Late-Night Headlines
Bloomberg:
- AU Optronics Corp.(AUO),
cnet:
NY Times:
Forbes.com:
- 10 Cities For Job Growth in 2009.
IBD:
DailyTech:
AP:
Reuters:
The Independent:
Nikkei:
- The Bank of Japan is likely to cut its outlook for the economy and prices at this month’s policy meeting ending on Jan.22. Members of the policy board, who in October forecast .6% growth for the year beginning April l, now expect the economy will shrink next year. Some members forecast a negligible contraction, while others see the economy shrinking as much as 2%. The central bank will also downgrade a previous forecast for prices to remain flat in fiscal 2009. Lower crude oil and commodity costs, combined with falling demand, will cause prices to fall.
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Late Buy/Sell Recommendations
Bank of
- Recommended that investors bet that the Canadian dollar will weaken against the Swiss franc as the commodity boom falters. “The declining stimulus from the energy sector has just started to show up in Canadian economic figures.”
Night Trading
Asian Indices are -.25% to +1.25% on average.
S&P 500 futures -.09%.
NASDAQ 100 futures -.04%.
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
- (AYI)/.76
- (GPN)/.58
- (RECN)/.20
Economic Releases
10:00 am EST
- The ISM Non-Manufacturing report for December is estimated to fall to 36.5 versus a reading of 37.3 in November.
- Factory Orders for November are estimated to fall 2.3% versus a 5.1% decline in October.
- Pending Home Sales for November are estimated to fall 1.0% versus a .7% decline in October.
2:00 pm EST
- Minutes of Dec. 16 FOMC Meeting.
Upcoming Splits
- None of note
Other Potential Market Movers
- The weekly retail sales reports, Needham Growth Conference and Citi Entertainment/Media/Telecom Conference could also impact trading today.
BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly higher, boosted by commodity and technology stocks 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.