Style Outperformer:
Small-cap Growth (+.79%)
Sector Outperformers:
Construction (+2.23%), REITs (+1.92%) and Biotech (+1.51%)
Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume:
ABX, PCTI, CRK, GG, ERIC, LFC, X, CS, PPC, SAFM, GHL, ZNT, JNJ, CPKI, CENX, VMED, MASI, MDCO, MMSI, KNSY, AIRM, BIOD, FSYS, GXDX, SPWR, CRZO, RBCAA, PLCE, CTCT, FITB, WSBC, ROST, ROHM, IX, SGR, RNE and FMS
Stocks With Unusual Call Option Activity:
1) WDC 2) SGR 3) BRCD 4) FRE 5) MPEL
Late-Night Headlines
Bloomberg:
- The
- Wachovia Corp.(WB), the fourth-biggest U.S. bank, named Treasury Undersecretary Robert Steel as chief executive officer to stanch losses caused by bad loans.
- The Senate gave final congressional approval to legislation that overhauls U.S. electronic spying and ends lawsuits against telephone companies that aided government wiretapping of suspected terrorists.
- Bank of America Corp.(BAC) Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lewis said the biggest U.S. mortgage lender can renegotiate hundreds of thousands of troubled loans without trimming its dividend or raising cash.
- Singapore's economy expanded at the slowest pace in five years in the second quarter, as manufacturers cut production amid declining orders and accelerating inflation crimped spending.
- General Motors Corp.(GM) and Ford Motor Co., the biggest U.S.-based automakers, are ``going to be fine'' as they try to end losses in a slumping domestic market, said John Devine, a former finance chief at both companies.
- Iran might take delivery starting in December of sophisticated Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles that would ``dramatically'' improve its air defense capability, according to the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency.
- China's export growth cooled in June, putting the government under more pressure to slow gains by the yuan to protect manufacturers.
Wall Street Journal:
- The Bush administration has held talks about what to do in the event mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac falter, according to three people familiar with the matter, as the stock prices of both companies continue to fall sharply.
- As average gas prices hit a record high of $4.108 a gallon this week, the government released new data showing that drivers have cut back their use of the fuel to levels not seen in five years. Even through the Fourth of July weekend -- a time when Americans traditionally get on the road -- gasoline consumption dropped 3.3% from last year to 9.347 million barrels a day, according to weekly data.
MarketWatch.com:
- Insiders significantly cut back on their selling in June.
CNBC.com:
- America’s Top States For Business(ranked).
- The Federal Reserve should raise interest rates toward their "neutral" setting as quickly as reasonably possible to prevent high inflation taking root, a top Fed policy-maker said on Wednesday.
- The chief executive officers of a dozen U.S. airlines, beset by record fuel costs that have caused several to cut jobs, reduce capacity and impose higher fees on customers, are now asking for their customers' help to curb the rise of oil prices. They have co-signed a letter being sent to frequent fliers of their respective carriers, asking customers to contact Congress about the problem of market speculation, which they believe is driving up the price of oil. "Our highest priority is to tackle the overall price of fuel which is now 40 percent of our cost pie," Steenland told lawmakers. "Addressing excessive speculation is the most immediate remedy Congress could deliver." The letter from the airlines acknowledges that oil prices are partly a response to normal market forces, prompting a need for the country to focus on increased energy supplies and conservation. The letter says speculators buy up large amounts of oil and then sell it to each other again and again. The price goes up with each trade and consumers pick up the final tab. Some market experts estimate that current prices reflect as much as $30 to $60 per barrel in unnecessary speculative costs, the letter says.
Reuters:
- Private equity firm Blackstone (BX) plans to invest more than 1 billion euros ($1.57 billion) in a project to build wind farms in the North Sea to generate electricity, people familiar with the matter said.
- Financial news and data company Bloomberg LP is creating several new units as part of a reorganization that includes a shuffling of top management.
Financial Times:
- The four pillars of private investment groups, including sovereign wealth funds, saw rapid growth in assets under management in 2007 in spite of credit turmoil. The four - Asian governments, oil exporters, hedge funds and private equity groups - saw their combined assets expand more than 22 per cent to just less than $11,000bn by the end of last year from $8,800bn at the end of 2006, says a report to be published on Thursday by McKinsey Global Institute.
- Casino billionaire Stephen Wynn may raise as much as $3 billion from a secondary listing in Hong Kong to help fund a resort on
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Late Buy/Sell Recommendations
- None of note
Night Trading
Asian Indices are -1.50% to unch. on average.
S&P 500 futures -.03%.
NASDAQ 100 futures unch..
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Today in IBD
In Play
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Daily Stock Events
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Rasmussen Business/Economy Polling
Earnings of Note
Company/EPS Estimate
- (PGR)/.37
- (TXI)/.75
- (MAR)/.49
- (CHTT)/1.03
- (FCSX)/.47
- (LWSN)/.10
Upcoming Splits
- (ATW) 2-for-1
Economic Releases
8:30 am EST
- Initial Jobless Claims are estimated to fall to 395K versus 404K the prior week.
- Continuing Claims are estimated to rise to 3140K versus 3116K prior.
1:30 pm EST
- ICSC Chain Store Sales for June are estimated to rise 3.3% versus a 3.0% gain in May.
Other Potential Market Movers
- The Fed’s Bernanke speaking, Fed’s Yellen speaking, weekly EIA natural gas inventory report, (RUS) shareholders meeting, (SHS) shareholders meeting, (MEAD) shareholder meeting, (SIGM) shareholders meeting, (CRM) shareholders meeting, CE Unterberg Towbin Growth Conference, Collins Stewart Growth Conference and Oppenheimer Consumer Growth Conference could also impact trading today.
Bloomberg:
- UBS AG and Credit Suisse Group AG led a decline in the cost of protecting company bonds from default after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the central bank may extend its emergency-loan program into 2009.
- Optimism about U.S. stocks among newsletter writers slid to the lowest level since July 1994 after the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell into a bear market and oil prices reached records, according to Investors Intelligence
- The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission named Stephen Obie acting director of enforcement as the agency faces political pressure to ensure energy and agricultural markets are not being manipulated as prices soar.
- Iran's test-firing of a long-range missile capable of reaching Israel violates United Nations Security Council resolutions and further isolates it from the rest of the world, U.S. officials said.
- Boeing Co.(BA) raised its 20-year forecast for world jetliner deliveries by 2.8 percent, saying air travel is expanding and carriers will need new, more fuel-efficient planes to replace aging jets amid surging oil prices.
- Corn fell for the seventh time in eight sessions, after setting a record last month, as better weather helped plants in the U.S. Midwest recover from the worst flooding in 15 years.
- Fadel Gheit, managing director of oil and gas research at Oppenheimer says oil may fall further as China demand slows. (video)
Wall Street Journal:
- Yahoo Inc.(YHOO) CEO Jerry Yang accused Microsoft(MSFT) of trying to destabilize the Internet company without a real desire to complete a deal, and he responded sharply to recent comments by investor Carl Icahn.
- Newer, Faster, Cheaper iPhone 3G.
NY Times:
- Chrysler, Toyota, Adapt Designs for Fuel Efficiency.
- US Republican and Democratic lawmakers, confronted with growing concern among constituents about oil prices, returned to Capital Hill this week inclined to compromise on energy policy. Lawmakers are envisioning an agreement that would ease restrictions on domestic offshore oil drilling while allowing for renewable fuel incentives and stricter rules for oil speculators, citing Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine.
- Obama Donors Aren’t Rushing to Aid Clinton. A prominent donor to Senator Barack Obama recently sent an e-mail plea to other supporters, asking them — for the sake of Democratic unity — to write checks to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to help retire her $23 million in campaign debt. Some of the replies are unprintable, given the coarse language, the donor said. A sampling of others included: “Why would I help pay off debts that Hillary amassed simply to keep damaging Senator Obama?”
CNBC.com:
- Lehman Brothers(LEH) has enough capital to rebuild its business, former CEO Peter Cohen said. Lehman has raised capital that’s many multiples of the losses it incurred on mortgage-related assets.
NY Post:
- A blind trust run by Mayor Bloomberg is willing to pay between $4.5 billion and $5 billion to buy Merrill Lynch's 20 percent stake in Bloomberg LP, sources tell The Post.
- NYC Welfare Cases Drop to 45-Year Low.
- NYC Bus Ridership Surge Leaves Many Standing.