Asian indices are mostly higher on gains in transportation and financial stocks in the region. As many as 25 European companies may be ready to leave the US stock exchanges due to the costs of complying with the Sarbanes-Oxley regulations, the London-based Times said. The Shanghai branch of China's central bank asked lenders to be more vigilant about loans after new mortgages increased by $12 billion in the city last year, the Oriental Morning Post reported. European subsidies for aircraft development must be ended to prevent conflict in the World Trade Organization, the Financial Times reported, citing Boeing Senior VP for Intl. Relations Pickering. Russia forgave Syria almost three quarters of its $9.8 billion debt as the former Soviet state seeks to revive its influence in the Middle East, Lebanon's Daily Star reported. Huawei Technologies, China's largest phone-equipment maker, won the contract to build a CDMA mobile network in Thailand, beating rivals Motorola and Ericsson, China Daily reported. GE, IBM and other companies are teaming up to sponsor a range of low-cost health insurance plans, the NY Times reported. Energy Transfer Partners LP, which owns more than 7,000 miles of natural-gas pipelines in the US, purchased pipelines and other assets in Texas formerly owned by Enron Corp. for about $1 billion, Bloomberg reported. A Saudi charity that has collected more than $100 million for Palestinians made payments to the relatives of suicide bombers through Arab Bank Plc, which has a branch on New York's Madison Avenue, according to a lawsuit. Copper prices may fall more than 7% in 2005 according to a recent Bloomberg survey of 22 analysts, the first annual drop in four years, as mining companies including Phelps Dodge boost production. SBC Communications is in discussions to acquire AT&T Corp. for more than $16 billion, the NY Times reported. US Fed officials will discuss next week whether they should set an explicit numerical target for inflation and, if so, what that should be, the Wall Street Journal said.
Late Recommendations
Goldman Sachs reiterated Outperform on AHC, MO, FSL, SBC, CVD, X and Underperform on MKL, RNWK.
Night Trading
Asian Indices are -.50% to +1.0% on average.
S&P 500 indicated -.01%.
NASDAQ 100 indicated unch.
Morning Preview
US AM Market Call
NASDAQ 100 Pre-Market Indicator/Heat Map
Pre-market Commentary
Before the Bell CNBC Video(bottom right)
Asian Indices
European Indices
Top 20 Business Stories
In Play
Bond Ticker
Analyst Actions
Macro Calls
CNBC Guest Schedule
Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate
AMGN/.61
ANDW/.09
APA/1.58
BAX/.56
BZH/4.36
BMY/.33
BRCM/.22
CAT/1.63
CL/.59
DOW/.71
EL/.57
GDT/.66
ITW/1.20
LMT/.74
MCK/.45
MSFT/.33
NE/.36
NVLS/.24
NUE/1.99
OSTK/.08
PD/3.53
PMCS/.01
RBK/.52
SNDK/.27
SEBL/.08
UPS/.76
VRTS/.25
VZ/.64
YELL/1.22
Splits
None of note.
Economic Data
-Durable Good Orders for December estimated to rise .7% versus a 1.4% increase in November.
-Durable Goods Less Transportation for December estimated to rise 1.3% versus a 1.4% fall in November.
-Initial Jobless Claims for last week are estimated to rise to 332K versus 319K the prior week.
-Continuing Claims are estimated to fall to 2683K versus 2694K prior.
-Help Wanted Index for December is estimated to rise to 37 versus 36 in November.
BOTTOM LINE: I expect US equities to open modestly higher in the morning on optimism over earnings reports, merger activity and good economic reports. The Portfolio is 100% net long heading into tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment