Thursday Watch

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate
ASH/.18
CBRL/.66
JOSB/.24
NSM/.26
ZQK/.29
TTWO/-.30

Splits
None of note.

Economic Data
Import Price Index for August estimated to rise .6% versus a .2% rise in July.
Initial Jobless Claims for last week estimated at 345K versus 362K prior week.
Continuing Claims estimated at 2828K versus 2882K prior.
Wholesale Inventories for July estimated to increase .6% versus a 1.1% increase in June.

Recommendations
Goldman Sachs reiterated Outperform on INTC, CIT and FDC.

Late-Night News
Asian indices are mostly lower after a bomb near the Australian embassy in central Jakarta killed at least four people and injured 60. A human smuggling ring has been discovered in Detroit that allegedly brought more than 200 illegal Middle Eastern immigrants into the U.S., CNN reported. Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the world's fourth-richest man, is in talks to buy a stake in central London's Savoy Hotel, the London-based Times reported. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing will make chips for Intel that enable long-range wireless high-speed Internet surfing, DigiTimes reported. GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca may withdraw funds for research and development in the U.K. if the government fails to clamp down on animal rights protesters, the London-based Times reported. WPP Group Plc, the world's second-largest advertising and marketing company, offered more than $1.25 billion to buy Grey Global Group, the Wall Street Journal reported. Molson's public shareholders may not support the beer brewer's proposed merger with Adolph Coors, the Wall Street Journal reported. DaimlerChrysler AG will raise its stake in Beijing Jeep, a Chinese maker of sport-utility vehicles, to 50% next month, the Beijing News reported. Japan's GDP probably rose at an annual 3.4% pace in the three months ended June 30, double economists' estimates, because companies increased capital spending more than predicted to meet higher demand for semiconductors and digital cameras, Bloomberg reported. Volkswagen AG, Europe's biggest carmaker, may shed as many as 30,000 jobs, or about 17% of its German workforce, if it can't get labor unions to agree to a wage freeze and other concessions in talks that start on Sept. 15, the Wall Street Journal reported. Wal-Mart is among companies whose shares may decline as S&P changes the calculation method for the S&P 500 to include only shares available for trading, Bloomberg reported. A large explosion rocked the Australian Embassy in central Jakarta, killing at least four people and injuring at least 60, Indonesian police said.

Late-Night Trading
Asian Indices are -.50% to +.25 on average.
S&P 500 indicated -.13%.
NASDAQ 100 indicated -.04%

BOTTOM LINE: I expect U.S. equities to open modestly lower in the morning on terrorism fears. However, shares should rise later in the day on falling energy prices and a rebound in technology stocks. The Portfolio is 100% net long heading into tomorrow.