Bloomberg:
- JP Morgan Chase said the SEC's Midwest office may recommend filing suit against the company's Bank One Corp. unit and former employee.
- SBC Communications lost a request with US regulators to keep video and high-speed Internet services free from the same set of rules that apply to voice and other Web products sold by phone companies.
- Australia's central bank said inflation pressures have eased and March's interest-rate increase has damped consumer demand, signaling it may keep borrowing costs unchanged in coming months.
- Prime Minister Tony Blair led his Labour Party to victory in yesterday's election, television projections showed, putting him on course to become Britain's first Labour leader to win a third straight term.
- Crude oil prices are more likely to fall than rise as US inventories near a six-year high boost confidence that refiners will meet peak summer gasoline demand, a Bloomberg survey shows.
AP:
- UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said more than twice as many UN peacekeepers and staff members were accused of sexual abuse in 2004 than the year before.
Late Buy/Sell Recommendations
Goldman Sachs:
- Reiterated Outperform on MCK, TRI, INTC, BBG and HMA.
- Reiterated Underperform on PFG, ROIAK, MU, WGR, WTW and DRI.
Business Week:
- The shares of Cooper Cameron(CAM), the maker of oil and gas drilling equipment, will rise after trailing the industry's gains.
- The shares of Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates(VSEA) may rise 40% in the next year as earnings may increase on demand from chipmakers.
- Shares of American Greetings(AM) are worth buying because the company has a strong cash flow and it may buy back as much as 11% of its stock in the next year.
Night Trading
Asian Indices are +.25% to +1.25% on average.
S&P 500 indicated +.12%.
NASDAQ 100 indicated -.03%.
Morning Preview
US AM Market Call
NASDAQ 100 Pre-Market Indicator/Heat Map
Pre-market Commentary
Before the Bell CNBC Video(bottom right)
Global Commentary
Asian Indices
European Indices
Top 20 Business Stories
In Play
Bond Ticker
Daily Stock Events
Macro Calls
Rasmussen Consumer/Investor Daily Indices
CNBC Guest Schedule
Earnings of Note
Company/EPS Estimate
BRK/A/910.00
MLS/.22
OATS/-.05
Splits
None of note
Economic Releases
8:30 EST:
- The unemployment rate for April is estimated at 5.2% versus a 5.2% rate in March.
- Average Hourly Earnings for April are estimated to rise .2% versus a .3% gain in March.
- The Change in Non-farm Payrolls for April is estimated to rise to 174K versus 110K in March.
- The Change in Manufacturing Payrolls for April is estimated to rise to -5K versus -8K in March.
3:00 EST:
- Consumer Credit for March is estimated to rise to $6.4B versus $5.6B in February.
BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are higher, spurred by gains in exporting shares in the region. I expect US equities to open modestly higher on a positive reaction to tomorrow's employment report. While I don't have a good feel for whether or not non-farm payrolls will meet expectations, I do believe that only a much lower-than-expected number of below 100,000 would hurt stocks. Under this scenario, which is very unlikely, fears of a US hard landing would resurface. The Portfolio is 100% net long heading into tomorrow.
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