Wednesday Watch

Late-Night Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Goldman Sachs Group(GS) may buy Litton Loan Servicing LP, the Houston-based services of US subprime mortgages.
- Wind Energy Systems Technology was the top bidder in the first sale of leases for offshore wind facilities in Texas, the biggest producer of wind power among US states.
- Wheat plunged the most allowed by exchanges in Chicago and Kansas City on speculation farmers worldwide will plant more after grain prices surged to a record.
- ImClone Systems(IMCL) won US approval to market Erbitux, its only drug, as a medicine proven to help colon cancer patients live longer.
- Australia’s central bank kept its interest rate unchanged for a second month to provide time for policy makers to assess whether global financial-market turmoil will slow economic growth.
- Australia’s August retail sales increased at a faster pace than economists predicted as jobs growth, rising wages and lower gasoline prices stoked spending at restaurants and homewares stores.
- China will prevent foreign investors from taking control of domestic brokerages, a setback to Wall Street’s ambitions to tap the world’s fastest-growing stock market.

USA Today.com:
- So much for the credit crunch killing the merger boom.
- Mazada shows sexy sportscar, hydrogen hybrid.
- Viewership of music videos moved from TV to the Web at such a fast pace that few saw it coming.

Financial Times:
- The number of cases involving manipulation and false price reporting in commodity and commodity futures markets caught by US regulators has reached record levels in the past 12 months.

Canadian Press:
- Canada’s government may add a national security test required in takeovers of Canadian companies by foreign state-owned entities to block a deal by the United Arab Emirates.

Late Buy/Sell Recommendations
Citigroup:
- Reiterated Buy on (HUM), target $88.
- Reiterated Buy on (VAR), target $51.
- Reiterated Buy on (OMTR), raising estimates and boosting target to $37.

Night Trading
Asian Indices are unch. to +1.25% on average.
S&P 500 futures -.03%.
NASDAQ 100 futures -.08%.

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
- (RPM)/.55
- (WWW)/.52
- (BLUD)/.22
- (ARRO)/.42
- (GRB)/.10
- (IDT)/-.37

Upcoming Splits
- (PCAR) 3-for-2
- (RUSHA) 3-for-2

Economic Releases
10:00 am EST
- ISM Non-Manufacturing for September is estimated to fall to 54.6 versus 55.8 in August.

10:30 am EST:
- Bloomberg consensus estimates call for a weekly crude oil drawdown of -550,000 barrels versus a 1,842,000 barrel build the prior week. Gasoline supplies are estimated to rise by 550,000 barrels versus a 532,000 barrel build the prior week. Distillate inventories are expected to rise by 1,300,000 barrels versus a 1,533,000 barrel increase the prior week. Finally, refinery utilization is estimated to rise by .15% versus a -2.64% decline the prior week.

Other Potential Market Movers
- The Challenger Job Cuts report, ADP Employment Change report, (CBRL) analyst meeting, (NSM) analyst meeting, (RENT) analyst presentation, (MYL) analyst meeting, (APU) analyst meeting, (UGI) analyst meeting, (FUL) analyst meeting, (JBL) analyst meeting, (TOC) investor conference, weekly EIA energy inventory data report, weekly MBA Mortgage Applications report, CIBC Industrials Conference, Gabelli RFID Conference, Deutsche Bank Leveraged Finance Conference and William Blair Small-cap Growth Conference could also impact trading today.

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are higher, boosted by financial and 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.