Late-Night Headlines
Wall Street Journal:
- Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu says she generally backs President Barack Obama's health-care overhaul efforts. But she'd like to see a few items in the bill before voting for it, including bigger federal Medicaid payments for her home state of
- Divisions among Democrats were on display Thursday in a Senate committee vote approving a climate-change bill. Sen. Max Baucus (D., Mont.) voted against his own party's climate-change bill, calling for a scaled-back measure that might win more bipartisan support. Mr. Baucus, a key player in the health-care overhaul debate, said the measure set too ambitious a target for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions by 2020, and hadn't done enough to protect farmers. Republicans boycotted the 11-1 vote in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. They said more study needed to be done on the potential harm to the economy from the measure's cap on emissions, and its requirement that businesses buy permits, which could be traded, to emit carbon dioxide and other gases. The tensions among Democrats point to the wider debate within the party about how aggressively to push the leading issues on President Barack Obama's agenda after Tuesday's election setbacks. Moderate Democrats worry about moving too fast for voters, while liberals say swift action on issues like climate change and health care will remotivate the party's base.
- On Jan. 20, Barack Obama began a race against time. The White House knew its liberal agenda would prove unpopular in many parts of the country represented by Democrats. So long as the president looked strong, those Blue Dogs and freshmen and swing-state senators would stick. Show them any sign of weakness, however, and rattled Dems would begin to care more about their own re-elections than they did their president. Tuesday, the White House hit that tipping point.
Barron’s:
CBS:
- The Senate's Democratic majority won't attend Democratic Gov. David Paterson's joint address to the Legislature Monday, when he will try to build support for attacking New York's latest fiscal crisis, according to state officials informed of the decision. "We're not returning for a photo op" for Paterson, a senior Democratic official said of the governor, who is languishing in the polls as he seeks election in 2010.
Politico:
- Election Day losses in
The Business Insider:
Reuters:
- Fannie Mae, the largest provider of funding for U.S. home loans, said on Thursday bad mortgages and a federal foreclosure prevention program left it with a $18.9 billion loss, forcing it to tap the Treasury again to plug a hole in its net worth. Fannie Mae (FNM) , seized by the government last year, said the quarterly loss stemmed from $22 billion in credit-related expenses. These included charges on mortgages it bought out of securities as it modified loans under President Barack Obama's foreclosure prevention plan. The company also boosted its provision for credit losses in future quarters, and said it expects those impairments to increase this quarter and through 2010. The assessment is dire for the housing market that has appeared to post a fragile recovery over the past several months with a rebound in home sales and prices in some regions. The company's expectations of future losses and need for Treasury cash complicate the issue of how to extricate it from taxpayer support, while also trying to prevent a more serious fallout in U.S. housing.
Financial Times:
- The US hit China with another big trade action on Thursday as it slapped preliminary anti-dumping duties on $2.6bn worth of Chinese pipe imports. The commerce department’s decision to impose duties of up to 99 per cent on imports of some steel pipes is the latest in a string of trade spats between over tyres, cars and chickens. It comes less than a fortnight before President Barack Obama’s first visit to
Late Buy/Sell Recommendations
Citigroup:
- Upgraded (EQY) to Buy, target $17.50.
Night Trading
Asian Indices are +.50% to +1.50% on average.
S&P 500 futures -.07%.
NASDAQ 100 futures -.06%.
Morning Preview
BNO Breaking Global News of Note
Yahoo Most Popular Biz Stories
MarketWatch Pre-market Commentary
US AM Market Call
NASDAQ 100 Pre-Market Indicator/Heat Map
Pre-market Stock Quote/Chart
WSJ Intl Markets Performance
Commodity Futures
IBD New America
Economic Preview/Calendar
Earnings Calendar
Who’s Speaking?
Upgrades/Downgrades
Politico Headlines
Rasmussen Reports Polling
Earnings of Note
Company/EPS Estimate
- (AIG)/1.20
- (BX)/.15
- (EIX)/1.04
- (AES)/.26
Economic Releases
8:30 am EST
- The Change in Non-Farm Payrolls for October is estimated at -175K versus -263K in September.
- The Unemployment Rate for October is estimated at 9.9% versus 9.8% in September.
- Average Hourly Earnings for October are estimated to rise +.1% versus a +.1% gain in September.
10:00 am EST:
- Wholesale Inventories for September are estimated to fall -1.0% versus a -1.3% decline in August.
3:00 pm EST:
- Consumer Credit for September is estimated at -$10.0B versus -$12.0B in August.
Upcoming Splits
- None of Note
Other Potential Market Movers
- The Fed’s Evans speaking, Fed’s Duke speaking and the (GR) analyst day could also impact trading today.
BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are higher, boosted by financial and technology shares in the region. I expect US equities to open modestly lower and to rally into the afternoon, finishing modestly higher. The Portfolio is 100% net long heading into the day.
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