Asian indices are higher, led by commodity producers in the region. New China Life Insurance Co. Ltd., China Reinsurance Co. Ltd. and two other insurers started buying domestic stocks yesterday, China Securities Journal reported. Wal-Mart Stores is among retailers asking US Congress to lengthen the legal workday for truckers to 16 hours from 14 hours, the AP reported. China's corporate pension funds may start buying stocks from markets as early as June, the Securities Times reported. Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. said it may buy billions of dollars of chip-making equipment from a partnership of Japanese companies and the nation's government, the Financial Times reported. Leading US companies say they will cut their workforce in Germany and withdraw production there due to high regulatory costs and a rigid labor market, the Financial Times said. Australia's dollar rose to a one-year high after prices of commodities the country sells abroad such as gold and copper surged, improving economic growth prospects, Bloomberg reported. IBM will provide hardware and software to run Warner Bros. Online's game based on "The Matrix" movies, Bloomberg reported. Time Warner unit AOL will begin offering Internet telephone service, according to Level 3 Communication, which signed an agreement with AOL to provide Voice over Internet Protocol technology, Bloomberg said.
Late Recommendations
- Goldman Sachs: Reiterated Outperform on SAP.
- Morgan Stanley: Said the Taiwan dollar is overvalued after it broke NT$31 against the US dollar.
Night Trading
Asian Indices are unch. to +.50% on average.
S&P 500 indicated +.01%.
NASDAQ 100 indicated +.10%.
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
Rasmussen Consumer/Investor Daily Indices
CNBC Guest Schedule
Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate
AMT/-.17
ADRX/.12
BBI/.04
CWTR/.25
COO/.54
IPG/.22
MATK/.23
KWK/.24
TLB/.29
Splits
None of note
Economic Data
Fed's Beige Book
BOTTOM LINE: I expect US equities to open modestly lower in the morning on continuing worries over high energy prices. The Bloomberg Crude Oil % Bulls Reading actually fell last week to 47.46% from 51.85%. The % Bulls was 73.33% right before oil peaked last October. This fact, along with strong technicals and fundamentals leads me to believe oil is headed higher in the near-term. However, I continue to think most commodities, including crude, will begin heading lower sometime during the next 2 quarters. This should provide a big boost to stocks in the second half of the year. The Portfolio is 100% net long heading into tomorrow.
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