Friday, November 19, 2004

Friday Watch

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate
DWSN/.38
CHP/.10
SJM/.74

Splits
SSD 2-for-1

Economic Data
None of note.

Recommendations
Goldman Sachs reiterated Outperform on FSH, SYMC, DNA, NKE and Underperform on DDS, UNM. TheStreet.com(TSCM) shares may rise after Dow Jones agreed to buy MarketWatch.com, Business Week reported.

Late-Night News
Asian indices are mostly lower, led down by South Korea. OMI Corp., a NY-listed oil tanker owner, said it won't bid a second time for competitor Stelmar Shipping, TradeWinds reported. Short sellers of Kmart Holding and Sears Roebuck stock helped boost the companies' share prices yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported. Allegations of anti-competitive practices against some individuals in the U.S. should not be applied to the whole of the insurance market, the Financial Times said. Texas Instruments and rival Qualcomm said they aim to make their first chips in China, the world's biggest handset market, as early as next year, Bloomberg reported. Citigroup invested $6.8 million for Yasser Arafat, Palestinian Authority documents show. At the same time, the late Palestinian leader was paying militants and channeling Authority funds into his personal accounts, Bloomberg reported. European drug stocks may fall after a U.S. health official said AstraZeneca Plc's Crestor cholesterol reducer and GlaxoSmithKline Plc's Serevent asthma drug need close safety reviews, Bloomberg said. Crude oil futures may extend four weeks of declines, a Bloomberg survey shows, after producer and consumer groups cut estimates for global demand and inventories rose in the U.S., Bloomberg reported. U.S. companies such as FedEx Corp. and NY Life Insurance are pleading with President Bush to start discussions on a Pacific Rim free-trade bloc as he heads to this weekend's regional economic summit, Bloomberg said.

Late-Night Trading
Asian Indices are -.50% to unch. on average.
S&P 500 indicated -.11%.
NASDAQ 100 indicated -.19%

BOTTOM LINE: I expect U.S. equities to open modestly higher and trade mixed into the afternoon. The market will likely end the week relatively flat, however I expects U.S. stocks to begin moving higher again next week. The Portfolio is 100% net long heading into tomorrow.

No comments: