Monday, February 12, 2007

Tuesday Watch

Late-Night Headlines
Bloomberg:
- 3M(MMM) will buy back up to $7 billion of its shares over the next two years.
- Japan’s producer prices rose at the slowest pace in more than a year in January as oil costs fell, easing pressure on companies to pass expenses on to consumers.
- Goldman Sachs(GS) and Kelso & Co. plan to sell up to $300 million of shares in CVR Energy, a Kansas oil refiner.
- Scientists, aiming to spur the search for new therapies for diabetes, finished a map of differences in human genes related to the most common form of the disease.
- Copper futures in Shanghai fell as global inventories of the metal remain near their highest since June 2004, fueling concern that supplies are still outpacing demand.
- A Palestinian unity government formed by the Hamas and Fatah organizations must recognize Israel and commit itself to non-violence, said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Wall Street Journal:
- Liberty Media Corp. is close to buying the Atlanta Braves baseball team from Time Warner(TWX).

Financial Times:
- Investors such as KBC Alpha Asset Management are shunning China-focused hedge funds over concerns they may be engaged in unlicensed trading in the country. KBC and Tokyo-based Sparx Asset Management have decided not to invest in several top-performing “Greater China” funds based on their in-house analysis and external legal advice.

London-based Times:
- BHP Billiton Ltd.(BHP) and Rio Tinto Plc(RTP) have each drawn up plans for a $40 billion takeover of Alcoa Inc.(AA), the world’s largest aluminum producer.

Late Buy/Sell Recommendations
Citigroup:
- Reiterated Buy on (QCOM), target $55.
- Upgraded (SPH) to Buy, raised target to $45.50.

Night Trading
Asian Indices are -.25% to +.25% on average.
S&P 500 indicated +.06%.
NASDAQ 100 indicated +.07%.

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
Conference Calendar
Daily Stock Events
Macro Calls
Rasmussen Consumer/Investor Daily Indices
CNBC Guest Schedule

Earnings of Note
Company/EPS Estimate
- (ACS)/.79
- (MDRX)/.13
- (ALTR)/.24
- (AMAT)/.28
- (CEN)/.33
- (CCE)/.16
- (EXPD)/.31
- (IVGN)/.74
- (KBH)/-1.01
- (MRD)/.58
- (MMC)/.36
- (MET)/1.18
- (NDAQ)/.25
- (NVDA)/.41
- (OMC)/1.61
- (WYN)/.41
- (XTO)/1.12

Upcoming Splits
- None of note

Economic Releases
8:30 am EST
- The Trade Deficit for December is estimated to widen to -$59.7 billion versus -$58.2 billion in November.

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly higher, boosted by financial shares in the region. I expect US equities to open modestly higher and to weaken into the afternoon, finishing modestly mixed. The Portfolio is 75% net long heading into the day.

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