Company/Estimate
AA/.41
DNA/.22
Splits
LSTR 2-for-1
MTH 2-for-1
Economic Data
Wholesale Inventories for November estimated up .7% versus a 1.1% rise in October.
Weekend Recommendations
Wall Street Week w/Fortune had guests that were positive on WFMI and DF. Bulls and Bears had guests that were positive on C, PKX, CX, TWX, GS, FITB, mixed on NKE, TTF, DE and negative on PFE. Forbes on Fox had guests that were positive on JWN, WMT, DG, EL, COST and WAG. Cashin' In had guests that were positive on KO, UTSI and mixed on SIRI. Barron's had positive comments on DBD and BLK. Goldman Sachs reiterated Outperform on INTC, WLP and MUR. Goldman reiterated Underperform on DE. Business Week had a negative article on the New York Times(NYT).
Weekend News
JetBlue Airways, a low-fare carrier, may offer shuttle flights between Boston and New York, challenging Delta Air Lines and US Airways Group, the Boston Globe reported. Molson Inc. and Adolph Coors executives are planning last-minute meetings with investors next week to muster votes for the companies' proposed merger, the Globe and Mail reported. Procter & Gamble, Estee Lauder and Unilever are turning to new technology to enable their skin care products to get around the body's resistance to chemicals and foreign objects, the NY Times reported. Barclays Plc and Wells Fargo held merger talks in October and November and may resume them after a break for Christmas, Reuters said. Nissan Motor of Japan will start making gasoline-electric hybrid sedans in the US next year, the Wall Street Journal reported. The BBC's share of the UK's television audience fell 4.5% in 2004 to its lowest level in years, the Observer reported. Mittal Steel, set to become the world's largest steel maker, may buy steel mills in Turkey, India, the Czech Republic, Poland and China, South Africa's Business Times reported. Virgin Group Ltd. may make as much as $1 billion through the sale of shares in its US mobile-phone unit Virgin Mobile USA, the Sunday Telegraph said. A stock exchange for trading shares in companies of six Arab states will open in the second quarter near Cairo, said Egypt's Business Monthly. Microsoft Chairman Gates will visit Egypt on Jan. 29 to study the participation of his company in a project to offer government services on line, Al-Ahram reported. The UK will announce that it is sending 650 more troops to Iraq to provide extra security before elections scheduled for Jan. 30, the Sunday Telegraph reported. The UK government has contacted US companies Bechtel Group and Lockheed Martin about buying British Nuclear Group, the Independent reported. UN internal reviews of the program to use Iraqi oil revenue to buy food and medicine found a former aide to Secretary General Kofi Annan didn't monitor closely enough the companies hired to inspect the oil leaving and the goods going into the country, the NY Times reported. Hines Interests LP plans to build a 50-story office tower in downtown Chicago, a move that may contribute to increasing office vacancies in the city, the Chicago Tribune reported. US IPOs last year almost equaled the previous three years combined, the NY Times reported. Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Mahmoud Abbas won 66% of the vote in today's presidential election, the AP reported. Blackstone Group LP's Columbia House unit, the biggest US distributor of home videos, will start an adult-video club at the end of this month to increase sales in the adult-video industry that has $5 billion in annual sales, the NY Post reported. Teco Electric & Machinery forecast prices for liquid-crystal display televisions will fall about 28% this year, the Commercial Times reported. High oil prices were of a temporary nature and the market's insecurity is now over, the London-based Times said, citing an interview with BP Plc CEO Browne. Marsh & McLennan may be near to agreeing a $1 billion settlement with US regulators in connection with charges that it defrauded clients, the Independent said. News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch is expected to say today that he will buy out shareholders of his Fox properties for about $7 billion, the NY Times reported. United Airlines reached a tentative agreement with its flight attendants' union yesterday that keeps the employee pension plan intact, Bloomberg said. Toyota, Nissan and Honda are aiming to sell more pick-up trucks, sport-utility vehicles and so-called crossovers in the US this year to increase share, Bloomberg reported. Eastman Kodak's new EasyShare-One camera, the first that can send photos without a computer, will appeal to a small number of consumers at first because of its $800 price, Bloomberg said. China's economy will probably expand this year at its slowest pace since 2001 as the government curbs lending and raises interest rates to cool industrial expansion, Bloomberg reported. Ford Motor plans to expand its fleet of gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles as part of CEO Ford's renewed efforts to make cleaner vehicles, Bloomberg said. The price paid for ships to be scrapped and turned into recycled steel rose to a record in Bangladesh last week on expectations reconstruction following the Dec. 26 Tsunami may boost steel demand, Bloomberg said.
Late-Night Trading
Asian indices are high, +.25% to +.50% on average.
S&P 500 indicated +.14%.
NASDAQ 100 indicated +.16%
BOTTOM LINE: I expect U.S. stocks to open modestly higher in the morning on a bounce after last week's sell-off. The Portfolio is 50% net long heading into the week.
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