Thursday, March 02, 2006

Friday Watch

Late-Night Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Iran is ready to reach a compromise on its nuclear program when government officials meeting with European Union ministers in Vienna today, Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said.
- NetEase.com Inc.(NTES) founder William Ding plans to use $420 million to develop online games and for acquisitions, as competition rises and rules are debated to curb violent content and addiction.
- Japan’s consumer prices rose at the fastest pace since 1998 in January, supporting the central bank’s case to end a deflation-fighting policy as soon as next week.

Business Week:
- Boeing(BA) CEO McNerney is awarding employees financial bonuses for ethics-related achievements such as displaying integrity and avoiding abusive behavior.

China Securities Journal:
- China’s economy is showing signs of slowing and the likelihood of inflation accelerating this year is “very small,” the nation’s top planning agency wrote.

Financial Times:
- The European Union may plan to introduce a European-wide tax to finance its budget and a common corporate tax, citing an interview with EU Tax Commissioner Laszlo Kovacs.

Daily News:
- Iran and the UAE have offered to help Sri Lanka tap potential oil and gas reserves.

CNBC:
- John J. “Jack” Byrne, chairman of Overstock.com Inc.(OSTK) may step down.

China Daily:
- Hewlett-Packard’s(HPQ) sales of computers in China surged 44% from a year earlier in the fiscal quarter ending Jan. 31.

Late Buy/Sell Recommendations
Goldman Sachs:
- Reiterated Outperform on (CCU), (TAP) and (SBUX).
- Reiterated Underperform on (RAI) and (PSS).

Night Trading
Asian Indices are -1.0% to unch. on average.
S&P 500 indicated -.05%.
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
- (AGI)/.01
- (DDS)/.87
- (TEX)/.96
- (TKLC)/.19
- (SRA)/.92

Upcoming Splits
- (AAUK) 2-for-1

Economic Releases
9:45 am EST
- Final Univ. of Mich. Consumer Confidence for February is estimated to rise to 87.6 versus a prior estimate of 87.4.

10:00 am EST
- ISM Non-Manufacturing for February is estimated to rise to 58.0 versus a reading of 56.8 in January.

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly lower, led down by consumer goods shares in the region. I expect US equities to open mixed and to rise modestly into the afternoon. The Portfolio is 100% net long heading into the day.

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