Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:

- U.S. regulators accused R. Allen Stanford of running a “massive, ongoing fraud” while selling about $8 billion in certificates of deposit through Antigua- based Stanford International Bank Ltd. The bank made “improbable and unsubstantiated” claims about its ability to generate “safe” returns of more than 10 percent, and it misled investors about exposure to Bernard Madoff’s alleged Ponzi scheme, the Securities and Exchange Commission said today in a complaint against Stanford, firms he controls and two colleagues. The agency asked the Dallas federal court to freeze assets and appoint a receiver to return money to investors.

- Richard Bove, the equity research analyst who recommended investors sell brokerage stocks in May, left Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. after a disagreement with the firm over settling a defamation lawsuit. Bove, who joined Stamford, Connecticut-based Rochdale Securities LLC this week, was sued in July by BankAtlantic Bancorp, which said he defamed the company by saying it might fail in a report titled “Who is Next?”

- Sharks don’t get cancer. Scientists who are interested in understanding the dynamics of cancer, therefore, say the study of sharks may be rewarding. Similarly, looking at stocks doing well in a sour market can sometimes yield insights. One might get a clue to the market’s future leaders or discover individual stocks worth buying. Of 1,665 U.S. stocks with a market value of $500 million or more, 117 have gained 20 percent or more this year.

- Crude oil fell below $35 a barrel in New York on speculation a deepening recession in the U.S., Europe and Asia will reduce fuel demand. Oil declined as much as 8.2 percent as stocks dropped on concern banks may face ratings downgrades and further losses as economies slow.

- Harvard Narcissists With MBAs Killed Wall Street.

- Las Vegas Sands Corp.(LVS) and Wynn Resorts Ltd.(WYNN) joined hoteliers in lambasting U.S. lawmakers’ criticism of corporate travel, saying hundreds of thousands of jobs are in jeopardy. President Barack Obama’s warning this month that companies receiving government bailout money “can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers’ dime” is causing more convention and meeting cancellations in the city, already hurt by the U.S. recession, executives of the four biggest Las Vegas Strip casino owners said in interviews. “It’s very anti-stimulus, it’s pro-recessionary, pro- unemployment,” Las Vegas Sands Chief Executive Officer Sheldon Adelson, the pioneer of Vegas conventions, said by telephone. Instead of “making companies embarrassed” to bring employees together in a resort town, government officials should be encouraging them “to get together and really sit and strategize,” said Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. government relations chief Jan Jones, Las Vegas mayor from 1991 to 1999. Business travel creates 2.5 million U.S. jobs, including 1 million in meetings and events alone, U.S. Travel Association said. The travel industry was forecast to lose about 450,000 jobs in 2008 and 2009 “before politicians found this to be a good political punching bag,” Freeman said. “How many jobs will they cost?”

- International demand for long-term U.S. financial assets rose more than economists forecast in December as foreign investors bought the most corporate debt since June. Total net purchases of long-term equities, notes and bonds increased to $34.8 billion, compared with net selling of a revised $25.6 billion in November, the Treasury Department said today in Washington. Including short-term securities such as stock swaps, foreigners bought a net $74 billion, compared with net buying of $61.3 billion the previous month.

- The euro fell below $1.26 for the first time since early December after Moody’s Investors Service said it may cut the ratings of several banks with units in eastern Europe, adding to concern financial turmoil will deepen. The US dollar and yen gained against most of their major counterparts as stock markets fell, making the U.S. and Japanese currencies more attractive as havens.

- Jean-Claude Trichet’s decision this month to keep interest rates unchanged will push Europe’s economy deeper into a recession, the region’s bond prices show. The European Central Bank President said Feb. 5 that following the Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan in cutting rates to near zero has “drawbacks” that are “inappropriate.” Even so, investors drove yields on two-year German bunds to the lowest level relative to longer-maturity debt since 1997 in a sign that they are betting he will have to do just that. “The bond market is telling the ECB they need to wake up to reality,” said Komal Sri-Kumar, chief global strategist at Los Angeles-based TCW Asset Management, which has about $118 billion in assets. “They didn’t do their job on time or adequately, and need to cut rates again as soon and as much as they can. They also need to start thinking of unconventional measures.”

- Wal-Mart Stores Inc.(WMT), the world’s largest retailer, reported fourth-quarter profit that fell less than analysts estimated after discounts on groceries and drugs attracted consumers. Wal-Mart climbed $1.59, or 3.4 percent, to $48.12 at 9:36 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

- The Obama administration’s Environmental Protection Agency said it will reconsider a memo issued in the final weeks of the Bush administration that may have eased approval of new coal-fired power plants.

- General Motors Corp.(GM) and Chrysler LLC, already relying on government aid to survive, take their case to the U.S. Treasury today that they can undo past mistakes and justify more U.S. aid to return to profit.

- Russia agreed to supply China with oil for 20 years in return for a $25 billion credit, as the world’s largest energy producer seeks to expand its presence on East Asian markets. Russia signed the accord in Beijing today to deliver 15 million metric tons a year (301,000 barrels a day) for the next two decades, as well as build a branch from a new Siberian pipeline to the Chinese border, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin said on Russian state broadcaster Vesti-24.

- Russian stocks fell the most in almost five weeks, triggering trading halts in the nation’s largest bourses, as lower oil prices and a forecast for deeper economic contraction dragged down energy producers and banks. OAO Lukoil, the country’s second-largest oil company, and OAO Sberbank, the biggest lender, slumped more than 7 percent. The 30-stock Micex Index lost 6.7 percent to 664.3 at 5:15 p.m. in Moscow, as trading resuming on the Micex Stock Exchange following an hour stoppage because of the declines. The RTS Index sank 7.1 percent to 566.03. The ruble weakened for a second day versus the dollar.

Wall Street Journal:

- While most American corporations pinch pennies, Oracle Corp.(ORCL) is quietly going on a shopping spree. The software giant completed 10 acquisitions in the past year, ranging from a maker of insurance-policy-writing tools, to a designer of "plan-o-gram" software used by stores to maximize their use of shelf space. This month it bought mValent Inc., a tiny maker of software that helps configure other software. These deals, whose terms haven't been reported previously, put Oracle in a small club of cash-rich companies bargain-hunting.

- In a sign that the recession is forcing phone companies to take bold measures to hold onto landline customers, Verizon Communications Inc. is considering a $5 monthly voice plan that would let customers receive calls but dial only 911 and Verizon customer service.

- At a dinner hosted by Barack Obama on the eve of his inauguration, John McCain said of the new president: "His success will be our success." The dinner, hosted by the Democrat for his vanquished Republican foe, was intended to signal a new era of "bipartisanship," a cause both men have made themes of their careers. Mr. McCain said Friday that Mr. Obama's Washington has failed to live up to that promise, less than a month into the new administration. In an interview in his Senate office, Mr. McCain said Democrats have simply tried to pick off a few Republicans to support their agenda, rather than sitting down and negotiating.

- The Obama administration is betting that an extra $8 a week in most Americans' paychecks will boost consumer spending and help pull the U.S. out of its downturn. One piece of the $787 billion economic recovery package, which President Barack Obama plans to sign Tuesday in Denver, is an experiment in consumer behavior. The $116 billion in tax credits for 95% of Americans will come largely through reduced tax withholding from paychecks, over two years, rather than one-time payments. The idea: let money trickle out to consumers so it feels like a permanent income boost.

CNBC.com:
- The S&P 500 is trading in a range that shows it’s at a bottom for the current economic cycle, Bob Doll, BlackRock vice chairman and chief investment officer at BlackRock Inc., told CNBC. “I think we are making a bottoming process, albeit the climb back out is going to be very slow as the economy is going to remain sluggish,” Doll said. He said BlackRock is buying health-care stocks. “People get sick, unfortunately, even in recessions,” he said.

NY Post:

- Citigroup's(C) quest to raise cash by selling the assets it doesn't want is falling flat, as would-be suitors have more interest in the parts of the business that Citi would like to keep. One investor on the prowl is Texas billionaire Gerald J. Ford, who sources said is interested in buying back bank assets and branches that make up the former Golden State Bancorp, a Glendale, Calif.-based savings and loan that Citi bought from Ford seven years ago for nearly $6 billion.

The Philadelphia Inquirer:

- To hear Collegeville builder Gustavo Perea tell it, the prospect is frightening. Some ambitious union organizer would take his carpenters out to a bar, buy them a couple of beers, get them to sign some union cards, and the next thing Perea knows, he'd wake up in the morning with a union shop. That's how he imagines the future if the federal Employee Free Choice Act is passed - a proposed law that unions say would make it easier for them to bring unions into workplaces. It would allow workers to bypass traditional union-establishing elections if a majority sign cards that would authorize a union, a process known as card check. "It's a bad law," said Perea, president of Adams-Bickel Associates Inc. Union organizers such as Harry Arnold disagree. "We are not afraid of elections," said Arnold, who works locally for the Communications Workers of America and specializes in organizing cable and telecom employees. "It's what happens during the time the company gets to intimidate the workers [before the election]" that worries organizers, he said. Other provisions in the bill stiffen penalties for unfair business practices against pro-union workers and require binding arbitration if both sides cannot agree on a first contract. Perea and thousands of other businesses are behind a big push to defeat the bill - President Obama's top promise to organized labor, which provided important parts of the grassroots machinery that helped elect him. Experts say the bill might be introduced in the House in March or April, but the key Senate vote probably won't occur until June. The national Chamber of Commerce has spent $10 million in recent months opposing the proposed legislation, while labor, through the AFL-CIO and affiliate organizations, launched a $3 million advertising campaign in mid-January. In the first week of February, both sides sent their troops to Washington to lobby in well-publicized events. Union workers delivered a petition with more than a million signatures supporting the act. The National Association of Manufacturers dispatched 50 chief executives. Perea's not surprised that passing the bill is organized labor's top priority this year." Unions have been losing ground," Perea said. "The world has changed. It's an archaic and antique method of working."

Politico:

- Railroads made Chicago, and now a Chicago-rich White House wants to return the favor: remaking rail with a huge new federal investment in high-speed passenger trains. The $787.2 billion economic recovery bill — to be signed by President Barack Obama on Tuesday — dedicates $8 billion to high-speed rail, most of which was added in the final closed-door bargaining at the instigation of White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel. It’s a sum that far surpasses anything before attempted in the United States — and more is coming. Administration officials told Politico that when Obama outlines his 2010 budget next week, it will ask for $1 billion more for high-speed rail in each of the next five years.

- House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) is pushing Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to take a harder line with the Senate after a trio of Republican senators forced Congress to trim billions from the $787 billion economic stimulus package.

USAToday:

- Despite President Obama's vow to open government more than ever, the Justice Department is defending Bush administration decisions to keep secret many documents about domestic wiretapping, data collection on travelers and U.S. citizens, and interrogation of suspected terrorists.

Reuters:
- High-profile hedge fund manager Crispin Odey, who made money last year betting on falling bank share prices, has been buying into UK banks recently because he thinks they are now so cheap. Odey, who is founding partner of Odey Asset Management and manager of the 896 million euro Odey European fund, said in notes to clients this month that the risk/return on UK clearing banks' shares is now wrong and that over time these shares would do well. "We have become big buyers of the UK clearing banks. This reflects how cheap they are," said Odey, who earned nearly 28 million pounds in the year to April 2008. Holdings in the banks and financials sector rose to 5.4 percent of his European fund at the end of January from 3 percent at the end of December.

- European automaker Volkswagen AG's car venture in Shanghai has slashed prices by up to nearly 12 percent to lure buyers into the showroom.

Handelsblatt:
- German exports may decline more than 10% in 2009, citing a forecast by DekaBank.

London Stock Exchange:

- The Financial Services Authority (FSA) will launch a probe into the hedge fund industry's rigid performance fees once it wraps up an investigation into banking bonuses, an expert has predicted. PricewaterhouseCoopers' UK financial services tax leader Robert Mellor told Reuters that the FSA's focus would be on strengthening the link between fees and investments' underlying performance.

Interfax:

- Russia’s Economy Ministry revised its estimate of the country’s economic contraction in 2009 to 2.2% negative growth from a .2% contraction, citing Deputy Economy Minister Andrei Klepach. The ministry estimates that industrial output will shrink 7.4% this year, down from a previous forecast of 5.5% negative growth, citing Klepach.

Nature News:

- Researchers warn that the overuse of nitrogen fertilizer in China is poisoning air, soil and water and say farmers could cut their use of the fertilizers without compromising crop yields. Until recently, the use of fertilizer in China was actively promoted by scientists, government and the 'extension staff' who promote new agricultural practices to farmers. As a result, the average grain production per unit area of farmed land doubled between 1977 and 2005. The cost for that increase was a significant surge in fertilizer use from 7 million tons in 1977 to 26.2 million tons in 2005. "Most farmers believe that higher crop yields will be achieved with more fertilizer, whereas our study shows that sometimes less is more," says Zhang.

China Briefing Magazine:
- China’s yuan may weaken to around 7 per dollar as the economy worsens and unemployment rises, citing Zhang Xiaoqiang, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission. The currency may decline to 6.95 to 7 against the dollar, the official at the country’s top planning agency was quoted as saying. Zhang said 20 million jobs were cut in Guangdong, China’s export hub, over the past year.

MoneyNews.com:

- Global assets of hedge funds may drop to $1.2 trillion by the end of the first quarter, down 35 percent from 2007 as the number of managers decline and funds rely less on strategies that use leverage, a UBS executive said on Tuesday. "We are gonna see a reduction in hedge fund assets, we are gonna see decline in the number of hedge funds, we are gonna see some strategies that will not work in this environment," Timothy Bell, global head of hedge funds advisory at UBS Wealth Management, told reporters in Singapore.

Bear Radar

Style Underperformer:
Mid-cap Value (-5.31%)

Sector Underperformers:
Coal (-9.65%), Banks (-7.89%) and Steel (-7.38%)

Stocks Falling on Unusual Volume:
MBT, ANW, USB, PTR, APA, RAIL, PWRD, CEDC, SYNA, AMAG, AEE, BCA, SMG, PBT and DPL

Stocks With Unusual Put Option Activity:
1) WFT 2) DAI 3) ELNK 4) PWR 5) EXM

Bull Radar

Style Underperformer:
Small-cap Growth (-2.88%)

Sector Underperformers:
Medical Equipment (-.34%), Education (-.50%) and Retail (-1.41%)

Stocks Falling on Unusual Volume:
SA, BVN, WMT, DLTR, FOSL, THO, IWA, DCM, OSIS, CVLT, TEVA, AFAM, LPHI, GOLD, LIHR, STRA, CHE, RNT and FTI

Stocks With Unusual Put Option Activity:
1) PCLN 2) TEVA 3) CX 4) EGO 5) XCO

Links of Interest

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Tuesday Watch

Weekend Headlines
Bloomberg:

- New restrictions on executive pay at U.S. banks receiving federal aid may cause talented managers to flee to hedge funds and foreign-owned banks, say critics of the measure. The limits, championed by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, were tucked into a $787 billion fiscal stimulus bill approved yesterday by Congress. President Barack Obama plans to sign the measure early next week. The provisions go beyond the $500,000 cap announced by Obama last month, by restricting bonuses for senior executives and next 20 highest employees at companies that receive more than $500 million from the Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program. “The soon-to-be-law prohibits paying commissions, which are the lifeblood of a salesperson’s income,” said Scott Talbott, vice president for government affairs at the Financial Services Roundtable, a Washington trade group that lobbies on behalf of banks. “Non-TARP companies, like hedge funds and foreign firms, don’t have this restriction, so it will be easier for them to hire the top producers away.”

- Japan’s economy, only months ago forecast to be the best performing among the world’s most advanced nations, has become the worst. Gross domestic product shrank an annualized 12.7 percent last quarter, the Cabinet Office said yesterday. The contraction was the most severe since the 1974 oil crisis and twice as bad as those in Europe or the U.S.

- Asian stocks, down 60 percent from their peak, may decline further as the deepening global slump weakens corporate earnings and drives up funding costs, Deutsche Bank said. The brokerage lowered its year-end forecast for the MSCI AC Asia excluding Japan Index by 9 percent to 240.7, said Niklas Olausson, a Kuala Lumpur-based analyst. That’s a retreat of about 14 percent from the index’s close on Feb. 13.

- The yen may weaken 13 percent against the dollar this year as Japanese exporters lose competitiveness and the nation’s economic slump deepens, according to Asia Genesis Asset Management Pte. The decline in Japan’s currency may wipe out more than half its gains from 2008 that were spurred by the flight into haven currencies due to the global financial crisis, said Chua Soon Hock, managing director of the Singapore-based hedge fund.

- The euro probably won’t rise from its current price over concern some European governments may miss out on a recovery, according to UBS AG.

- The rising cost of insuring against default by a “peripheral” European government is likely to weigh on the euro, according to Merrill Lynch. “This remains an important background negative for the euro,” Steven Pearson, a strategist in London at Merrill Lynch, wrote. “Euro banking-sector exposure to Eastern Europe, often via foreign currency lending, is an additional euro negative story that is gaining air-time.”

- The euro fell to a 10-week low against the US dollar after Moody’s Investors Service said it may downgrade a number of banks with units in Eastern Europe, reigniting concern about financial turmoil in the region. The euro also weakened against 14 of the 16 major currencies on speculation its recent declines triggered the execution of automatic sell orders. The pound dropped versus the yen on concern a U.K. report today will show inflation slowed due to the economic slump, giving the Bank of England more room to cut interest rates.

- Russia’s ruble may slide as much as 22% against its target basket this year as the central bank is forced to relinquish its defense of the currency amid a deteriorating economy, Nomura Holdings says. The ruble risks “overshooting” to 50 against the basket, which is made up of about 55% dollars and the rest euros, at the end of the year as oil prices continue to fall, he added.

- ASM International NV, Europe’s second-largest maker of semiconductor equipment, rose the most in more than a week in Amsterdam trading after Goldman Sachs(GS) added the stock to its “conviction buy” list. ASMI surged 9.54% to 6.9 euros. The brokerage firm predicts order trends in the semiconductor packaging industry will “stabilize” in the first half of this year.

- Oil prices won’t rise above current levels of $40 a barrel even if OPEC decides to cut output by more than 2 million barrels a day at its next meeting in March, Annahar said, citing a Kuwati oil official. Prices are affected by a huge surplus because of non-compliance to quotas by many members of OPEC, citing Mussa Maarafi, a member of Kuwait’s Supreme Petroleum Council.

- Crude oil fell below $37 a barrel in New York on speculation a deepening recession in Europe and Asia will stifle demand for fuels. World oil demand may not rebound until 2010, when it may begin rising by about 1 percent a year through 2013, International Energy Agency Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka said in London yesterday.

- The United Auto Workers union is objecting to proposals from General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC to modify a retiree health-care fund as required by the U.S. so the automakers can keep $17.4 billion in aid. The UAW stopped negotiations with GM last night, a person familiar with the talks said. Chrysler still is talking to the union, though the talks haven’t been substantive, said another person briefed on those discussions. A delay in the talks could risk the automakers missing a Feb. 17 deadline to show progress in a government-ordered plan to cut labor and debt costs. It’s not clear what that would mean.

- Chinese companies may be using record bank lending to invest in stocks, fueling a rally that’s made the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index the world’s best performer this year, according to Shenyin & Wanguo Securities Co. “Part of the liquidity flowing into the stock market could be from companies using borrowed funds to invest in the stock market instead of working requirements,” said Li. The brokerage was voted the best in the country for research by the national pension fund, China’s largest investor.

Wall Street Journal:

- While much of the investment-banking community looks on the current crisis with a mixture of horror and bemusement, technology bankers have been here before. When the dot-com bubble burst at the beginning of the decade, hundreds of technology companies folded and the flow of deals dried up. Those hard times seem to have returned, but bankers in the sector suggest the prognosis for technology is better than for other sectors, largely because tech companies learned some valuable lessons from the first crash.

- Vodafone, HTC Close to Pact on Use of Google(GOOG) Software.

- Brokerage firms are reducing financing and other services to hundreds of hedge funds, in a move that could accelerate the shakeout among these heavy-hitting investors. Under financial pressure, securities firms are dividing their hedge-fund clients into lists of those they consider best able to weather the financial turmoil and those they're less sure of. The result is that more funds may have to merge, find other financing at higher cost or close. The squeeze, described by a range of brokerage-firm and hedge-fund officials, takes different forms.

NY Times:

- US Survey Shows 90% Don’t Like New Economic Policy.

- There’s an eclectic group of smaller high-tech players that have managed to keep posting double-digit growth and attract new business.

- One distinction this year may turn out to be significant: the various sectors of the stock market have not all been moving in tandem. “The market is starting to sort between the winners and the losers, rather than pushing everything down as if it were a monolithic asset,” said Jeffrey N. Kleintop, chief market strategist at LPL Financial in Boston. While investors lost significant sums in every sector last year, they’re finding some pockets of opportunity now, which could be a sign that pure panic is being wrung out of the market, and that fundamental factors for specific stocks and sectors are beginning to strongly influence investors’ thinking once again.

- US Coal Industry Faces Increased Oppostion.

- What Convergence? TV’s Hesitant March to the Net.

- Zagat Guide to Review Doctors for Wellpoint(WLP) Customers.

Financial News Online:
- Cracks are widening in the $600bn fund of hedge funds business as some of the biggest listed funds face pressure to liquidate and return cash to investors after poor performance. Listed funds of hedge funds represent only a small part of the industry, but analysts warn they face extinction, with potential knock-on effects to the rest of the sector.

NY Post:

- New York Gov. Paterson has secretly granted raises of as much as 46 percent to more than a dozen staffers at a time when he has asked 130,000 state workers to give up 3 percent pay hikes because of the state's fiscal crisis, The Post has learned. The startling pay hikes, costing about $250,000 annually, were granted after the governor's "emergency" declaration in August of a looming fiscal crisis that required the state to cut spending and impose a "hard" hiring freeze. One raise was approved as recently as last month - when Paterson claimed the budget deficit had reached an unprecedented $15.5 billion. The raises, which have stunned the few state workers who know about them, are outlined in data obtained from the office of state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, prepared at The Post's request.

Chicago Sun-Times:

- State lawmakers are calling for a criminal investigation into whether U.S. Sen. Roland Burris committed perjury before a state impeachment panel, in the wake of a Sun-Times exclusive story published online Saturday. The development comes after the Chicago Democrat failed to initially disclose under oath to a House panel that he was hit up for campaign cash by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's brother.

Detroit Free Press:

- Dow Chemical Co.(DOW) says it aims to start selling power-generating roof shingles by 2011.

G2Weather Intelligence:

- Long Global Warming? It Might be Time to Rethink. “In general, the climate regime no longer resembles the recent warm spell of the last 25 years. The persistence of the very cold Pacific Ocean of the last couple of year has resulted in…patterns more similar to the 1950s-1970s. If this “old-school” pattern persists much longer, the global oceans will continue to cool off, and we will likely head into a cooler multi-decadal climate regime.” – Dr. Todd Crawford, WSI Seasonal Forecaster

Reuters:

- General Motors Corp(GM), nearing a Tuesday deadline to present a viability plan to the U.S. government, is considering as one option a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing that would create a new company, the Wall Street Journal said in its Saturday edition.

- Mobile telephones are seen as "a basic necessity" around the world and should enjoy persistent strong demand throughout an economic downturn, a United Nations agency said in a report published on Monday. "With or without a recession," millions of people in India, China, Nigeria, and other emerging markets will seek out mobile phones, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Increasingly cost-conscious households in Europe and North America are also expected to keep up their mobile use, and many will drop their fixed-line telephones as a way to save money, the ITU said in a report released for the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona.

- Adobe Systems(ADBE), which popularized the use of video and animation on the Web, is introducing a new version of its Flash software that runs not only on computers but also on the latest high-end mobile phones. Adobe, which makes Acrobat, Flash and Photoshop software, plans to bring a full PC version of its Flash video player to smartphones next year, but has no imminent deal to announce for Apple's influential iPhone, it said.

Financial Times:

- IntercontinentalExchange(ICE), the operator of futures exchanges and over-the-counter trading platforms, plans to set up a European clearer for credit default swaps in an effort to establish the first transatlantic clearing mechanism for such products.

TimesOnline:
- If, like John Maynard Keynes, you believe that spending, any spending, will revive a flagging economy, the freshly minted, 1,000-page American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, calling for $504 billion in deficit-financed spending, is for you. Well, not quite. It seems that most of the money will not be spent very soon. About 30% won't hit the economy until 2011, and the balance is likely to be tied up in the procurement processes of the federal and state governments until well into 2010, and beyond. Besides, much of the spending will end up boosting other economies — subsidies for wind machines will benefit workers in the other countries in which such machines are manufactured, not our very own horny-handed toilers. And much of the spending will not create jobs for the unemployed: laid-off car workers do not have the skills to design the software to manage the "smart grid" that is the apple of the greens' eye.

- ARM Holdings(ARMH) believes its strength lies in sharing.

- Ireland ‘could default on debt’

Die Welt:

- Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile division is doing “solid” business in the US, where it won 3 million new customers last year, citing an interview with T-Mobile CEO Hamid Akhavan.

WirtschaftsBlatt:
- European Central Bank Executive Board member Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell said speculation about a breakup of the euro area is “nonsense” as countries have benefited from monetary union especially in times of crisis.

Haaretz.com:

- Israeli officials are putting together a position paper on talks between the United States and Iran for the new administration in Washington, Israeli officials say. The paper will include a list of reservations about the state of international efforts against Iran's nuclear program. One worry is that negotiations will go on for too long. The paper states that talks between the United States and Iran should be limited to a short period of time. It also recommends that harsh sanctions be imposed against the Islamic Republic if negotiations fail. U.S. President Barack Obama, who appointed envoys to the Middle East and Afghanistan within days of his inauguration, has not done so with Iran. An Israeli official in Jerusalem told Haaretz that "this procrastination is very disconcerting."

Weekend Recommendations
Barron's:
- Made positive comments on (VFC), (MRK), (GOOG), (JNJ), (WMT), (ABT), (IACI) and (RAI).

- Made negative comments on (MON), (CVS) and (EBAY).

Citigroup:

- Reiterated Buy on (CELG), target $73.

Night Trading
Asian indices are -2.25% to -.75% on avg.
S&P 500 futures -1.54%.
NASDAQ 100 futures -1.85%.

Morning Preview
US AM Market Call
NASDAQ 100 Pre-Market Indicator/Heat Map
Pre-market Commentary
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WSJ Intl Markets Performance
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Today in IBD
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Bond Ticker
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Earnings Calendar

Conference Calendar

Who’s Speaking?
Upgrades/Downgrades
Rasmussen Business/Economy Polling

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate
- (FOSL)/.68

- (RIG)/3.68

- (LPX)/-.46

- (UTHR)/.53

- (WMT)/.99

- (GGC)/-.95

- (MDT)/.70

- (A)/.31

- (JACK)/.52

- (CGNX)/.05

- (CHK)/.75

- (GPC)/.56

- (FTI)/.68

Upcoming Splits

- None of note

Economic Releases

8:30 am EST

- Empire Manufacturing for February is estimated to fall to -23.75 versus -22.20 in January.

9:00 am EST

- Net Long-term TIC Flows for December are estimated to rise to $20.0B versus -$21.7B in November.

1:00 pm EST

- The NAHB Housing Market Index for February is estimated at 8.0 versus 8.0 iun January.

Other Potential Market Movers
- The Fed’s Bullard speaking, (OMTR) analyst meeting, Morgan Stanley Basic Materials Conference and Roth Growth Stock Conference could also impact trading today.

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

Weekly Outlook

Click here for Wall St. Week Ahead by Reuters.

Click here for stocks in focus for Tuesday by MarketWatch.

There are several economic reports of note and a number of significant corporate earnings reports scheduled for release this week.

Economic reports for the week include:

Mon. – US markets closed

Tues. – Empire Manufacturing, Total Net TIC Flows, NAHB Housing Market Index

Wed. – Weekly retail sales reports, weekly MBA mortgage applications report, Import Price Index, Housing Starts, Building Permits, Industrial Production, Capacity Utilization, Minutes of Jan 28^th FOMC Meeting

Thur. – Producer Price Index, Initial Jobless Claims, Leading Indicators, Philly Fed

Fri. – Consumer Price Index

Some of the more noteworthy companies that release quarterly earnings this week are:

Mon. – US markets closed

Tues. – Louisiana-Pacific(LPX), Transocean (RIG), Wal-Mart(WMT), Medtronic(MDT), Agilent Technologies(A), Jack in the Box(JACK), Chesapeake Energy(CHK)

Wed. – Owens Corning(OC), Comcast(CMCSA), Goodyear Tire(GT), Analog Devices(ADI), Itron Inc.(ITRI), CBS Corp.(CBS), Ingram Micro(IM), Synopsys(SNPS), Hewlett-Packard(HPQ), Whole Foods(WFMI), Advance Auto(AAP), Priceline.com(PCLN), Constellation Energy(CEG), OfficeMax(OMX), Deere(DE)

Thur. – Williams Cos(WMB), Expedia(EXPE), Barnes Group(B), Sprint Nextel(S), CVS Caremark(CVS), Apache Corp.(APA), Career Education(CECO), Intuit(INTU), Newmont(NEM), Wynn Resorts(WYNN), XTO Energy(XTO)

Fri. – JC Penney(JCP), Campbell Soup(CPB), Blackstone(BX), MGM Mirage(MGM), Lowe’s(LOW), Zale Corp.(ZLC)

Other events that have market-moving potential this week include:

Mon. – US markets closed

Tue. – The Fed’s Bullard speaking, (OMTR) analyst meeting, Morgan Stanley Basic Materials Conference, Roth Growth Stock Conference

Wed. – The Fed’s Pianalto speaking, Fed’s Bernanke speaking, Fed’s Evans speaking, Kaufman Bros. Green Tech Conference, Morgan Stanley Basic Materials Conference, Roth Growth Stock Conference

Thur. – The Fed’s Lockhart speaking, (PVTB) Investor Day, (AIPC) shareholders meeting, (SAFM) annual meeting(CBE$) annual outlook, Oppenheimer REITs/Real Estate Forum, CSFB Paper Conference, Piper Clean Tech Conference, (CR) analyst conference, Oppenheimer Semi Summit, CIBC Institutional Investor Conference

Fri. – (BEAV) Investor Meeting

BOTTOM LINE: I expect US stocks to finish the week modestly higher on bargain-hunting, technical buying, declining credit market angst, less severe economic fear, falling financial sector pessimism and short-covering. My trading indicators are giving mostly bullish signals and the Portfolio is 100% net long heading into the week.