Thursday Watch

Late-Night Headlines
Bloomberg:
- North Korea will start shutting down its nuclear facilities from “early next week,” the head of the UN atomic agency said today.
- Lady Bird Johnson, widow of former President Lyndon Baines Johnson, has passed away at the age of 94.
- Copper prices fell for a third day in Asia on concern that China may be oversupplied.
- Michael Darda, chief economist at MKM Partners LP, sees demand “bottoming” in the US housing market.
- Yunnan Copper Industry, China’s third-largest producer of the metal, said it started output at a smelter in the northern city of Chifeng in Inner Mongolia with capacity of 100,000 tons a year.
- Shares of Western Mining Co., China’s second-largest maker of lead concentrate, more than doubled on their Shanghai debut after investors ordered more than 200 times the stock offered.
- South Korea’s central bank raised its benchmark interest rate for the first time in a year on concern record lending to small companies may spur inflation.
- Australia’s unemployment rate rose in June as employers added fewer jobs than economists expected after some of the nation’s largest companies fired workers to pare rising wage costs.

Wall Street Journal:
- News Corp.(NWS/A) Chairman Rupert Murdoch may be growing frustrated with negotiations to buy Dow Jones(DJ) because the company’s controlling shareholders “keep changing their minds.”
- Hewlett-Packard(HPQ) has developed a system for cosmetic companies to match people’s skin tones to make-up.

Chicago Tribune:
- Al Qaeda’s deputy leader threatened a jittery Britain on Tuesday with more attacks, accusing London of defying the Islamic world by honoring novelist Salman Rushdie.

USA Today:
- A man thought to be al-Qaeda’s second in command called for revenge after Pakistani troops cleared militants from Islamabad’s Red Mosque, citing an Internet video. “Your salvation is only through jihad,” or holy war, a voice said to be that of Ayman al-Zawahiri said on the tape.

Financial Times:
- The London Stock Exchange is preparing to introduce a market for private equity, property and hedge funds. To be called the Specialist Fund Market, the exchange will be announced today.
- President Bush on Wednesday predicted that the US budget deficit would drop to less than half its 2004 peak by the end of the current fiscal year but warned Democrats against loosening constraints on federal spending.

Late Buy/Sell Recommendations
Citigroup:
- Reiterated Buy on (SNDK). NAND’s unfolding inflection(the most powerful in semis and more robust than we expected three months ago) argues for more aggressive estimates and share appreciation expectations. We increase our (SNDK) target to $62 from $52 for 20% upside and see catalysts including: 1) positive street 2H07/2008 revisions, 2) bullish 2H07 contract pricing, 3) new product activity (Apple, others), and 4) 3Q share price seasonality (averages +13% monthly from July through Sept., suggesting upside to $65-$70.
- Reiterated Buy on (WWW), target $33.
- Reiterated Buy on (MU), target $17.

Night Trading
Asian Indices are +.50% to +1.25% on average.
S&P 500 indicated +.20%.
NASDAQ 100 indicated +.06%.

Morning Preview
US AM Market Call
NASDAQ 100 Pre-Market Indicator/Heat Map
Pre-market Commentary
Pre-market Stock Quote/Chart
Before the Bell CNBC Video(bottom right)
Global Commentary
WSJ Intl Markets Performance
Commodity Movers
Top 25 Stories
Top 20 Business Stories
Today in IBD
In Play
Bond Ticker
Economic Preview/Calendar
Daily Stock Events
Macro Calls
Upgrades/Downgrades
Rasmussen Business/Economy Polling
CNBC Guest Schedule

Earnings of Note
Company/EPS Estimate
- (CBSH)/.76
- (ESIO)/.23
- (FAST)/.39
- (FLE)/-.31
- (MAR)/.53
- (PGR)/.45
- (TXI)/1.05

Upcoming Splits
- (TPL) 5-for-1

Economic Releases
8:30 am EST
- The Trade Deficit for May is estimated to widen to -$60.0B versus -$58.5B in April.
- Initial Jobless Claims for last week are estimated to fall to 315K versus 318K the prior week.
- Continuing Claims are estimated to fall to 2500K versus 2569K prior.

2:00 pm EST
- The Monthly Budget Surplus for June is estimated to rise to $27.7B versus $20.5B in May.

Other Potential Market Movers
- The Fed’s Yellen speaking, Fed’s Kroszner speaking, ICSC June Chain Store Sales, (MU) Analyst Conference, weekly EIA natural gas inventory data, Pacific Growth Equities Cardiology Conference, BMO Capital Markets Media/Comm./Tech Conference, CE Unterberg Towbin Emerging Growth Conference and CIBC Consumer Growth Conference could also impact trading today.

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