Style Underperformer:
Large-Cap Value (-.37%)
Sector Underperformers:
Semis (-2.30%), Drugs (-.89%) and Telecom (-.78%)
Stocks Falling on Unusual Volume:
DIOD, NVLS, UBS, RBCN, TSRA, SOHU, EXPD, HEP, ENR, TNS and RCL
Stocks With Unusual Put Option Activity:
1) FRX 2) CECO 3) BNI 4) FOE 5) DO
Style Outperformer:
Small-Cap Value (+.08%)
Sector Outperformers:
Road & Rail (+9.91%), Gold (+4.88%) and Construction (+.79%)
Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume:
BNI, SA, IAG, BEXP, KSU, UTR, SFY, AIG, SPN, ATLS, DLLR, CSIQ, STEC, CCI, VIV, SLF, PEET, DDRX, TXRH, EXBD, CTSH, IPHS, DLLR, SNCR, ECPG, ITMN, AIMC, IPGP, ATLS, SYKE, OFIX, GOLD, GMCR, RIMM, SWK, BDK, LNY, HLF, UNP and IYT
BNO Breaking Global News of Note
Yahoo Most Popular Biz Stories
Briefing.com Stock Market Update
Stocks On The Move
Upgrades/Downgrades
StockCharts Market Performance Summary
Late-Night Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Stanley Works(SWK) agreed to buy Black & Decker Corp.(BDK) for about $3.5 billion, combining the two largest U.S. toolmakers in an all-stock transaction that would reduce costs by $350 million annually. Based on Stanley’s closing stock price, the offer values Towson, Maryland-based Black & Decker at $57.57 a share, or 22 percent above where it closed today. Fewer than 4,000 jobs, or less than 10 percent of total positions at the combined company, will be cut, Stanley Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Lundgren, said in a telephone interview.
- Facing criticism from Arab leaders, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tempered praise of
- The International Monetary Fund said it is selling 200 metric tons of gold to the Reserve Bank of India for about $6.7 billion, its first sale of the precious metal in nine years. The sale accounts for almost half the 403.3 tons that the Washington-based lender in September agreed to sell as part of a plan to shore up its finances and lend at reduced rates to low- income countries.
- The Conservative Party candidate running for an open congressional seat in New York pulled 5 percentage points ahead of the Democrat after the Republican nominee dropped out of the race, a poll released today showed. Conservative Doug Hoffman led Democrat Bill Owens, 41 percent to 36 percent, with 18 percent undecided, according to the
- Steel production in
Wall Street Journal:
- For decades, a rule of thumb in Washington has said that there should be popular support and a bipartisan majority before approving an initiative that significantly affects tens of millions of Americans. Health-care reform—ObamaCare—has neither, yet Democrats want to impose it anyway. If they succeed, the consequences could be devastating for the country and probably for the president and his party. The reasoning behind the rule is simple. Forcing drastic change on an unwilling public is likely to cause national disunity, stir angry protests, increase political polarization, and deepen distrust of
- Mr. Karzai's election should put to rest the doubts about his "legitimacy" heard in America's liberal media and in whispers from the Administration, even if it won't. He won that legitimacy by agreeing to a second round, once the official electoral commission invalidated enough of his votes to deprive him of a majority, in accordance with Afghan law.
- Pleading with Iran will get the West nowhere.
CNBC.com:
- An interesting report today from the Mortgage Bankers Association shows business may be better than we think for their people.
Business Week:
- One of the most anticipated books of the global financial meltdown just got a bit of public relations problem. The book, The Greatest Trade Ever, written by Wall Street Journal writer Gregory Zuckerman, due to hit bookshelves tomorrow, details the story of hedge fund operator John Paulson’s now legendary trade against the housing market and how he made billions in the process betting against subprime mortgages. Although the book is based on extensive interviews with Paulson, Paulson is releasing a statement that disses the book, calling it a disappointment. The statement goes on: “It contains numerous inaccuracies and fails to capture the essence of the credit bubble. The writing style is indicative of a gossip tabloid rather than respected financial journalism. Unfortunately, the opportunity to create a meaningful documentation of an important time in financial history was lost.”
CNNMoney.com:
- IT departments are finally starting to buy Apple's smartphone, says a Deutsche Bank report. "There is growing evidence that the iPhone is making inroads into the
- The bankruptcy of CIT means a $2.3 billion wipeout for Treasury. More losses are likely as other TARP recipients have missed dividend payments. CIT Group is the first big bailout loss for taxpayers, but it won't be the last.
- Stimulus may have created or saved 640,000 jobs so far, but many of those positions were never intended to last. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was designed to put millions of people to work, mainly for "shovel-ready" projects. By their very nature, most of those projects last only until the work is completed or the funding runs out. That means millions of workers hired with stimulus funding are left looking for a job after the stimulus-funded program is completed.
Forbes:
TechCrunch:
- There is a perception that Google’s Chrome is a rounding error when it comes to browsers. And maybe it still is, but Google is now fighting that perception in a very public way. Today, it announced that the Chrome Team won a Founder’s Award for their achievements so far, and for the first time revealed how many people are using the Chrome browser: 30 million active users.
Intrade:
- The odds of Chris Christie winning New Jersey’s race for governor are rising 16.0 to 53%. The odds of John Corzine winning are falling 16.2 to 47%.
Rasmussen:
The Business Insider:
- Commerce Secretary Gary Locke told Bloomberg TV today that a second economic stimulus is "being hotly discussed and very seriously considered within the administration as well as members of Congress." Not surprisingly, this news triggered a spasm of backtracking: Locke's spokesman now says he was being "imprecise."
- It's still early, but the results for Windows 7 are looking positive, says Kathryn Huberty of Morgan Stanley in a note released this afternoon. According to NPD, PC unit sales rose 40% year over year for the week ending October 24th, which included the first three days of Windows 7.
Reuters:
- CIT Group Inc (CIT) is looking for a quick exit from Chapter 11 protection but its long-term survival outside of bankruptcy depends in large part on what regulators will allow it to do with its various businesses. "CIT in general isn't out of the woods yet," said Jeffrey Knopman, principal of Profit Solutions Group Inc, which helps vendors deal with retailers. The bankruptcy financing gives the company a bit of a reprieve, he said, adding, "I think the jury's still out on the longer term." CIT hopes to move some of its best businesses, including vendor financing and factoring, to its bank, where it can fund them with deposits. But regulators may balk at this move.
Financial Times:
- Hedge fund launches are growing in size and number after months of subdued activity in the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers last year. The revival of fund start-ups is one of the clearest signs yet that the $1,400bn (£854bn) global hedge fund industry is starting to return to better times. "Where it was common to start with $300m at the height of the boom, $50m was the case earlier this year," said Patric de Gentile Williams, chief operating officer of FRM Capital Advisors, a provider of seed capital to hedge fund ventures. Chicago-based Hedge Fund Research estimates that the number of fund launches rose to 182 in the second quarter of 2009 from a low of 148 the previous quarter. The size of launches was also diminished. Data provider Eurohedge estimated that the entire volume of assets raised by all of Europe's launches in the first half was less than the single largest new fund in 2008, Brevan Howards' $2.5bn Multi-Strategy Fund.
- Signs of recovery after a torrid year reverberated around the world on Monday as manufacturers reported rising output and improved employment prospects in the US, Europe and Asia. From
Late Buy/Sell Recommendations
Citigroup:
- Reiterated Buy on (ESRX), target $102.
- Reiterated Buy on (AOC), target $47.
Night Trading
Asian Indices are -.50% to +.25% on average.
S&P 500 futures +.19%.
NASDAQ 100 futures +.20%.
Morning Preview
BNO Breaking Global News of Note
Yahoo Most Popular Biz Stories
MarketWatch Pre-market Commentary
US AM Market Call
NASDAQ 100 Pre-Market Indicator/Heat Map
Pre-market Stock Quote/Chart
WSJ Intl Markets Performance
Commodity Futures
IBD New America
Economic Preview/Calendar
Earnings Calendar
Who’s Speaking?
Upgrades/Downgrades
Politico Headlines
Rasmussen Reports Polling
Earnings of Note
Company/EPS Estimate
- (MHS)/.72
- (MRO)/.58
- (ICE)/1.15
- (RDC)/.51
- (DBD)/.41
- (EMR)/.60
- (ENR)/1.16
- (ABC)/.40
- (MA)/2.93
- (CVC)/.25
- (ADM)/.56
- (JOE)/-.05
- (RCL)/1.00
- (AMT)/.16
- (RL)/1.31
- (KFT)/.48
- (DISCA)/.27
- (DLB)/.34
- (PBI)/.54
- (PEGA)/.14
- (VNO)/1.16
- (PZZA)/.26
- (LPX)/-.18
- (KCP)/.03
- (OSK)/.18
- (ONXX)/.23
Economic Releases
10:00 am EST
- Factory Orders for September ate estimated to rise +.8% versus a -.8% decline in August.
Afternoon:
- Total Vehicle Sales for October are estimated to rise to 9.8M versus 9.2M in September.
Upcoming Splits
- None of Note
Other Potential Market Movers
- The weekly retail sales reports, API energy inventory data, ABC Consumer Confidence reading, Oppenheimer healthcare conference, Wedbush Morgan Clean Tech Conference, (GFI) investor day, (FFIV) analyst meeting, (FDO) analyst conference, (DD) investor meeting, (CSH) analyst day and the (PMTC) investor day could also impact trading today.
Evening Review
BNO Breaking Global News of Note
Yahoo Most Popular Biz Stories