fan and just is a bit bitter about the thrashing they took from USC today? Nah can't be she has her sights set on attending USC (Daddy has gotten into her head). Here are more pictures of Brooke and her sister Skylar.