Thursday, January 20, 2005

Thursday Watch

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate
T/.58
BJS/.54
BEBE/.40
CKFR/.31
C/1.01
DAL/-5.51
DHI/.93
ELX/.19
F/.27
HDI/.69
KLAC/.59
LRCX/.53
IGT/.33
KRB/.58
SFA/.37
PGR/1.66
STI/1.27
UNH/1.08
XLNX/.18

Splits
None of note.

Economic Data
Leading Indicators for December estimated up .2% versus a .2% increase in November.
Philadelphia Fed. for January estimated at 25.0 versus 25.4 in December.

Recommendations
Goldman Sachs reiterated Outperform on PFE, A and Underperform on HRB. Citi SmithBarney cut NOK to Sell.

Late-Night News
Asian indices are lower on declines in technology stocks in the region. The US lowered Taiwan's status on its watch list of countries that aren't adequately protecting intellectual property rights, the Taiwan News reported. China's government will begin relaxing controls on fees charged by China Telecom, China Mobile Communications and other telecom service providers this year, as part of efforts to reform the industry, the China Daily said. MCI Inc. plans to acquire closely held NetSec Inc., a network security company, for more than $100 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. Ukraine's Supreme Court rejected a final appeal against the result of last month's presidential election, confirming Viktor Yushchenko as the winner, Agence France-Presse reported. The US dollar is trading near a two-month high against the euro in Asia after French Finance Minister Herve Gaymard said the US currency's drop "must not continue," Bloomberg reported. Pfizer is nearing an agreement to buy closely held eye-treatment maker Angiosyn for about $527 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. After more than three years pruning insurance and other businesses GE acquired under Jack Welch and making $60 billion of acquisitions in such faster-growing businesses as health care, security and consumer finance, CEO Immelt aims to boost sales from existing operations, Bloomberg reported. A coalition representing companies including Boeing, Pfizer and Fidelity Investments will spend "significantly more" than $5 million to promote President Bush's plan for Social Security. The companies, concerned the government will otherwise raise the 12.4% payroll tax to plug a funding gap, plan a campaign of direct mail and tv ads across the nation to back Bush's proposal, Bloomberg reported.

Late-Night Trading
Asian Indices are -1.0%. to -.50% on average.
S&P 500 indicated -.34%.
NASDAQ 100 indicated -.65%.

BOTTOM LINE: I expect US equities to open lower in the morning on declines in technology shares, worries over slowing global growth and weakness in Asia. Stocks may recoup some of their losses later in the day on declining energy prices, falling interest rates and short-covering. The Portfolio is 25% net long heading into tomorrow.

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