Late-Night Headlines
Bloomberg:
- The Bank of Korea raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter point to the highest in almost eight years, judging the fastest inflation in a decade is a greater threat than slowing economic growth. Governor Lee Seong Tae increased the seven-day repurchase rate to 5.25 percent in Seoul today. Lee joins policy makers in India, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand and the Philippines in boosting borrowing costs this year as soaring fuel and food costs fan inflation across Asia.
- Roadside bomb attacks in Iraq dropped to a record low thanks to last year's surge in American troop numbers and the support of local Sunni Muslims battling al- Qaeda, a senior U.S. military officer said.
- The euro traded near a seven-week low against the dollar before a European Central Bank meeting at which President Jean-Claude Trichet may keep borrowing costs unchanged and acknowledge economic growth is slowing. Europe's single currency may decline for a third day versus the dollar after German factory orders unexpectedly fell in June, giving ECB policy makers less reason to raise interest rates from a seven-year high.
- UBS AG cut its growth forecast for the global economy in 2009 to 2.9% from a prior forecast of 3.1%.
- Patients infected with HIV might be able to live symptom free without medicines as aggressive treatment with newer drugs better control the disease, the head of U.S. infectious disease research said today.
- Crude oil futures traded near $119 a barrel in New York after falling yesterday as U.S. supplies unexpectedly gained amid slowing demand, and the dollar climbed, reducing the appeal of commodities as an inflation hedge. Crude oil supplies rose 1.61 million barrels last week, and fuel consumption was 2.6 percent lower in the four weeks ended Aug. 1 from a year ago, the U.S. Energy Department said yesterday. New York oil futures fell as low as $117.11 a barrel yesterday, 20 percent below the record $147.27 on July 11, a threshold commonly seen as the start of a bear market. ``Bullish factors on the supply side are being ignored and the market's all about demand and rising supplies,'' said Tetsu Emori, a fund manager at Astmax Co. in Tokyo. ``News about disruptions in Nigeria and explosion at an oil pipeline in Turkey had no impact at all.''
- Gasoline refinery utilization is currently at 86.95%, the lowest level for this time of the year in 18 years.
- Copper fell in
- Robusta coffee fell in London on speculation that exports from Brazil, the world's biggest grower, will accelerate. Cocoa and white sugar advanced. Brazil will produce 51.1 million bags this year, 36 percent more than last year, because trees are in the higher-yielding part of a two-year cycle, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates. Global coffee production may rise 15 percent to a record 139.7 million bags in the year that begins Oct. 1 because of increased Brazilian and Vietnamese supply, German researcher F.O. Licht said July 8.
- American International Group(AIG), the world's largest insurer by assets, said its capital adequacy improved ``significantly'' in the second quarter after it raised $20.3 billion by selling securities.
IBD:
- Acquisition Gives Booster Shot To Provider Of Home Health Care.
CNNMoney.com:
- Surprises: A tech IPO.
- Gas Prices Fall for 20th Day. Average price of gasoline down more than 25 cents a gallon from record high.
Reuters:
- High oil prices have caused "dramatic" and longer-term changes in consumer behavior, U.S. Acting Deputy Energy Secretary Jeffrey Kupfer said on Wednesday.
- Hedge funds are known for playing many roles on Wall Street, but last-resort lender to small businesses that are turned down by banks is hardly one of them. Yet with the credit crunch pushing many major U.S. banks to set tougher lending standards for small and medium-sized businesses, hedge funds have stepped in.
Financial Times:
- Blackstone Group(BX), the private equity group, has raised $2bn for Bayview Financial, a distressed mortgage servicer and fund manager in which it holds a stake, to buy portfolios of ailing mortgage assets in the next few months.
- Many of the world's biggest banks are proposing reforms that would limit the size and scope of their businesses in one of the most dramatic responses to the credit crisis. The proposals would hold down the number of investors who can buy complex financial products, bring large swathes of the derivatives markets into regulators' sights and call on banks to spend more on technology and risk management. The consequence would be that many of the securitization businesses that helped fuel the boom on Wall Street and the City of London in the middle years of this decade could face tougher oversight and find far fewer opportunities for growth.
- If something looks unsustainable, it probably is. Even as the rest of the eurozone was grinding to a halt, Germany seemed able to escape the global downturn. No longer. A leaked report on German output growth due out next week shows Germany has finally succumbed to the pressures affecting the rest of Europe.
Late Buy/Sell Recommendations
Citigroup:
- Reiterated Buy on (MGA), target $73.
CSFB:
- Reiterated Outperform on (PWR), raised estimates, target $44.
Thomas Weisel:
- Rated (FSLR) Overweight, target $344.
- Rated (MEA) Overweight, target $20.
Night Trading
Asian Indices are -1.25% to +.25% on average.
S&P 500 futures -.48%.
NASDAQ 100 futures -.46%.
Morning Preview
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Today in IBD
In Play
Bond Ticker
Economic Preview/Calendar
Daily Stock Events
Upgrades/Downgrades
Rasmussen Business/Economy Polling
Earnings of Note
Company/EPS Estimate
- (DTV)/.40
- (SLE)/.25
- (SFY)/2.36
- (WMB)/.70
- (MLM)/1.84
- (CEP)/.44
- (WRC)/.48
- (BBI)/-.19
- (DYN)/.03
- (WMG)/-.18
- (ATK)/1.66
- (SIRI)/-.07
- (CPKI)/.26
- (HANS)/.51
- (SD)/.16
- (CAH)/.96
- (DECK)/.24
- (FTO)/.53
- (BRL)/.53
- (ED)/.50
- (ACS)/.94
- (DLTR)/.36
Upcoming Splits
- None of note
Economic Releases
8:30 am EST
- Initial Jobless Claims for this week are estimated to fall to 425K versus 448K the prior week.
- Continuing Claims are estimated to fall to 3255K versus 3283K the prior week.
10:00 am EST
- Pending Home Sales for June are estimated to fall 1.0% versus a 4.7% decline in May.
- ICSC Chain Store Sales for July are estimated to rise 4.0% versus a 4.3% gain in June.
3:00 pm EST
- Consumer Credit for June is estimated to fall to $6.3 billion versus $7.8 billion in May.
Other Potential Market Movers
- The weekly EIA natural gas inventory report, Leerink Swann Life Science Tools Conference, Bank of America Specialty Pharma Conference and RBC Tech/Media/Communications Conference could also impact trading today.
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