Thursday Watch

Late-Night Headlines
Bloomberg:
- China’s ambassador promised to toughen safety standards to prevent exports of contaminated food and drugs, US lawmakers said.
- Time Warner(TWX) fired Home Box Office Chairman and CEO Chris Albrecht over his arrest following a fight with his girlfriend in Las Vegas.
- South Korea’s central bank kept the benchmark interest rate unchanged for a ninth month as inflation remained in check and mortgage lending rose at the slowest pace in more than six years.
- Shares of Rio Tinto Group(RTP) fell 4.2% in Australia after the world’s third-largest mining company damped speculation of any takeover approach from BHP Billiton(BHP).
- China’s stocks, which accounted for half the trading in Asia yesterday, may face a “correction” as earnings can’t justify the rally that’s made them the world’s biggest gainers this year, according to Goldman Sachs. China’s CSI 300 Index, which tracks yuan-denominated A shares listed on the country’s two exchanges, is the world’s most expensive key stock index, at 42 times reported earnings.

Financial Times:
- Marathon Oil(MRO), the fourth largest US oil and gas company, has been warned by federal regulators that its refining unit could face legal action alleging manipulation of futures trading contracts. The action claims that a unit of the Houston-based Marathon tried to manipulate the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil.
- US television production costs are becoming “unsustainable” as media companies pay more for writers, actors and special effects, citing 20^th Century Fox Television President Gary Newman.
- The value of shares traded on China’s stock exchanges yesterday surpassed the total for the rest of Asia.
- Geron Corp.(GERN) will start clinical trials of its embryonic stem-cell therapy for spinal cord injury in early 2008, citing CEO Tom Okarma.
- The NYSE referred 45 potential cases of insider trading to the SEC between Jan. 1 and April 20 this year, compared with 111 filed in the whole of 2006.

Late Buy/Sell Recommendations
Citigroup:
- Reiterated Buy on (TOL), target $36.
- Reiterated Buy on (WW), target raised to $62.

Morgan Stanley:
- Reiterated Overweight on (PCLN), target $66.

Night Trading
Asian Indices are -.25% to +.50% on average.
S&P 500 indicated -.07%.
NASDAQ 100 indicated -.13%.

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
- (AIG)/1.55
- (CPKI)/.18
- (ED)/.80
- (DISH)/.44
- (GLBC)/-1.77
- (IRF)/.59
- (IPG)/-.16
- (KG)/.41
- (LAMR)/.00
- (MDTH)/.27
- (MGPI)/.31
- (MIR)/.35
- (NVDA)/.39
- (PCG)/.62
- (SLE)/.13
- (SUG)/.56
- (THQI)/.14
- (TBL)/.18
- (VIA/B)/.32
- (WEBM)/.00

Upcoming Splits
- (VIVO) 3-for-2
- (TCK) 2-for-1

Economic Releases
8:30 am EST
- The trade deficit for March is estimated to widen to -$60.0 billion versus -$58.4 billion in February.
- The Import Price Index for April is estimated to rise 1.0% versus a 1.7% gain in March.
- Initial Jobless Claims are estimated to rise to 315K versus 305K the prior week.
- Continuing Claims are estimated to rise to 2513K versus 2495K prior.

2:00 pm EST
- The monthly budget surplus for April is estimated at $145 billion versus $118.8 billion the prior month.

Other Potential Market Movers
- The ICSC Chain Store Sales, Fed’s Moskow speaking, Fed’s Kroszner speaking, (STM) analyst meeting, (IDTI) analyst meeting, weekly EIA natural gas inventory report, Merrill Lynch Global Industries Conference, CIBC Communications Conference, Goldman Sachs Power/Utility Conference, Robert Baird Growth Stock Conference, Bear Stearns Global Transportation Conference, Goldman Consumer Products Symposium, Piper Jaffray Semi/Communications Conference, AG Edwards Lodging/Leisure Symposium and Bank of America Basic/Industrials Conference could also impact trading today.

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly higher, boosted by technology stocks in the region. I expect US equities to open modestly lower and to rally into the afternoon, finishing mixed. The Portfolio is 100% net long heading into the day.