Thursday, October 13, 2005

Thursday Watch

Late-Night Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Honda Motor’s Insight and Toyota Motor’s Prius, the first two gasoline-electric cars, again led a US government list of the most fuel-efficient 2006 vehicles, ahead of Volkswagen AG diesel cars.
- Taiwan Vice Premier Wu Rong-I said he won’t see reunification with China in his lifetime, unless China uses force, a situation he said is unlikely.

Wall Street Journal:
- A unit of Citigroup plans to introduce a credit card next week that will have no late fees for customers who use the card at least once a month.

AP:
- Senator Kennedy, Democrat from Massachusetts, said he would support Senator John Kerry over Senator Hillary Clinton if both seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008.
- AMR’s American Eagle said rising jet fuel costs forced the carrier to scrap 558 flights this month.

Financial Times:
- Companies are paying the biggest proportion of taxes in industrialized countries since the 1960s.
- The European Union’s high level of unemployment is proof that Europe’s “old” economic system “is not working,” citing UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown.

Late Buy/Sell Recommendations
Goldman Sachs:
- Reiterated Outperform on ALL and MWV.

Night Trading
Asian Indices are -1.25% to -.25% on average.
S&P 500 indicated +.16%.
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)
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
FCS/-.01
PII/1.11
PGR/1.59
TRB/.48

Upcoming Splits
- None of note

Economic Releases
8:30 am EST
- The Trade Deficit for August is estimated to widen to -$59.5B versus -$57.9B in July.
- The Import Price Index for September is estimated to rise 1.0% versus a 1.3% increase in August.
- Initial Jobless Claims are estimated to fall to 360K versus 390K the prior week.
- Continuing Claims are estimated to rise to 2947K versus 2905K prior.

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are lower, spurred by losses in commodity producing companies in the region. I expect US equities to open mixed and to rally modestly later in the day. The Portfolio is 25% net long heading into the day.

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