Stocks Jumping into Final Hour on Plunging Credit Market Angst, Bargain-Hunting, Less Financial Sector Pessimism and Short-Covering

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio is higher into the final hour on gains in my Medical longs, Defense longs and Biotech longs. I have not traded today, thus leaving the Portfolio 100% net long. The tone of the market is positive as the advance/decline line is higher, most sectors are gaining and volume is above-average. Investor anxiety is still very elevated. Today’s overall market action is bullish. The VIX is falling 17.46%, but is still very elevated at 58.01. The ISE Sentiment Index is about average at 160.0 and the total put/call is slightly below average at .84. Finally, the NYSE Arms has been running around average most of the day, hitting 1.22 at its intraday peak, and is currently .86. The Euro Financial Sector Credit Default Swap Index is rising 2.91% today to 99.34 basis points. This index is up from a low of 52.66 on May 5^th, but down significantly from 157.81 on Sept. 16^th. The North American Investment Grade Credit Default Swap Index is falling 4.2% to 193.5 basis points. The TED spread is plunging another 18.6% to 295 basis points. The TED spread is now down 169 basis points in less than two weeks. The 2-year swap spread is falling 9.57% to 111.0 basis points. The Libor-OIS spread is dropping 11.59% to 292 basis points. The 10-year TIPS spread, a good gauge of inflation expectations, is rising 7 basis points to 1.13%, which is down 150 basis points in under four months and at the lowest level since April 1999. Another meaningful decline in gauges of credit angst is a large positive for the broad market. Uncertainty regarding the settlement of the now-defaulted Lehman credit derivatives may be holding the market back a bit today. I suspect a lifting of this uncertainty tomorrow will lead to further US stock gains. The US dollar continues to trade very well and I still see further upside in the currency over the intermediate-term. The worst-case scenario for the global economy, that had been factored into many stock prices near current levels, diminishes with each day of improvement in the credit markets, in my opinion. Nikkei futures indicate an +250 open in Japan and DAX futures indicate an +100 open in Germany tomorrow. I expect US stocks to trade modestly higher into the close from current levels on short-covering, diminishing credit angst, less financial sector pessimism and bargain-hunting.

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- The cost to protect against defaults by U.S. banks fell today as money-market rates declined in a sign that central bank efforts to unfreeze interbank lending are starting to help. Credit-default swaps on Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co. declined, according to CMA Datavision. The amount banks charge each other for three-month loans in U.S. dollars, as measured by the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, dropped the most in nine months, according to the British Bankers' Association. A measure of cash availability, known as the Libor-OIS spread, fell below 300 basis points for the first time in almost two weeks as U.S. and European governments guaranteed bank debt and started other rescue efforts including the purchase of equity stakes in some banks.

- Money-market rates fell, extending last week's declines, as governments bailed out banks and policy makers intensified efforts to combat the freeze in lending with cash injections. The London interbank offered rate, or Libor, that banks charge each other for three-month loans in dollars slid 36 basis points to 4.06 percent today, the biggest drop in nine months, according to the British Bankers' Association. The overnight- dollar rate declined 16 basis points to 1.51 percent, the lowest level in more than four years. The three-month rate for euros fell. The Libor-OIS spread, a measure of cash availability, dropped below 300 basis points for the first time in almost two weeks.

- The US dollar rose against the euro for a fourth day as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke endorsed additional fiscal stimulus.

- Ann Kohler, analyst at Caris & Co. says an OPEC production cut may prolong the global economic slump. (video)

- Ray Barros, CEO of Ray Barros Trading Group, says TED spread’s fall may signal stock rally. (video)

- The Bush administration is ``open to the idea'' of another economic stimulus package, though approval would depend on details drafted by Congress, spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke endorsed additional fiscal stimulus, saying the credit crunch is ``hitting home'' as Americans find it harder to get loans, threatening a prolonged economic slump.

- Crude oil rose for a second day in New York on speculation OPEC will lower output in an attempt to halt a slide in prices, which have fallen more than 50 percent from July's record.

- Exelon Corp., the biggest U.S. operator of nuclear power plants, offered to buy NRG Energy Inc. for $6.2 billion to take advantage of a 55 percent drop in the debt-laden company's shares since July 1.

- Judith Miller, the former New York Times reporter who spent 85 days in jail for refusing to testify in a grand jury investigation, joined News Corp.'s Fox News as a contributor.

Wall Street Journal:

- You would think we would learn. But we don’t. We tirelessly follow Wall Street prophets such as talk-show host Jim Cramer, Internet analyst Mary Meeker and investor Bill Miller. At least until we discover that they, too, get lost in the wilderness. And we learn nothing. The latest of these prophets is Arjun N. Murti, an influential Goldman Sachs oil analyst, who has marched his bullish oil followers straight off a cliff. On May 6, 2008, Murti predicted $150 to $200 oil within six to 24 months. Prices dutifully jumped. Then they rose even higher, peaking at more than $147 on July 11. Later that month, of course, it all came apart. The prospects for strong global economic growth were fading. Speculators and leveraged traders turned tail. Fast. “Super Dips” replaced “Super Spikes.” By mid-September, Murti was in full retreat. He cut his 2009 oil price target to $110 from $140. A week ago, he was back at it. Goldman cut its 2009 oil price target to $75 from $110. Apparently, it might go even lower. Goldman’s “worst case” scenario is $50 a barrel. That is roughly the price at which oil was trading on March 30, 2005, when Murti made his $105 prediction.

NY Times:
- In an unusual partnership, New York State and federal prosecutors are investigating trading in credit-default swaps, the insurance-like securities that have come under close scrutiny for their role in the financial crisis, The New York Times’s Vikas Bajaj reported. Prosecutors are looking at whether traders manipulated the largely unregulated market for credit-default swaps to drive down the price of financial shares over the last year, The Times said, citing people briefed on the investigation.

- Unhappy with both the A.P. service and its price — more than $800,000 a year at a time when The Dispatch’s finances are severely pinched — the paper on Friday took the once-unthinkable step of saying it would drop the service.

NY Post:

- Media mogul Sumner Redstone, caught in the vise-like grip of the credit crunch, may be forced to sell his prized Viacom Inc., home of MTV, Nickelodeon and Paramount Studios. A sale of Viacom, or any piece of the company, would be a tremendous setback to the 85-year-old Redstone, as he has spent the better part of his professional life pulling together the crown jewel of his investment portfolio.

Integrity Research:
- Developing Hedge Fund Trends To Hurt Research Biz. We suspect that many research providers - both sell-side firms and independent research providers - will suffer as the sheer number of current (or potential) clients drops. In our view, the firms that will bear the brunt of the difficulties will be the smaller regional players and the indie shops that produce undifferentiated fundamental company research. This trend will be exacerbated by the fact that the amount of commissions available to pay for third-party research should also plunge.

MDA DataQuick:

- Southern California home sales shot up by an unprecedented 65 percent last month from the dismal, record lows of a year ago, when a credit crunch slammed the brakes on home financing. September sales also posted a rare gain over August as price cuts lured more buyers. Last month's sales were the highest for any month since December 2006 and the year-over-year gain was the highest for any month in DataQuick's statistics, which go back to 1988.

Washington Post:

- Is Capitalism Dead? The market that failed was not exactly free. The 1999 repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, a Depression-era law separating commercial banking and investment banking, passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in Congress and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton. No subsidy would prove more fateful than the massive federal commitment to residential real estate -- from the mortgage interest tax deduction to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to the Federal Reserve's low interest rates under Mr. Greenspan. Unregulated derivatives known as credit-default swaps did accentuate the boom in mortgage-based investments, by allowing investors to transfer risk rather than setting aside cash reserves. But government helped make mortgages a purportedly sure thing in the first place. Home prices seemed to stand on a solid floor built by Washington.

Reuters:
- Nigeria has cut the proposed benchmark oil price in its draft 2009 budget to $45 per barrel from $62.5 as a result of the decline in world crude prices, a senior finance ministry official told Reuters on Monday. "Forty-five dollars is what we are working with right now, but it has to go to the National Assembly (for approval)," the official said, declining to be named.

Deutschlandradio:

- European Central Bank Executive Board member Juergen Stark said inflation will slow more than expected next year as the economy weakens. Stark said that “we have to brace ourselves for a longer phase of difficult economic developments.” While the crisis “may have reached a peak” in the past week, it will take a “long time” for confidence to return to the banking sector.

Al-Jazirah:

- Saudi Arabia’s inflation is easing as global commodity prices decline because of the international financial crisis, citing Hamad Saud al-Sayari, the central bank Governor. Inflation will continue to slow in the coming months as basic commodity prices decline in the kingdom, he said.

Bear Radar

Style Underperformer:
Small-cap Value (-.76%)

Sector Underperformers:
Gaming (-1.93%), Retail (-.81%) and REITs (-.61%)

Stocks Falling on Unusual Volume:
VE, AMAG, XRAY, RIMM, MBR and HRL

Stocks With Unusual Put Option Activity:
1) SNV 2) AMAG 3) JASO 4) KBR 5) BBD

Bull Radar

Style Outperformer:
Mid-cap Growth (+2.03%)

Sector Outperformers:
Steel (+3.53%), Oil Service (+3.5%) and Restaurants (+2.17%)

Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume:
CLMT, HTX, WBMD, ROCM, PETS, PEET, MMSI, ASML, BCPC, BIDU, AMAT, SYNA, CRZO, LPHI, IVGN, CERN, SLGN, HURC, CWEI, CHRW, DRYS, MICC, ING, NRG, IFN, TPL, EBS, LNY, ABI, IRE and EDU

Stocks With Unusual Call Option Activity:
1) AMAG 2) SIRI 3) DOW 4) NDAQ 5) AMLN

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Monday Watch

Weekend Headlines
Bloomberg:

- European Central Bank President Jean- Claude Trichet said the banking system is ``on the path'' to recovery after policy makers pumped unprecedented amounts of cash into money markets. ``I expect the banks to normalize their relationships, meaning that they start lending to each other and that they lend to their clients,'' Trichet said in an interview on French radio RTL today. The banking system is ``on the path to normalization,'' he said.

- European Central Bank council member George Provopoulos said the ECB stands ready to act to ensure stability in financial markets. ``At present, restoring confidence in financial markets globally remains the main priority of all,'' he said.

- ING Groep NV, the biggest Dutch financial-services firm, will get 10 billion euros ($13.4 billion) from the Netherlands after warning Oct. 17 of its first quarterly loss and falling the most in Amsterdam trading since 1991.

- Bond Default Risk Has First Weekly Fall Since Lehman Collapse.

- The cost of protecting Australian corporate bonds from default declined, credit-default swaps show. The Markit iTraxx Australia index was quoted 25 basis points lower at 220 as of 11:13 a.m. in Sydney, down from a trade at 245 late on Oct. 17, according to Citigroup Inc.

- OPEC, the supplier of more than 40 percent of the world's oil, plans to cut output for the first time in almost two years as the worst financial crisis since the 1930s sends crude toward $50 a barrel. Options contracts to sell oil at $50 by December soared 28- fold in the past two weeks on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co. analysts say crude, which fell more than 50 percent from a record high in July to $71.85 a barrel last week, may drop another 44 percent should the world economy slip into a recession. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which meets Oct. 24 in Vienna, three weeks earlier than planned, is facing the weakest growth in demand since 1993 just as new fields come on line from Angola to the Gulf of Mexico. ``OPEC is going to try to prevent some of the price decline,'' Francisco Blanch, head of global commodities research at Merrill in London, said in a Bloomberg television interview. ``It's going to be very difficult to stem a price fall.''

- The leaders of the U.S., France and the European Commission will ask other world leaders to join in a series of summits on the global financial crisis beginning in the U.S. soon after the Nov. 4 presidential election. President George W. Bush, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Barroso said in a joint statement after meeting yesterday that they will continue pressing for coordination to address ``the challenges facing the global economy.''

- Republican presidential nominee John McCain said record spending by Democratic rival Barack Obama had upset the U.S. campaign finance system and eventually would lead to a ``scandal.'' Senator Obama of Illinois raised more than $150 million in September, more than doubling the previous one-month record he had set in August. The campaign has now raised $605 million. ``The dam is broken,'' McCain said on the ``Fox News Sunday'' program. ``We're now going to see huge amounts of money coming into political campaigns, and we know history tells us that always leads to scandal.'' McCain, a senator from Arizona, also accused Obama of advocating ``one of the tenets of socialism'' by planning a ``redistribution of the wealth.'' ``We don't know where the money came from -- a lot of strange things going on in this campaign,'' McCain said. ``The American people should know where every penny came from. They know where every penny of my campaign contributions came from.''

- The price of regular gasoline at U.S. filling stations fell below $3 a gallon for the first time in eight months as demand weakens, an industry survey showed yesterday. The average price fell 3.7 cents to $2.954 a gallon, down 28 percent from an all-time high of $4.114 in July, AAA, the nation's biggest motoring club, said today on its Web site. Gasoline demand this year peaked at 9.65 million barrels a day in the week ended Aug. 1, 5.9 percent below the 2007 maximum of 10.25 million barrels a day, according to MasterCard Inc. U.S. refineries have operated at an average 84.9 percent of capacity this year, down 4 percentage points from a year earlier, according to the Energy Department. The number of miles driven by Americans this year may fall for the first time since 1980, according to the Federal Highway Administration.

- South Korea sought to rescue its financial system by guaranteeing $100 billion of lenders' foreign-currency debts and providing $30 billion in U.S. dollars to banks.

- The supervisory board of Groupe Caisse d'Epargne, France's third-biggest consumer banking network, ousted the bank's chairman and chief executive officer after suffering a $807 million trading loss.

- Millennium Global Investments Ltd., a London-based asset manager with $15 billion in assets, is liquidating a hedge fund that buys emerging-market debt after lenders withdrew credit, according to two people familiar with the situation.

- China's economy grew 9 percent in the third quarter, the slowest pace in five years. Rio Tinto Group(RTP), the world's second-largest aluminum producer, last week flagged ``significantly weaker'' demand for the metal in China. Prices for Chinese imports of iron ore also fell to a 19-month low on cooling demand from steelmakers. Export growth may plummet from 22 percent in the first nine months of this year to ``zero or even negative growth'' in 2009, according to Stephen Green, head of China research at Standard Chartered Bank Plc in Shanghai. Weakness in the property market is also a threat to growth. Home sales by volume plunged 55.5 percent and 38.5 percent in Beijing and Shanghai in the first eight months from a year earlier, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing the China Real Estate Association.

- Nissan Motor Co., Japan's third- largest automaker, rose as much as 7.6 percent on the Tokyo Stock Exchange after UBS AG raised the carmaker's rating because the stock's decline has boosted its dividend yield.

Wall Street Journal:

- Credit markets may have their first significant thawing in months this week, building on a boost in bank lending on Friday and government moves to restore trust between lenders and borrowers. On Friday, three big banks led by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. made multibillion-dollar offers of three-month funds to European counterparts, causing an immediate stir in the shriveled markets for unsecured lending. That raised expectations that lenders would finally open their doors and businesses would be able to borrow again, removing one of the biggest stresses on the global economy. In response, futures markets are predicting sharp declines in the rates banks charge one another to borrow, with the benchmark three-month Libor, or London interbank offered rate, expected to drop by around half a percentage point from 4.41875% Friday. "We're getting an accumulation of evidence that things are starting to unfreeze," said Carl Lantz, interest-rate strategist at Credit Suisse in New York.

- The International Monetary Fund has launched an investigation into whether its chief, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, abused his position in connection with a sexual relationship with a subordinate, in a case that could roil a key global institution at a crucial moment in the world financial crisis.

- Movie-goers elected a "W," but it was Mark Wahlberg, not George W. Bush. Wahlberg's action flick "Max Payne" debuted with $18 million to outdo Oliver Stone's film biography of George W. Bush, according to studio estimates Sunday. Mr. Stone's "W." actually ran fourth, opening with $10.6 million to finish behind the family comedy "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" (No. 2 with $11.2 million) and the chick flick "The Secret Life of Bees" (No. 3 with $11.1 million).

- NBC Universal is looking to shave $500 million from next year's budget. The General Electric Co.(GE) unit, which includes broadcast and cable-TV networks, local television stations and a movie studio, says the cuts will amount to 3% of its 2009 budget.

Barron’s:

- Insider buying surpassed selling by a 3-to-1 margin in the week ended Oct.14, as executives invested in energy, retail, and small financial companies, citing InsiderScore.com. The ratio of buying to selling was almost even four weeks ago. In the past three months, insiders invested hundreds of millions in security software services($640 million), waste management companies($486 million) and electric utilities($317 million), Barron’s said. Through his hedge fund, ESL Investments, Edward Lampert, bought $27.6 million of AutoZone Inc.(AZO) as the stock reached a two-year low.

MarketWatch.com:

- OPEC over a barrel. According to the latest data from Hedge Fund Research, third-quarter hedge fund redemptions hit a record-high $210 billion, spearheading an exodus wealth that burst one of the biggest commodities bubbles of all time. It's no coincidence that oil prices plunged in tandem with these record withdrawals, exposing for all to see just how much of the summer's oil-price spike was driven by speculators.

NY Times:

- Michael R. Bloomberg, who says he strictly separates his philanthropy from his job as mayor of New York, is pressing many of the community, arts and neighborhood groups that rely on his private donations to make the case for his third term, according to interviews with those involved in the effort.

- Swapping Secrecy for Transparency by SEC chairman Chris Cox. The historic volatility in the financial markets has raised important questions about the lack of meaningful regulation of financial instruments known as credit-default swaps. The $85 billion government rescue last month of the insurance conglomerate American International Group, for example, was needed in large part to protect those who held A.I.G.’s credit-default swaps and risked crushing losses if those instruments weren’t honored.

- Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson faces criticism over his predilection toward hiring executives and bankers from his former firm Goldman Sachs Group Inc.(GS). Univ. of Texas professor James Galbraith said there are potential conflicts of interest if the executives still own Goldman Sachs stock that may benefit based on their decisions.

- Financial Crisis Provides Fertile Ground for Boom in Lawsuits. Nothing makes lawyers more popular than bad times.

CBS News:

- U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney, embroiled in an adultery scandal and a tight race for re-election, admitted Friday to having at least two affairs but insisted he broke no laws and will not resign. The first-term Democrat conceded that one of the affairs began as he was running on a family values platform to replace Mark Foley, a Republican who resigned amid revelations that he sent lurid Internet messages to male pages who had worked on Capitol Hill as teenagers. Mahoney, 52, apologized to his wife, his daughter and his constituents, even as he maintained he hadn't been hypocritical.

CNNMoney.com:

- BofA chief optimistic about financial bailout. Bank of America Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis says the $25 billion the government is injecting into his bank will be put to work making loans and be paid back at the latest in five years.

AP:

- A crude oil production cut of even 1 million barrels per day at OPEC's upcoming emergency meeting is unlikely to reverse slumping prices in the short term, analysts said Sunday, amid mounting calls by several cartel members to take action to keep prices at the $80 per barrel level. That presents OPEC with a dilemma. If they announce too big a cut, they risk fueling the global financial crisis. But, cut too little, and $80 per barrel will be wishful thinking. Some OPEC officials have said prices closer to $100 per barrel are ideal. Even if the members agree on a production cut, 1 million barrels will not be enough and "there will be cheating on the quotas from day one," said Al-Harami, who served as former president of Q8, the retail arm of the Kuwait Petroleum Corp. Al-Harami believes the group is being hasty in moving to cut production and believes they should hold off until at least the winter when demand for energy for heating picks up. The International Energy Agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration and, most recently, OPEC have all lowered their forecasts for energy demand heading into next year. Such revisions, in tandem with the price drops, are particularly worrisome for some top producers like Iran -- the cartel's second largest crude exporter, which relies on oil revenue for about 80 percent of its government budget. Iranian officials have repeatedly said crude at $100 seems fair. Others, including Qatar's oil minister and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, have pushed for levels closer to $80-90. Ultimately, added Al-Harami, "the biggest player is Saudi, and what Saudi decides, the others have to follow."

Reuters:

- China Investment Corp, the country's sovereign wealth fund, has raised its stake in private equity firm Blackstone Group (BX) above 10 percent, Chinese official media reported on Saturday. The official Shanghai Securities News also said on Saturday that CIC confirmed reports it planned to boost its stake to 12.5 percent from its original 9.9 percent holding by buying shares on the open market.

- Democrat Barack Obama's lead over Republican John McCain in the presidential race has dropped to 3 points, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Sunday. Obama leads McCain by 48 to 45 percent among likely U.S. voters, down 1 percentage point from Saturday. The four-day tracking poll, which has a margin of error of 2.9 points. Pollster John Zogby said the numbers were good news for McCain, and probably reflected a bump following his appearance in the third and final presidential debate on Wednesday. "For the first time in the polling McCain is up above 45 percent. There is no question something has happened," Zogby said.

Financial Times:

- Hedge funds poised for harsh phase of evolution. Hedge fund indices differ widely but they agree that hedge funds started to lose money in July - and lost it in a big way last month. Why? This must be guesswork, but a popular hedge fund strategy involved selling short the stocks of banks while betting on energy prices to increase. The argument was that lower rates to combat the credit crisis would feed through into inflation and cause funds to flow into oil. In the year to mid-July, this trade netted 345 per cent. But then the oil bubble burst. Since then, the "long oil short banks" trade has lost 57 per cent.

- As some Asian countries rushed to restrict short selling last month to support plunging share markets, the first reaction in the alternative investment world was panic. "People were running around like headless chickens," says one Australian hedge fund sales manager in Hong Kong. The worry is that temporary limitations show some signs of becoming more politically acceptable and entrenched as the region's stock markets remain jumpy.

- Procter & Gamble(PG) is testing its ability to use the internet to sell its toothpaste, household cleaners and nappies directly to US households, in a potential long-term strategic challenge to its retail partners.

- "Stronger for longer" was the rallying cry. But it turns out that mining companies were simply wronger for longer - the five-year commodity boom was just another asset price bubble after all. Indeed, the warning signs were there. Salt of the earth miners swapped their beards for expensive suits. Truck drivers demanded six-figure salaries. And, as ever, there was a new paradigm. The internet was worshipped during the dotcom years. This time it was China. Those who "didn't get it" were unreconstructed heretics.

TimesOnline:
- Stocks have tumbled to their cheapest for a generation, and company bosses took advantage of last week’s turmoil to snap up shares. “For long-term investors, there are some causes for optimism. Equity markets are now firmly pricing in global recession, with shares on some measures the lowest for a generation,” said Paul Niven at fund manager F&C. Company directors seemed to agree, buying their own shares with gusto. Directors’ dealings — traditionally a key “buy” signal — last week spiked to a buy-to-sell ratio of 25-to-1 by volume. That compares with a long-term average of 2.5-to-1, an average of 8-to-1 in the past 12 months and a ratio of 10-to-1 at the end of the 2003 bear market, financial data firm Digital Look said.

Telegraph:

- The $54trillion credit derivatives market faces a delicate test as $360bn worth of contracts on now-defaulted derivatives on Lehman Brothers are due to be settled on Tuesday.

21^st Century Business Herald:

- China’s economy has risks of deflation and an outflow of capital as a global financial crisis worsens, citing Liu Mingkang, chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission. Commercial banks should be wary of the risks in property credit, Liu said.

South China Morning Post:

- Las Vegas Sands Corp.(LVS) scrapped its plan to raise $5.25 billion in loans for its expansion in Macau because of the global credit crisis, citing officials.

Weekend Recommendations
Barron's:
- Made positive comments on EMKR, MTU, AFFX, BGG, ABT, UPS, BBY, BBBY and CDNS.

- Made negative comments on EBAY.

Citigroup:

- Reiterated Buy on (FHN), target $14.

- Upgraded (CVS) to Buy, target $23.

- Reiterated Buy on (CRM), target $51.

- Reiterated Buy on (HON), target $50.

Night Trading
Asian indices are -1.50% to +2.0% on avg.
S&P 500 futures +.91%.
NASDAQ 100 futures +.95%.

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Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate
- (ETN)/1.88

- (HAL)/.74

- (MAT)/.71

- (TXN)/.44

- (NFLX)/.31

- (AXP)/.59

- (LNCR)/.72

- (SNDK)/-.27

- (HAS)/.86

Upcoming Splits

- None of note

Economic Releases

10:00 am EST

- Leading Indicators for September are estimated to fall .1% versus a .5% decline in August.

Other Potential Market Movers
- None of note

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly higher, boosted by automaker and financial shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open mixed and to rally into the afternoon, finishing modestly higher. The Portfolio is 100% net long heading into the week.