Monday, April 07, 2008

Tuesday Watch

Late-Night Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Sumco Corp., the world’s second-largest maker of silicon wafers, expects sales of the material used to maker of silicon wafers, expects sales of the material used to make solar power cells to gain 11-fold in the next seven years as customers including Sharp Corp. boost production.
- Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan said the drop in US home prices will probably end “well before” early next year as the number of houses on the market diminishes, aiding an economic rebound. “It’s difficult to imagine any major breakout of inflation as economic slack continues to increase,” he said.

Wall Street Journal:
- Olympic-Torch Protests Ignite Chinese Indignation. Ordinary Citizens Chafe at Treatment; Chaotic Paris Relay.

CNBC.com:
- Apple(AAPL) Earnings ‘Kernals’ Start to Pop.
- Investors Hope for an Alzheimer’s Miracle.
- China Ca$h May Flood US Markets. Forget about sovereign wealth funds. Thanks to a new Sino-American agreement, a bigger influx of cash could be on its way to US markets – from Chinese institutional investors.

NY Times:
- There’s Gas in Those Hills. A natural gas drilling frenzy unlike any seen in decades is unfolding in rural Pennsylvania, and it eventually could encompass a huge chunk of the East.
- CBS has been in discussions with Time Warner about a deal to outsource some of its newsgathering to CNN.

IBD:
- Costco’s(COST) customers still shopping.

Forbes.com:
- Get Shorty. With short-selling volumes hitting record highs at the major exchanges and with volatile financial markets, many are wondering whether a flurry of manipulation cases will be coming out of the SEC in the near future. Some want any investigation to be broad. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, which oversees broker-dealers along with the stock exchanges, sent a warning to member companies last week. “Intentionally spreading false rumors or engaging in collusive activity to impact the financial condition of an issuer will not be tolerated and will be vigorously and aggressively investigated,” it said. Part of the problem is that brokerages and their stock loan desks aid in naked short short-selling by looking the other way or by purposefully misrepresenting the availability of stock to borrow, reaping fees for services they haven’t actually provided.

Energy Intelligence Group:
- Iraq has shipped out the last remnants of its nuclear program, 1.5 million pounds of U308, Uranium Intelligence Weekly reported. The uranium has been bought by Saskatoon, Canada-based Cameco Corp.

Reuters:
- Hedge fund managers will have to become more creative to hold onto billions of dollars now that their investors are fretting about lackluster returns and want their money back, a top industry executive said on Monday.
- Record-high gasoline prices will reduce US demand for motor fuels this summer compared to last year, the first drop in summer gasoline consumption in 17 years, the government’s top energy forecaster said. Caruso said OPEC needs to pump more oil to help lower crude prices that are above $100 a barrel.
- Car makers try to copy green halo of Prius.
- Levi Strauss & Co. is launching an updated line of its 501 jeans with higher prices to match.


Financial Times:
- Experts start to see light in credit gloom. Is the worst over? For the first time since financial turmoil began in August last year, some respected experts are beginning to speculate that the worst of the credit crisis may now be past.
- Sovereign wealth funds and other overseas investors will face closer scrutiny by US regulators under changes to the way foreign deals are vetted on national security grounds.
- The board of the IMF voted on Monday to cut 15% of its staff and sell about $11 billion in gold reserves. The IMF plans to cut 380 jobs and sell 403.3 tons of gold, about an eighth of its reserves.

TimesOnline:
- Raise offer and we will talk, Yahoo!(YHOO) tells Microsoft(MSFT).

Late Buy/Sell Recommendations
Citigroup:
.
- Reiterated Buy on (SWX), target $37.

Night Trading
Asian Indices are -1.0% to +.50% on average.
S&P 500 futures -.34%.
NASDAQ 100 futures -.31%.

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
Upgrades/Downgrades
Rasmussen Business/Economy Polling
CNBC Guest Schedule

Earnings of Note
Company/EPS Estimate
- (LAYN)/.39
- (MSM)/.69
- (ZZ)/.11
- (MIND)/.27
- (CHTT)/.95

Upcoming Splits
- None of note

Economic Releases
10:00 am EST

- Pending Home Sales for February are estimated to fall 1.0% versus unch. in January.

2:00 pm EST
- Minutes of March 18 FOMC Meeting.

Other Potential Market Movers
- The weekly retail sales reports, IDB/TIPP Economic Optimism Index, (AWI) analyst meeting, Howard Weil Energy Conference and CSFB Global Real Estate Conference could also impact trading today.

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

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