Thursday Watch

Late-Night Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil producer, plans to start its first sovereign wealth fund with about $6 billion, channeling surplus crude-oil revenue into investments in foreign companies.
- Newcrest Mining Ltd., Australia’s largest gold mining company, said second-quarter output of the precious metal from its mines in Australia and Indonesia rose 19%.
- The yen fell against 14 of the 16 most-active currencies after Asian stocks rose, making investors more confident to hold higher-yielding currencies funded in Japan.
- Qualcomm Inc.(QCOM), the second-biggest maker of chips that run mobile phones, said first-quarter profit rose 18% and boosted its revenue forecast for 2008, sending the shares up as much as 6.5% in after-hours trading.
- Western Digital(WDC), the second-largest maker of computer hard-disk drives, said second-quarter profit more than doubled as orders increased for notebooks and electronics. The shares rose 6.9% in late trading.
- Symantec Corp.(SYMC), the world’s biggest maker of security software, reported earnings and gave a forecast that beat analysts’ estimates, sending the shares up 9.3% in extended trading.
- F5 Networks announced revenue grew 28% from the first quarter of last year and authorized a $200 million share repurchase program. The shares soared 19% in after-hours trading.
- EBay Inc.(EBAY) fell 4.7% in US trading after it forecast 2008 sales and profit that missed some analysts’ estimates and said john Donahoe will succeed Meg Whitman as CEO.

MarketWatch.com:
- Homeowners facing resets on their adjustable-rate mortgages or hoping to refinance into less-burdensome loans may be the biggest beneficiaries of the Federal Reserve’s surprise rate cut this week as mortgages continue to get cheaper. Consider what's happened since September's rate cut for creditworthy Schwab borrowers. A 5-1 adjustable rate mortgage of $350,000 carried a 6.52% interest rate, assuming a 20% down payment, on Oct. 7. The rate this week for that same loan was 5.04%. That translates into an annual mortgage payment that's $5,100 cheaper.
- “Refinance applications are up 92% since the beginning of November and purchase applications are up 7%,” said Jay Brinkmann, the MBA’s vp of research and economics. Interest rate on 15-year fixed-rate mortgage falls below 5%.

CNBC:
- Bond Insurers Soar on Report of Possible Bailout.
- Congressional Budget Office Doesn’t Foresee Recession.

BusinessWeek.com:
- Are Investors Unfairly Sour on Apple?

USA Today.com:
- Jobs, iPhone have Skyhook pointed in right dirction.

Reuters:
- Managers confront baffling array of hedge funds.
- Prominent hedge funds nurse heavy losses in 2008.

Late Buy/Sell Recommendations
Citigroup:
- Upgraded (CNH) to Buy, target $55.
- Maintain Buy on (UTX), target $86.
- Maintain Buy on (VAR), target $61.
- Maintain Buy on (GILD), target $56.
- Maintain Buy on (SPX), target $115.

Oppenheimer:
- Rated (SCOR) Outperform, target $35.
- Rated (OMTR) Outperform, target $34.

CSFB:
- Reiterated Outperform on (GILD), target $54.
- Reiterated Outperform on (UTX), target $84.

Night Trading
Asian Indices are +.75% to +2.0% on average.
S&P 500 futures +.10%.
NASDAQ 100 futures +.25%.

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
- (NOC)/1.31
- (ED)/.59
- (LEN)/-2.05
- (BDX)/1.02
- (CPS)/.41
- (KMB)/1.11
- (BTU)/.79
- (NUE)/1.21
- (BAX)/.74
- (HSY)/.55
- (ABC)/.62
- (DLX)/.78
- (LMT)/1.70
- (F)/-.24
- (T)/.71
- (BEN)/1.90
- (KLAC)/.71
- (BRCM)/.31
- (MCHP)/.37
- (WFR)/.96
- (AMGN)/.97
- (JNPR)/.24
- (JAVA)/.31
- (MSFT)/.46
- (SY)/.56
- (LRCX)/.99

Upcoming Splits
- (BTJ) 3-for-2

Economic Releases
8:30 am EST
- Initial Jobless Claims for this week are estimated to rise to 320K versus 301K the prior week.
- Continuing Claims are estimated to fall to 2720K versus 2751K prior

10:00 am EST
- Existing Home Sales for December are estimated to fall to 4.95M versus 5.0M in November.

Other Potential Market Movers
- The weekly EIA energy inventory data and JPMorgan High Yield Conference could also impact trading today.

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