Thursday Watch

Late-Night Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Legg Mason(LM) fund manager Bill Miller acquired a 13% stake in convertible preferred stock issued by Thornburg Mortgage to finance its issuance of jumbo mortgages.
- TXU Corp.(TXU) completed its $32 billion sale to a group led by KKR and TPG Inc. in a record buyout, setting up a possible breakup of Texas’s largest electricity supplier.
- The House Judiciary Committee approved a four-year extension on a ban on taxing Internet services, rejecting efforts by cable and telephone companies to make the prohibition permanent.
- Billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway(BRK/A) cut its stake in PetroChina to 3.1% of the publicly held shares as of Sept. 30, from 5.44% five days earlier.
- Australia’s unemployment rate fell to a 33-year low as companies hired extra workers for a 11^th consecutive month in September, adding to signs the economy’s 16-year expansion may be gathering pace.
- Chrysler LLC agreed to spend $11 billion to finance a union-run health fund and will pay beginning employees lower wages under a new contract with the United Auto Workers.

Wall Street Journal:
- Nine Wall Street firms have agreed to pay $280 million for a minority stake in bond-trading firm TradeWeb LLC, a move that could help unify disjointed markets.

MarketWatch.com:
- VMware, Microsoft headed for virtualization war.
- ‘Cubes’ ETF may get a littler sibling.

IBD:
- Medical Equipment And Systems Firms Enjoy Healthy Runs.

CNBC.com:
- Google’s(GOOG) share price should hit $750, Cramer said Wednesday on Mad Money, maybe even higher.

Late Buy/Sell Recommendations
Citigroup:
- Reiterated Buy on (MON), target $95.
- Reiterated Buy on (KO), raised target to $67.

Night Trading
Asian Indices are +.25% to +1.0% on average.
S&P 500 futures +.09%.
NASDAQ 100 futures +.03%.

Morning Preview
US AM Market Call
NASDAQ 100 Pre-Market Indicator/Heat Map
Pre-market Commentary
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Before the Bell CNBC Video(bottom right)
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Commodity Movers
Top 25 Stories
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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
- (MTB)/1.94
- (PEP)/.96
- (SWY)/.44
- (SLM)/.73
- (FAST)/.42
- (IDT)/-.37
- (PLL)/.56
- (WINN)/-.14
- (WGO)/.40

Upcoming Splits
- None of note

Economic Releases
8:30 am EST
- The Trade Deficit for August is estimated to shrink to -$59.0 Billion versus -$59.2 Billion in July.
- The Import Price Index for September is estimated to rise 1.0% versus a -.3% decline in August.
- Initial Jobless Claims for last week are estimated to fall to 315K versus 317K the prior week.
- Continuing Claims are estimated to rise to 2550K versus 2541K prior.

12:00 pm EST
- The 2007 US Budget Deficit is estimated to shrink to -$162.5 Billion versus -$247.7 Billion in 2006.
- The Monthly Budget surplus for September is estimated to rise to $100.0 billion versus $56.2 billion in August.

Other Potential Market Movers
- The Fed’s Kroszner speaking, ICSC Chain Store Sales report, weekly EIA natural gas inventory report, (HRL) analyst meeting, (IHS) investor day, (MSCS) analyst meeting and Biotechnology Industry Organization Investor Forum could also impact trading today.

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