Thursday Watch

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate
AGE/.55
FINL/.87
PSRC/-.02
SCS/.01

Splits
HUG 2-for-1

Economic Data
Initial Jobless Claims for last week are estimated at 335K versus 333K the prior week.
Continuing Claims are estimated at 2880K versus 2882K prior.
Leading Indicators for Aug. estimated -.2% versus -.3% in July.
Minutes of Aug. 10 FOMC Meeting.

Recommendations
Goldman reiterated Underperform on EK.

Late-Night News
Asian indices are lower following weakness in the U.S. over rising energy prices. IBM Japan and Cisco Systems are jointly developing and marketing a product to protect corporate networks from damage when virus-infected computers are linked to the system, the Nihon Keizai newspaper reported. Singapore's Straits Times Index may reach 2,300 in the next 12 months, boosted by companies moving to combine their businesses, the Straits Times said. China's consumer-price inflation will ease for the rest of the year as improving harvests reduce pressure on food costs to rise, Wen Wei Po reported. Australian police are investigating a potentially explosive device that was found in the cargo hold of a Virgin Blue Holdings plane at Sydney airport, Bloomberg said. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing said its factory use will decline from its peak of 106% in the last quarter because customers are cutting inventory, Bloomberg said. China will attend talks of the G7 industrialized countries for the first time next week, reflecting the emerging importance of the world's biggest developing nation to the global economy, Bloomberg reported. Crude oil futures are falling tonight, snapping an 11% gain in the past week, as concern eased that disruptions at Russia's biggest oil exporter and hurricane damage in the Gulf will further cut supply, Bloomberg said. Donald Trump's Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts said it has ended talks with a CSFB investment unit, which had planned to invest $400 million in Trump Hotels and become the majority shareholder, Bloomberg reported. Fannie Mae CFO Howard is to blame for violating accounting rules that have potentially large financial consequences, said federal regulators. Lehman Brothers agreed to pay $222.5 million to resolve a suit filed by investors over the bank's role as underwrite for Enron, the bankrupt energy trader, Bloomberg reported. U.S. automakers are boosting advertising for passenger cars in an effort to regain market share from Japanese competitors such as Toyota Motor and Honda Motor, the Washington Post reported.

Late-Night Trading
Asian Indices are -.75% to -.25% on average.
S&P 500 indicated +.10%.
NASDAQ 100 indicated +.07%

BOTTOM LINE: I expect U.S. equities to open modestly higher in the morning on stabilizing energy prices and better economic reports. However, shares may come under pressure later in the day on a continuation of today's sell-off. The Portfolio is market neutral heading into tomorrow.