Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Wednesday Watch

Late-Night Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Edward Lampert’s hedge fund group increased its stake in Citigroup Inc.(C) by more than 60%, purchasing almost 9.6 million shares during the second quarter.
- Berkshire Hathaway(BRK/A) bought stakes in Dow Jones(DJ) and Bank of America(BAC) and more than quadrupled its holdings of health insurers UnitedHealth Group(UNH) and WellPoint(WLP).
- China’s industrial production grew in July at the third-fastest pace of this year as exports soared and retail sales climbed. Output rose 18% from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said. That was less than the 18.5% median estimate of 18 economists surveyed by Bloomberg and slower than June’s 19.4% gain.
- Japan’s Finance Minister Koji Omi said the worst of the US housing-loan crisis may be over, thanks to the world’s largest central banks.

IBD:
- Mutual Funds Stand Strong Vs. Rivals.

Xinhua News Agency:
- China began a two-month campaign to crack down on phony journalists in an effort to “safeguard” the public interest and the credibility of news media.

Late Buy/Sell Recommendations
Citigroup:
- Rated (CPLA) Buy, target $60.

CSFB:
- Rated (LH) Overweight, target $89.

Night Trading

Asian Indices are -2.5% to -1.5% on average.
S&P 500 futures -.38%.
NASDAQ 100 futures -.20%

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
- (CAI)/.63
- (DAKT)/.14
- (DE)/1.99
- (LDG)/.62
- (M)/.26
- (NTAP)/.20
- (PETM)/.30
- (CRM)/.09
- (SLE)/.13

Upcoming Splits
- (SHEN) 3-for-1

Economic Releases
8:30 am EST

- The Consumer Price Index for July is estimated to rise .1% versus a .2% gain in June.
- The CPI Ex Food & Energy for July is estimated to rise .2% versus a .2% gain in June.
- The Empire Manufacturing Index for August is estimated to fall to 18.0 versus 26.5 in July.

9:00 am EST
- Net Long-term TIC Flows for June are estimated to fall to $62.8 billion versus $126.1 billion in May.

9:15 am EST
- Industrial Production for July is estimated to rise .3% versus a .5% gain in June.
- Capacity Utilization for July is estimated at 81.7% versus 81.7% in June.

10:30 am EST
- Bloomberg consensus estimates call for a weekly crude oil drawdown of -2,500,000 barrels versus a -4,136,000 barrel decline the prior week. Gasoline supplies are expected to fall by -750,000 barrels versus a -1,723,000 barrel drawdown the prior week. Distillate supplies are estimated to rise by 1,250,000 barrels versus a 974,000 barrel increase the prior week. Finally, Refinery Utilization is expected to rise by .5% versus a -2.37% decline the prior week.

1:00 pm EST
- The NAHB Housing Market Index for August is estimated to fall to 23 versus 24 in July.

Other Potential Market Movers
- The weekly MBA Mortgage Application report could also impact trading today.

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are sharply lower, weighed down by financial and commodity stocks in the region. I expect US equities to open modestly lower and to rally into the afternoon, finishing mixed. The Portfolio is 50% net long heading into the day.

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