Tuesday Watch

Late-Night Headlines
Bloomberg:
- US Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd will introduce a plan tomorrow to overhaul mortgage-lending practices.
- North Korea and South Korea begin a regular freight train service across their fortified border today, expanding economic cooperation and paving the way for a rail link with the rest of Asia.
- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has suffered one political body blow after another: a rebuke for bungling the Lebanon war, multiple corruption probes and tepid Cabinet support for peace talks he has agreed to restart tomorrow. And he’s politically stronger than he has been in months.
- Credit-Based Asset Servicing and Securitization LLC, a subprime mortgage investor written off by its owners, completed the sale of its Litton Loan Servicing business and named Goldman Sachs Group(GS) as the buyer.
- The yen declined to a one-month low versus the dollar and the euro on speculation the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates today, encouraging investors to buy higher-yielding assets funded by loans in Japan.
- China’s inflation accelerated to the fastest pace in almost 11 years, supporting US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s case that a stronger yuan is needed to help cool the economy. Consumer prices rose 6.9% in November from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

NY Times:
- For a Few Dollars More, Dining Improves on Longer Flights.
- European Automakers Likely to Build Plants in United States.

BusinessWeek.com:
- Apple(AAPL) Forecasts: Not Just Hype.
- Asia’s wireless operators are looking to the US market. Their experience in mobile data services could pay off stateside.

CNNMoney.com:
- Top 10 Blue Ribbon Companies.

IBD:
- AT&T(T) Enlists Cisco(CSCO) to Bolster Network Amid Traffic Boom.

USA Today.com:
- Fuel-efficiency gauges start appearing in non-hybrids.

Reuters:
- Activist hedge fund manager David Einhorn, well known fro his short bets on firms such as MBIA Inc.(MBI) and Allied Capital(ALD), said on Monday he is finding plenty of opportunities in the current market to take long positions.

Financial Times:
- Citigroup(C) has slashed the size of its struggling off-balance-sheet investment funds by more than $15 billion in two months through quiet side deals with some junior investors.
- The Federal Reserve is likely to cut interest rate by 25 basis points at its policy meeting on Tuesday and indicate its willingness to consider further rate cuts in the future by citing low growth as the main risk to the US economy, most analysts believe.

Business Standard:
- Global drug major Pfizer’s new HIV/AIDS drug Celzentry has become the first known HIV/AIDS treatment drug to get a patent in India, in a significant development against the backdrop of the patent battle between multinational drug companies and patient groups in India.

Late Buy/Sell Recommendations
- None of note

Night Trading
Asian Indices are unch. to +.50% on average.
S&P 500 futures +.12%.
NASDAQ 100 futures +.27%.

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
- (MGAM)/.01
- (KR)/.35
- (COO)/.68
- (ABM)/.32

Upcoming Splits
- (XTO) 5-for-4
- (DNR) 2-for-1

Economic Releases
10:00 am EST
- Wholesale Inventories for October are estimated to rise .5% versus a .8% gain in September.

2:15 pm EST
- The FOMC is expected to lower the benchmark fed funds rate 25 basis points to 4.25%.

Other Potential Market Movers
- The weekly retail sales reports, IDB/TIPP Economic Optimism Index, (ARM) analyst meeting, (HPQ) analyst meeting, (T) investor day, (VVC) analyst breakfast, (GNW) strategic update, (MRK) business briefing, (GMR) analyst meeting, (WLP) investor conference, (A) analyst meeting, (GNK) analyst meeting, (VRGY) analyst meeting, (ALTR) analyst meeting, (GE) outlook meeting, Goldman Sachs Financial Services Conference, CIBC Virtualization Conference and Wedbush Morgan California Dreamin’ Conference could also impact trading today.

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