Friday Watch

Late-Night Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Electronic Arts(ERTS) agreed to buy Bioware Corp. and Pandemic Studios, makers of video games including “Baldur’s Gate,” for about $825 million to add action-adventure and role-playing titles.
- Samsung Electronics, Asia largest maker of semiconductors, flat screens and mobile phones, posted a surprise gain in profit after a shortage of liquid-crystal displays drove up prices.

Wall Street Journal:
- Economists’ Outlook Turns Rosy. Majority in Survey Say Fed’s Rate Cut on Target.

MarketWatch.com:
- General Electric(GE) infrastructure gets the limelight.

CNNMoney.com:
- Children’s Place Retail Stores(PLCE), the operator of the Disney Store clothing chain, is for sale.
- Berkshire may be done with PetroChina.

Business Week:
- Bear Stearns’(BSC) Bad Bet.

USA Today.com:
- Federal deficit hits lowest level in 5 years. The deficit is now 1.2% of GDP, less than the average of the last 40 years.

Financial Times:
- China is considering limiting the operations of steelmakers, petrochemical plants and other factories near Beijing for nearly two months next year in order to reduce air pollution during the Olympic Games, according to local media.
- Moody’s Investor Service may introduce new ratings to give guidance on the price performance of thinly traded securities at the end of the year, citing Ray McDaniel, the rating company’s chief executive.

Late Buy/Sell Recommendations
Citigroup:
- Reiterated Buy on (BBY), target $55.
- Reiterated Buy on (ERTS), target $75.
- Downgraded (NILE) to Sell, target $88.

Business Week:
- IncrediMail Ltd.(MAIL), a maker of software for personalizing e-mail, could see its stock gain 36% within a year, according to Matthew Weiss of Maxim Group.

Night Trading
Asian Indices are -1.25% to -.25% on average.
S&P 500 futures -.22%.
NASDAQ 100 futures -.29%.

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
- (GE)/.50

Upcoming Splits
- (JBX) 2-for-1
- (CTSH) 2-for-1

Economic Releases
8:30 am EST
- The Producer Price Index for September is estimated to rise .5% versus a 1.4% decline in August.
- The PPI Ex Food & Energy for September is estimated to rise .2% versus a .2% gain in August.
- Advance Retail Sales for September are estimated to rise .2% versus a .3% gain in August.
- Retail Sales Less Autos for September are estimated to rise .3% versus a .4% decline in August.

10:00 am EST
- Preliminary Univ. of Mich. Consumer Confidence for October is estimated to rise to 84.0 versus 83.4 in September.
- Business Inventories for August are estimated to rise .2% versus a .5% increase in July.

Other Potential Market Movers
- The Fed’s Bernanke speaking, Fed’s Fisher speaking, Fed’s Yellen speaking, Fed’s Kohn speaking and (HRL) analyst meeting could also impact trading today.

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