Thursday, March 18, 2004

Thursday Watch

Earnings Announcements
Company/Estimate
COMS/-.13
ADBE/.40
BKS/1.65
BBA/.32
LSCC/-.01
MWD/.96
NKE/.73
OMX/.91
PAYX/.21
SLR/-.02
WSM/.84

Splits
None of note.

Economic Data
Producer Price Index estimated +.4% in January vs. +.3% in December.
PPI Ex Food & Energy +.1% in January vs. -.1% in December.
Leading Indicators estimated up .1% in February vs. +.5% in January.
Philadelphia Fed. estimated at 29.0 in March vs. 31.4 in February.

Recommendations
None of note.

Late-Night News
Asian stocks are mostly higher, led by the 3% gain in Taiwan's TWSE Index, on strength in semiconductor shares. Corning, the world's largest market of glass used in flat-panel computer and tv displays, said shortages of the material may last until next year because of stronger-than-expected demand. The U.S. House of Representatives approved a resolution asserting that the world is safer because the Iraq war toppled Saddam Hussein, Bloomberg reported. The U.S. will designate Pakistan a major ally outside the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Secretary of State Colin Powell said. Global supply chain problems caused by a shortage of new plants, pipelines and ships is contributing to keeping commodity prices high, the Wall Street Journal reported. Pfizer's cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor got a boost from a study showing that it's better at preventing heart attacks than Bristol-Myers Pravachol, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Late-Night Trading
Asian Indices +1.0% to 3.0%.
S&P 500 indicated +.04%.
NASDAQ indicated -.07%.

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio is 100% net long as I look for a continuation of the recent rally in the short-term on better-than-expected earnings reports. However, a much higher-than-expected PPI could lead to temporary weakness.

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