Stocks Higher into Final Hour on Short-Covering, Lower Commodity Prices and Bargain Hunting

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio is higher into the final hour on gains in my Biotech longs, Internet longs, Medical longs, Gaming longs and Emerging Market shorts. I covered all my (IWM)/(QQQQ) hedges, thus leaving the Portfolio 100% net long. The tone of the market is mildly negative as the advance/decline line is lower, most sectors are gaining and volume is above average. Investor anxiety is high. Today’s overall market action is bullish. The VIX is rising .98% and is above-average at 24.76. The ISE Sentiment Index is very low at 99.0 and the total put/call is high at 1.06. The total put/call hit an extremely high reading of 1.40 into this morning’s weakness. Finally, the NYSE Arms has been running around average most of the day, after peaking at 2.0 this morning, and is currently .62. The Euro Financial Sector Credit Default Swap Index is +.27% today to 92.83 basis points. This index is up from a low of 52.66 on May 5^th, but down from 129.46 basis points on March 20^th. The North American Investment Grade Credit Default Swap Index is +1.41% at 149.45 basis points. The TED spread is rising 2.61% to 1.21 basis points. The 10-year TIPS spread, a good gauge of inflation expectations, is rising 1 basis point to 1.96%, which is down 66 basis points in just over seven weeks and at the lowest level since August 2003. Oil continues to trade very poorly given the OPEC production cut, a larger-than-expected inventory decline, hurricane worries and Iranian shipping sanctions. Refinery Utilization is now at 78.3%, the lowest since the historic hurricanes in 2005 wreaked havoc with the Gulf energy infrastructure and slashed oil demand by refiners. I suspect a good part of today’s rebound is related to traders finally beginning to price in the possibility of sub-$100 oil. The (XLF) has been very resilient given recent news. The etf continues to hold its recent range of $19.50-$23.50, which is a broad market positive. Many market leading stocks are posting meaningful gains today. These stocks are just too cheap in most cases. I am seeing evidence of size buyers finally stepping up to the plate. The Shanghai Composite, the world’s worst-performing major stock market, fell another 3.3% last night and is down 65.5% from its record set in October of last year. It continues to track closely with the bubble-bursting pattern of the Nasdaq in 2000-2001. The US Dollar continues to trade very well, but is getting extended again short-term. The AAII % Bulls dropped to 29.3% and the % Bears jumped to 54.9% this week, which is a big positive. Nikkei futures indicate an +73 open in Japan and DAX futures indicate a +18 open in Germany tomorrow. I expect US stocks to trade modestly higher into the close from current levels on lower commodity prices, short-covering and bargain-hunting.

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- Families and friends of the 2,751 people who perished when two hijacked jets slammed into the World Trade Center's twin towers convened at Ground Zero today to observe the seventh anniversary of the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Bells tolled in Zuccotti Park, a block from Ground Zero, at 8:46 and 9:03 a.m., marking the moments when planes crashed into each tower. They tolled again at 9:59 and 10:29 a.m., when the buildings collapsed into a fiery cloud of smoke and debris.
- The US dollar rose to a one-year high against the euro on signs global growth is slowing, and the yen strengthened on speculation investors will sell higher-yielding assets funded by loans in Japan. ``Perception of risk has expanded globally,'' said Robert Sinche, head of global currency strategy at Bank of America Corp. in New York. ``Longer-term investors are unwinding their short-dollar positions. The dollar has momentum with it as the capitulation goes on.'' ``The global slowdown has dimmed the allure of higher yields abroad,'' wrote Benedikt Germanier, a currency strategist at UBS AG in Stamford, Connecticut, in a research note to clients today. ``Dollar demand sparked by U.S. investors' repatriation flows in early August has reached the point of feeding on itself.'' ``The commodity bubble is popping,'' said Dustin Reid, a senior currency strategist at ABN Amro Bank NV in Chicago. ``Oil exporters have less dollars to recycle. The pace of diversification has slowed down. The dollar will remain bid.''
- Platinum fell to a 20-month low as the dollar gained against the euro, cutting demand for the metal as a hedge against inflation. Palladium sank to the lowest price in almost three years. ``Precious metals markets continue down across the board,'' Miguel Perez-Santalla, a sales vice president at Heraeus Precious Metals Management in New York, said today in a note to clients, citing the rising greenback. ``The dollar should continue to strengthen and the metals will continue to follow as the highly leveraged investment market keeps on bailing out.'' ``In conversations with investors and funds, what has happened in platinum is only a more extreme example of recent commodity flows,'' John Reade, the head of metals strategy at UBS AG in London, said today in a note to clients. ``For a metal with apparently superior supply and demand fundamentals and low stocks, to experience such a dramatic sell-off has shocked us.''
- Crude oil fell more than $2 a barrel and gasoline advanced as Hurricane Ike headed across the Gulf of Mexico for refineries along the Texas coast. ``Ike is aimed at the refineries,'' said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research in Winchester, Massachusetts. ``It looks like refiners will be down for a while and the crude will pile up.
- The Baltic Dry Index, a measure of shipping costs for commodities, fell to its lowest since March 2007 on a lack of demand to haul cargoes in the Pacific and a slowing Chinese economy. The Baltic Dry Index of costs for international trade routes shed 133 points, or 2.6%, to 4,893 points. That’s a 17^th straight decline and a 46% slide for the year.
- The cost to protect against a default by securities firm Lehman Brothers(LEH) fell from a record. Five-year credit-default swaps on NY-based Lehman fell to 650 basis points, after trading at a record 790 basis points, according to Phoenix Partners.
- Russia, which fought a five-day war with neighboring Georgia last month, will boost defense spending 26 percent to a post-Soviet record next year as it adds weapons and raises salaries, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said.

Wall Street Journal:
- If Barack Obama loses the presidential election, it may well be the result of a public perception that he is detached and elitist -- a politician whose expressions of empathy for hard-working Americans stem more from abstract solidarity than a real connection to the lives of millions of citizens.

CNBC.com:
- Lehman Brothers(LEH) CEO Fuld is seeking a buyer for the fourth-largest US securities firm. Fuld “is clearly shopping Lehman, not just a piece of it,” Charlie Gasparino reported.

CNNMoney.com:
- How the KGB took over Russia’s economy.

Market Watch:
- Home Price Declines, Low Mortgage Rates Motivating Home Buyers. Seventy-seven percent of first-time homebuyers say lower home prices played critical role in decision to purchase home.

intrade.com:
- For the first time since it became apparent that Senator McCain would be running against Senator Obama for President, the odds of a McCain victory on intrade.com are higher than those of an Obama win, by a margin of 51.6%-47.9%.

US Commodity Futures Trading Commision(CFTC):
- The aggregate amount of commodity index trading occurring both OTC and on-exchange is estimated to be $200 billion as of June 30, 2008 – of which $161 billion was tied to commodities traded on U.S. markets regulated by the CFTC. Based upon the staff’s analysis, the Commission report includes the following recommendations:
1. Remove swap dealers from the commercial category in the Commitments of Traders Reports and create a new swap dealer classification for reporting purposes.
2. Develop and publish a new periodic supplemental report based on OTC swap dealer activity.
3. Create a new CFTC Office of Data Collection, whose sole mission is to collect, verify, audit, and publish all the agency’s commitments of traders information.
4. Establish more detailed reporting standards for certain large traders on regulated futures exchanges to ensure a more precise picture of their trading activity.
5. Consider elimination of bona fide hedge exemptions for swap dealers and the creation of a new, limited risk management exemption.
6. Request increased funding to successfully implement the above recommendations, along with additional funding sufficient to meet current mission requirements and any other additional responsibilities given to the agency.
7. Continue to encourage the clearing of OTC transactions.
8. Conduct a review of swap dealers’ futures trading activity to ensure that it is sufficiently independent of any affiliated commodity research.

USA Today:
- New data from a public registry that tracks health effects of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks suggest that up to 70,000 people developed post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the terror attacks. The new analysis released Wednesday from the World Trade Center Health Registry provides the most comprehensive picture yet of the health of people who were affected by the attacks. Participants agreed to be tracked for up to 20 years after 2001.
- As New York City's crime rate continues to drop, police officers are using their weapons less, and last year they fired the fewest times since the police department began recording the statistic three decades ago.

CBCnews:- Ontario will not move the economic yardsticks at all in 2008, resulting in Canada's GDP growth rate slipping 75 per cent this year, according to a new forecast by Scotiabank Economics.

Financial Post:
- Canadians have been flooding into the depressed U.S. housing market, purchasing a record number of homes south of the border, and twice as many as a year earlier. Armed with what until recently was a strong currency, most were also paying cash, according to the 2008 National Association of Realtors annual profile of international home buying activity in the United States. Canadians have replaced Mexicans as the top foreign buyers of U.S. properties, the survey revealed.

Bild:
- Germany is at high risk from attack by al-Qaeda terrorists, according to a new report prepared by the head of the Federal Criminal Office. In his report to parliament, BKA chief Joerg Ziercke said the decision to target Germany has been made “at the highest level” of al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. Ziercke’s BKA organization is the German equivalent of the FBI in the US.

Moscow Times:
- Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the imprisoned former OAO Yukos Oil Co. billionaire said oil at $70 a barrel or more provides sufficient financial incentive for innovators to develop alternative fuels. Crude at $70 allows new technologies to “gradually” replace fossil fuels with other energy sources.

Irish Times:
- Ireland unemployment will continue to drift upwards to over 8 per cent in 2009, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) is expected to forecast in its next quarterly economic commentary due later this month.

Espanola:
- Spanish Finance Minister Pedro Solbes expects economic growth in the country to remain flat in the second half of this year, citing an interview. Solbes expects the economic situation in Spain to worsen next year.

Al-Hayat:
- OPEC President Chakib Khelil said crude oil prices are unlikely to rise in the coming months because commercial oil stockpiles are “very high” and OPEC is overproducing. Global inventories, which already hold a surplus, will be boosted further by output from non-OPEC producers such as Russia, Norway and Brazil by the beginning of next year, citing Khelil. The combination of lower oil demand, rising stockpiles and a strengthening dollar may drag crude prices down, Khelil said.

Emirates Business 24/7:
- The six Gulf Cooperation Council states, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, agreed to begin free trade talks with Iran, citing Khalaf Al Manai, Qatar’s undersecretary of finance. The negotiations have been sought by Iran for over a decade.

Bear Radar

Style Underperformer:

Large-cap Value (-1.25%)

Sector Underperformers:

I-Banks irlind (-2.50%), Insurance (-1.79%) and Telecom (-1.56%)

Stocks Falling on Unusual Volume:

BID, WB, IRE, AIB, DB, AXA, LXU, KNXA, TLEO, IDCC, DBD, NRT, MER, SRZ and AIG

Stocks With Unusual Put Option Activity:

1) MET 2) GPS 3) IDCC 4) KEY 5) FITB

Bull Radar

Style Outperformer:

Large-cap Growth (+.03%)

Sector Outperformers:

Road&Rail (+4.21%), Airlines (+3.65%) and HMOs (+.81%)

Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume:

SIG, CSX, ALB, DOW, SUN, FTO, USMO, PBR, WFC, NTRS, STT, USB, ACTL, JOYG, WYNN, PHW, AGN, IVC and LDR

Stocks With Unusual Call Option Activity:

1) AGN 2) HOLX 3) IMCL 4) WM 5) HOG

Links of Interest

Market Snapshot Commentary
Market Performance Summary
Style Performance
Sector Performance
WSJ Data Center
Top 20 Biz Stories
IBD Breaking News
Movers & Shakers
Upgrades/Downgrades
In Play
Exchange Volume vs. Average
NYSE Unusual Volume
NASDAQ Unusual Volume
Hot Spots
Option Dragon
NASDAQ 100 Heatmap
DJIA Quick Charts
Chart Toppers
Real-Time Intraday Quote/Chart
Dow Jones Hedge Fund Indexes

Thursday Watch

Late-Night Headlines
Bloomberg:
- The US dollar rose to the highest in almost a year against the euro as crude oil prices fell, supporting the outlook for economic growth in the world's largest consumer of the fuel. The euro fell to the lowest in 13 months against the yen before a government report tomorrow that economists say will show industrial production shrank in the 15 nations that use the currency. The New Zealand dollar dropped to its lowest level since October 2006 after the central bank Governor Alan Bollard cut the benchmark interest rate by more than economists expected.
- The Australian dollar will extend its 19% drop, judging by a plunge in the costs to ship coal and iron ore, the nation’s biggest export earners, TD Securities Ltd. said. The currency will slide 2.6% to 78 US cents by year-end because a slump in the Baltic Dry Index, a measure of shipping costs for commodities, signals demand for the raw materials Australia exports is waning, said Stephen Koukoulas, London-based head of global foreign exchange and fixed-income strategy for TD.
- New Zealand's central bank cut its benchmark interest rate by a half point to 7.5 percent, more than forecast by most economists, saying the economy is in a recession and inflation will slow.
- Japanese machinery orders fell for a second month in July, signaling manufacturers expect the global slowdown to crimp demand into next year.
- Aluminum producers will cut the fee they charge buyers in Japan, Asia’s biggest importer, by as much as 14%, the biggest drop in five years, as a slump in home and car sales slows demand.
- The cost of protecting Dubai government bonds from default doubled in the past three months on concern the emirate will be unable to maintain the borrowing that's driven its real-estate boom. Credit-default swaps protecting Dubai debt for five years traded at 220 basis points, CMA Datavision prices show, up from 110 at the beginning of June, according to data compiled by Merrill Lynch & Co. Contracts on Abu Dhabi bonds rose 57 percent in the same period to 74 basis points, CMA prices show. The Dubai Financial Market Real Estate Index tumbled 31 percent since June as traders bet the emirate won't remain immune from the fallout of the U.S. subprime-mortgage collapse. Banks worldwide are tightening lending and may be wary of Dubai, which doesn't have a credit rating or disclose data on public debt. ``Major concerns include Dubai's relatively weak macro balances and hydrocarbon assets compared to Abu Dhabi, as well as supply overhang in the real-estate market,'' said Turker Hamzaoglu, a London-based economist at Merrill Lynch. Among the real-estate projects underway in the emirate are the Disneyland-style ``Dubailand'' theme park that will be three times the size of Manhattan and a $54 billion Las Vegas-style hotel strip in the desert.
- Oil futures were little changed in New York after falling to a five-month low on a U.S. government report yesterday that showed supplies increased along the Gulf Coast as Hurricane Gustav cut refinery output. Refinery operating rates nationwide declined to 78.3 percent of capacity in the week ended Sept. 5, the lowest since 2005, when hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck the Gulf, the Energy Department said yesterday in a weekly report. Regional oil supplies rose to the highest since May. Crude has fallen about 30 percent from a record $147.27 a barrel on July 11 as high prices and slowing global economic growth reduced demand for fuels. Demand for fuels averaged over the past four weeks declined 3.8 percent, the Energy Department report showed.
- Wheat fell to a one-year low, dropping for a fourth straight session, on concern that demand for U.S. supplies is slackening as global production rises. Advance sales of U.S. wheat from June 1 to Aug. 28 were down 13 percent from the same period in 2007, U.S. Department of Agriculture data show. World production may rise 9.9 percent to a record 670.8 million metric tons in the year through May, the USDA has said. Wheat has dropped 18 percent this year after global growers planted more to take advantage of higher prices.
- Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim acquired a 6.4 percent stake in New York Times Co.(NYT), making him the third-largest investor in the newspaper publisher outside of the controlling Sulzberger family.
- Brazil's central bank raised its benchmark interest rate to the highest in almost two years in a bid to cool accelerating economic growth that's stoking inflation. Policy makers led by Henrique Meirelles voted 5-3, without a bias, to increase the so-called Selic rate to 13.75 percent from 13 percent, as forecast by 40 of 41 economists in a Bloomberg survey. That raised the country's real interest rate, which is the Selic minus inflation, to the highest of all 54 countries tracked by Bloomberg. Central bankers will raise the Selic rate further to 14.75 percent by the end of the year, according to the most recent central bank survey of 100 economists published Sept 5.
- Petroleo Brasileiro SA(PBR), Brazil's state-controlled oil company, said its previously discovered Iara oil field contains an estimated 3 billion to 4 billion barrels of recoverable light crude oil, enough to supply the country for about five years. The estimate is the first for the field, which was announced in August. Iara is in the Santos Basin to the north of Tupi, a 5 billion- to 8 billion-barrel field announced in November that is the largest oil find in the Americas since 1976. If confirmed, Iara and Tupi, which sit in non-adjacent parts of the same BM-S- 11 exploration block, could almost double Brazil's 12.6 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, according to London-based BP Plc.
- The Bank of Korea kept interest rates unchanged today as policy makers await evidence last month's increase will be enough to cool the fastest inflation in 10 years. Governor Lee Seong Tae and his colleagues left the seven- day repurchase rate at 5.25 percent in Seoul.
- Al-Qaeda is planning to release a video message within 24 hours to mark the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, a U.S.-based intelligence group said.

Wall Street Journal:
- Much of the world may be struggling with the economic downturn, but life has been getting better in Columbus, Ind., Kingsport, Tenn., and Waterloo, Iowa. These out-of-the-way places have become trade hot spots as U.S. exports, fueled by the dollar's fall, continue to provide a rare spark in an otherwise gloomy economy.
- Some of the country's biggest investment banks and brokerage firms -- including Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Citigroup Inc., and Merrill Lynch & Co. -- marketed allegedly abusive transactions that helped foreign hedge-fund investors avoid billions of dollars in U.S. taxes over the past decade, Senate investigators assert.

MarketWatch.com:
- An acquisition of Lehman Brothers may be more likely in the wake of the brokerage firm's latest quarterly loss and steps it's taking to sell assets, according to some analysts.

NY Times:
- China has joined the United States, Britain, Spain and others on the list of nations suffering a real estate decline. Real estate brokers say prices are down from peaks reached earlier this year, while the number of transactions has plunged. This downturn comes as the growth rate of Chinese exports has slowed — sharply in yuan terms — and stock markets have plummeted. Brokers say that sales volumes first dropped precipitously here in southeastern China, and then the decline spread across the country. Faced with few buyers, sellers started cutting their prices for residential and commercial real estate. In some neighborhoods in the southeast, prices have dropped by 10 to 40 percent.
- Hours after suffering a rare setback in a negotiating session at OPEC’s headquarters, Saudi Arabian officials assured world markets on Wednesday that they would ignore the wishes of other cartel members and continue to pump plenty of oil. The meeting could be a harbinger of things to come for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries as the cartel faces its most difficult challenge in years: how to respond to falling oil prices in a weakening global economic climate. The cartel’s president, Chakib Khelil, said the group was particularly concerned that slowing demand for oil was creating a glut in the market that might provoke a collapse in prices. The Saudi view is that lowering prices moderately now will shore up the world economy and prevent a recession that would cause oil prices to collapse. “This seems to set Saudi Arabia up as the unilateral decision-maker on output for the fall,” said Greg Priddy, an energy analyst at Eurasia Group, in a research note. “Clearly, other OPEC members are not going to trim their own production without Saudi Arabia returning to its quota. Saudi Arabia also seems to be eager to avoid headlines about it cutting production in advance of the U.S. elections.” Moderate and pro-Western states like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are aware that high energy costs are hurting demand and might push consumers to seek alternatives to oil. These countries want to see prices fall below $100 a barrel to ease political enmity against the cartel. now that demand is weakening and prices are falling, some analysts say they believe that tensions within the group are resurfacing. In past years, OPEC has been notoriously bad at maintaining discipline in its ranks when prices fall.
- Three members of Congress, armed with a new report that they say proves that excessive oil speculation is distorting consumer energy prices, are renewing their efforts to exclude many institutional investors from the nation’s commodity markets. Using publicly available data, the report argues that institutional commodity investors, specifically through index funds, drive up commodity prices. If the nation’s oil use continues to fall at this rate, “this will be the weakest annual demand since the early 1980s,” said Kevin Norrish, director of Barclays Capital commodity research in London. “Due to data lags, that is just now becoming apparent.”

CNBC:
- Hedge fund manager Jim Chanos, who makes money betting that companies' stock prices will fall, said financial stocks have probably seen the worst and his fund has fewer short positions now than it did in the past.
- Director compensation at the biggest U.S. companies continued to rise in 2007, in contrast to chief executive pay, which dropped sharply last year amid a slowing economy and weakening corporate performance, a study found.

CNNMoney.com:
- 20 best countries for startups.

IBD:
- Global Payments(GPN): Credit Card Transaction Processor Grows As the World Goes Plastic.

BusinessWeek.com:
- Best US Entrepreneurs 25 and Under.

United Nations ESCAP:
- The world is on track to halve the global poverty rate by 2015 and achieve the number one target of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), thanks to progress made in East Asia, particularly China, says the United Nations’ latest MDG report.

Reuters:
- The health of the largest U.S. financial firms is on the mend as the fallout from the subprime mortgage crisis begins to moderate, the managing director of a leading international banking lobby said on Thursday. "The health of the largest 20 to 30 U.S. financial institutions is improving," Charles Dallara of the Institute of International Finance (IIF) said at a news conference in Tokyo. The IIF is based in the United States and represents more than 380 of the world's biggest financial institutions.- Short interest increased for some financial stocks in late August, according to reports released on Wednesday by the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq.
- The average team in the National Football League is now worth more than $1 billion, marking the first time any sports league has surpassed that level, according to a report released on Wednesday.
- The U.S. Labor Department should provide pension plans with guidance on investing in hedge funds and private equity, a report issued by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said on Wednesday. The report found that pension plans are investing more and more in alternate investments like hedge funds, which are traditionally less transparent and riskier.
- Home Depot Inc (HD) is touting everyday low prices and energy saving products while cutting back on special offers as the home improvement retailer caters to increasingly cost-conscious consumers.

Financial Times:
- Outflows from emerging markets bond and equity funds reached $29.5bn over the past three months, the highest level since at least 1995, with withdrawals gathering pace over the past week. Investors headed for the exits as rising fears over slowing world growth and the state of the banking system over the past week added pressure on emerging markets - which were already reeling from weaker commodity prices, inflationary pressures, a stronger dollar and geopolitical concerns.
- Dmitry Medvedev, Russian president, tried to bolster confidence in the country's plunging stock market on Wednesday as the central bank injected more than $10bn (€7.1bn, £5.7bn) into the banking system to alleviate a chronic credit shortage. The RTS stock market index fell 4.4 per cent as investors ignored his remarks.

South China Morning Post:
- Shenzhen, one of China’s five special economic zones, is facing an economic situation “even tougher and more severe” than the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the city’s mayor said. The local economy, a manufacturing hub for exporters of goods including textiles, toys and shoes, expanded 10.5% in the first half, the slowest pace since the city became an economic zone in 1979. The US subprime crisis and the yuan’s appreciation have led to a “flood” of closures in labor-intensive industries in Shenzhen and the neighboring city of Dongguan, Guo Wanda, a vp of the China Development Institute, said.

Late Buy/Sell Recommendations
Piper Jaffray:
- Rated (ITRI) Buy, target $120.

Oppenheimer:
- Rated (AUXL) Outperform, target $44.

William Blair:
- Rated (AIRM) Outperform.

Night Trading
Asian Indices are -2.25% to -.5% on average.
S&P 500 futures -.44%.
NASDAQ 100 futures -.55%.

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

Earnings of Note
Company/EPS Estimate
- (CPB)/.25

Economic Releases
8:30 am EST
- The Trade Deficit for July is estimated to widen to -$58.0 billion versus -$56.8 billion in June.
- The Import Price Index for August is estimated to fall -1.8% versus a +1.7% increase in July.
- Initial Jobless Claims for last week are estimated to fall to 440K versus 444K the prior week.
- Continuing Claims are estimated to rise to 3460K versus 3435K prior.

2:00 pm EST
- The Monthly Budget Deficit for August is estimated to shrink to -$107.3 billion versus -$117.0 billion in July.

Upcoming Splits
- None of note

Other Potential Market Movers
- The weekly EIA natural gas inventory report, BMO Capital Real Estate Conference, Jeffries Tech Conference, Deutsche Bank Tech Conference, Keybanc Basic Materials Conference and Morgan Stanley Industrials Conference could also impact trading today.

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are lower, weighed down by technology and financial shares 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.