Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Wednesday Watch

Late-Night Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Microsoft Corp.(MSFT) said it will sell 10 million Xbox 360s before Sony Corp.(SNE) releases its PlayStation 3 in November.
- The Bush administration may stop short of branding China a currency manipulator, while criticizing the country’s export-driven economic policy in a report to Congress today.

Financial Times:
- China has abandoned plans to measure its economic output by taking into account its impact on the environment.

Xinhua News Agency:
- Ctrip.com(CTRP), China’s largest online travel service, has signed an agreement with Google Inc.(GOOG) to upgrade the travel service’s search capability for hotels.

China Securities Journal:
- China’s consumer prices are likely to rise at a slower pace in the second quarter on lower food prices.

Late Buy/Sell Recommendations
- None of note

Night Trading
Asian Indices are -.25% to +.25% on average.
S&P 500 indicated -.08%.
NASDAQ 100 indicated -.29%.

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
- (AIG)/1.36
- (RMK)/.29
- (FD)/.02
- (FWLT)/.37
- (IPG)/-.30
- (LM)/1.25
- (NKTR)/-.39
- (NWS/A)/.20
- (RRI)/-.33
- (STE)/.41

Upcoming Splits
- None of note

Economic Releases
10:30 am EST
- Bloomberg consensus estimates call for a weekly crude drawdown of 575,000 barrels. Gasoline supplies are expected to rise 1,000,000 barrels. Distillate inventories are estimated to fall 300,000 barrels. Finally, refinery utilization is estimated to rise .75%.

2:00 pm EST
- The monthly budget surplus for April is estimated to rise to $115.0B versus $57.7B in March.

2:15 pm EST
- The FOMC is expected to raise the benchmark Fed Funds rate 25 basis points to 5.0%.

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly lower, weighed down by exporting stocks in the region. I expect US equities to open mixed and to trade modestly lower into the afternoon. The Portfolio is 75% net long heading into the day.

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