Monday Watch

Weekend Headlines
Bloomberg:

- The U.S. East Coast faces the coldest night of the season as frigid air spills south and threatens agriculture in Georgia, Alabama and the orange crop in Florida. Freeze warnings were posted by the National Weather Service as far south as the Orlando area, which may be as many as 20 degrees below normal tonight, the National Weather Service said. The advisory alerts growers that subfreezing temperatures are imminent and may kill crops or other sensitive vegetation. Tampa and others cities in the central part of the state are under a freeze warning from 1 a.m. to 9 a.m. local time tomorrow. Temperatures may fall below 32 degrees Fahrenheit (zero Celsius) for more than three consecutive hours, the National Weather Service in Tampa said on its Web site. “This is a pretty significant cold snap,” Matt Keefe, a meteorologist with AccuWeather.com Inc. in State College, Pennsylvania, said in a telephone interview. The next freeze may come next week when another wintry blast may push temperatures as much as 20 degrees below normal for the central Plains through northwestern Florida, Reppert said. From Houston across to Atlanta could be 20 degrees colder than normal by the morning of Jan. 8, he said.

- News Corp.’s Fox network and Time Warner Cable Inc. resolved a fee dispute that threatened to keep football bowl games and dramas such as “24” off the air in the cable operator’s two largest markets.

- Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Donald Kohn said tight bank credit and caution among households and businesses may impede spending amid an improvement in financial markets. “Lingering credit constraints are a key reason why I expect the strengthening in economic activity to be gradual and the drop in the unemployment rate to be slow,” Kohn said today in a speech to the American Economic Association in Atlanta.

Wall Street Journal:

- The suicide bomber who killed eight Americans, including seven CIA officers, this week might have been able to get through multiple layers of security at the U.S. compound aided by an Afghan informant with the agency, a Western official said Friday. If this is true, it suggests insurgents had turned the tables on the CIA and been able to place their own agents close to the facility the CIA used to cultivate informants. On Wednesday, CIA officials had invited the attacker onto the base with the hopes of recruiting him as an informant. They used an Afghan intermediary to arrange the meeting. The attacker arrived, wearing an Afghan army uniform, officials said.

The assault shows a strategy the insurgency has increasingly employed here in recent months: using the uniforms and vehicles of the Afghan army and police to carry out attacks.

- The Yemeni government ordered an "unprecedented" number of troops into a region controlled by a branch of al Qaeda, as the U.S. and Britain, concerned about the threat of terrorism, both closed their embassies in the capital of Sana. The Obama administration increased the pressure on Islamic militants in Yemen Sunday after the Yemeni branch of al Qaeda claimed responsibility for plotting the failed attempt to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day. The White House's top counterterrorism official didn't rule out U.S. military action.

- Independent financial advisers are gaining ground from Wall Street brokers in the competition to manage more than $5 trillion in Americans' savings. The ranks of brokers at major Wall Street firms have been shrinking, along with those firms' share of the retail-investing market. At the same time, independent advisers are growing in number and market share. The financial turmoil of the past 18 months is fueling the shift.

- Chinese companies banned from doing business in the U.S. for allegedly selling missile technology to Iran continue to do a brisk trade with American companies, according to an analysis of shipping records. A unit of state-owned China Precision Machinery Import-Export Corp., for example, has made nearly 300 illegal shipments to U.S. firms since a ban was imposed on CPMIEC and its affiliates in mid-2006, according to an analysis of shipping records by the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, a nonprofit proliferation watchdog. A Wall Street Journal review of the records and interviews with officials at some of the American companies indicate that the U.S. firms likely were unaware they were doing business with banned entities, and in many cases were tripped up by altered company names.

- Exxon Mobil Corp.'s(XOM) $31 billion purchase of XTO Energy Inc. is seen as a big endorsement of the future value of natural gas. But many gas producers aren't so optimistic. After years of volatile gas prices, and last year's dismal performance, dozens of small gas companies are expanding into crude oil, taking the opposite tack of Exxon, which last month agreed to buy XTO.

- The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission finalized rules on Thursday that will raise capital standards for commodity brokers and require firms to incorporate over-the-counter derivatives positions into their risk-based capital calculations. Under the new rules, published in the Federal Register, futures commission merchants will have to raise their adjusted net capital from a minimum of $250,000 to $1 million. Adjusted net capital requirements for introducing brokers, meanwhile, will increase from $30,000 to $45,000. Introducing brokers can take orders to buy or sell futures, but don't hold customer funds. In addition, the rules will also stiffen margin requirements for commodity-brokerage firms trading on their own accounts, forcing them to raise the percentage used to calculate so-called maintenance margin requirements from 4% to 8%. That puts the requirement on par with the amount customers are required to maintain.

- Iranian media reported Tehran would conduct a large-scale defensive military exercise next month, coinciding with what Tehran officials now say is a deadline for the West to respond to its counter-offer to a nuclear-fuel deal. The commander of Iran's ground forces, Brig. Gen. Ahmad-Reza Pourdastan, said the drill would be conducted by Iran's army, in conjunction with some units of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in order to improve "defensive capabilities," Press TV, the English-language, state-run media outlet reported Sunday.

- Higher cotton-futures prices could lead U.S. producers to plant more acres in the spring, after three years of lower acreage.

- Hedge funds started the year down on their heels and spent much of it trying to regain their footing. The result going into 2010 is a global industry still well off its peak size, but growing once again as investors get back to writing checks and a performance comeback boosts fund assets.

- Watching live television broadcasts on mobile devices is common in some countries, but not the U.S. A new effort is taking shape to change that. A group of broadcasters plans to use this week's Consumer Electronics Show to promote their plans to deliver news, sports, weather and other local content to users on the go. While cellphones are an obvious target, backers of the effort also expect users to receive local programming on laptop computers, portable DVD players and devices in cars.

- Happy New Year, readers, but before we get on with the debates of 2010, there's still some ugly 2009 business to report: To wit, the Treasury's Christmas Eve taxpayer massacre lifting the $400 billion cap on potential losses for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as well as the limits on what the failed companies can borrow. The Treasury is hoping no one notices, and no wonder. Taxpayers are continuing to buy senior preferred stock in the two firms to cover their growing losses—a combined $111 billion so far. When Treasury first bailed them out in September 2008, Congress put a $200 billion limit ($100 billion each) on federal assistance. Last year, the Treasury raised the potential commitment to $400 billion. Now the limit on taxpayer exposure is, well, who knows?

- Chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc.(AMD) has won a place in one of the best-known laptop personal-computer lines, the ThinkPad.

Barron’s:

- Cloud computing, which shifts tech tasks into cyberspace, will be as revolutionary as the Internet itself. Why Salesforce(CRM), Apple(AAPL), Google(GOOG), Cisco(CSCO) and others could be winners.

MarketWatch.com:

- Shares of Japan Airlines Corp. soared by more than a third of their value Monday, after reports the ailing national carrier's credit line will be extended, staving off bankruptcy fears for now.

- As we start a new decade there appears to be increasingly polarized forecasts for China's economy, ranging from it leading the world out of recession to teetering on the precipice of collapse.

CNBC.com:
- Phones, PCs to Drive Tech Rally Into 2010.

Business Insider:

- A few days earlier, a bomber had almost succeeded in blowing a plane out of the sky. The airline in question, Delta, had followed the TSA's procedures. The US government--and, presumably, the TSA--had been given some warning about this particular bomber, which it had declined to pursue. The TSA responded to what may have been a monumental screw-up by tightening security procedures (fine) and then not telling the public about them (outrageous). Then, far worse, when it discovered that someone else had told the public, the TSA sent the proverbial jack-booted thugs to threaten individuals into revealing who sent them a document that had been distributed to thousands of airline and government employees. In what universe is this a good use of government resources?

NY Times:

- Along with Wall Street’s resurgent bonuses will come a jump in an ancillary benefit: tax breaks. For all banks and Wall Street firms, “I’m sure we’re talking $200 billion total compensation, which would create a tax savings for the firms of $80 billion,” said Robert Willens, an accounting and tax analyst in New York who runs a consulting firm, Robert Willens LLC. Many American banks already pay minuscule federal income taxes, because of various deductions and clever tax planning; the payout-related breaks will reduce their tax bills further in coming years. The biggest tax break will go to Goldman Sachs(GS). It expects to award its employees $23 billion in bonuses — the most in its history — after having paid back $10 billion. Because most employee compensation is a deductible expense under tax laws, Goldman Sachs, which is technically taxed at a top corporate rate of 39 percent, will save about $9 billion in federal income taxes on the bonuses it pays out for 2009, Mr. Willens said.

- With the Jan. 2 deadline for applications fast approaching, the dean of admissions at the University of Chicago sent out a sample essay last week to thousands of high school seniors in hopes “that it lightens your mood, reduces any end-of-the-year stress and inspires your creative juices in completing your applications.” But the essay, comparing the college to an elusive lover, has had a very different effect. “Dear University of Chicago, It fills me up with that gooey sap you feel late at night when I think about things that are really special to me about you,” the essay began. “Tell me, was I just one in a line of many? Was I just another supple ‘applicant’ to you, looking for a place to live, looking for someone to teach me the ways of the world?” In the 10 days since the dean’s e-mail message went out, more than 100 postings appeared on College Confidential, a popular Web site for those applying to college, some questioning his decision to send out the essay.

- The Obama administration’s $75 billion program to protect homeowners from foreclosure has been widely pronounced a disappointment, and some economists and real estate experts now contend it has done more harm than good.

- What is a Bailed-Out Banker Really Worth?

- Over the last two years, Mr. Weill has watched Citi — a company he built brick by brick during the final act of a 50-year career — nearly fall apart. Although every taxpayer in the country has paid for Citi’s outsize mistakes, for Mr. Weill the bank’s myriad woes are a commentary on his life’s work.

- Simple technology, including video chatting services like Skype, is making it possible for far-flung friends to watch shows together, even if they can’t share the same bowl of popcorn.

- After hibernating for the last year, Silicon Valley’s venture capitalists are beginning to stir. Technology financiers raised about $14 billion to finance new companies in 2009, a sharp drop from $36 billion in 2007. But as the economic freeze begins to thaw, investors are once again writing checks to entrepreneurs.

NY Post:

- A Democrat strategist told Bryon York of the Washington Examiner that House empress Nancy Pelosi was comfortable with losing “20 to 40” seats in the lower chamber as the price for getting health care “reform” passed. A loss of 40 seats would mean flipping the House to GOP hands.

CNNMoney.com:

- Companies Google(GOOG) should buy in 2010.

Business Week:
- Trial Lawyers Sidestep Malpractice Curbs. Senate health reform bill shows how trial lawyers' lobbying helped end drive for damage award caps.

- The U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission, criticized for its alleged failure to curb 2008's historic runup in oil prices, will soon propose caps on how much any single investor can hold in a set of commodity futures, says an official. In an e-mail answering questions from Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Bart Chilton, one of the CFTC's five commissioners, says the commission will soon propose a rule aimed at preventing any one entity from "controlling too much of a given market."

Washington Post:

- Opponents of the health-care reform bill are not giving up the fight, and some think their last, best hope to halt the legislation lies not in the U.S. Capitol but in the court across the street. A small but vocal contingent of legal scholars and many Republican lawmakers argue that the measures passed by both chambers are unconstitutional and will be ruled so by the Supreme Court. Their primary target: the individual mandate, which requires people to get health insurance or pay a financial penalty of at least 2 percent of their income to the government.

- The United States and China are headed for a rough patch in the early months of the new year as the White House appears set to sell a package of weapons to Taiwan and as President Obama plans to meet the Dalai Lama, U.S. officials and analysts said. The Obama administration is expected to approve the sale of several billion dollars in Black Hawk helicopters and anti-missile batteries to Taiwan early this year, possibly accompanied by a plan gauging design and manufacturing capacity for diesel-powered submarines for the island, which China claims as its territory. The president is also preparing to meet the spiritual leader of Tibet, who is considered a separatist by Beijing. Obama made headlines last year when the White House, in an effort to generate goodwill from China, declined to meet the Dalai Lama, marking the first time in more than a decade that a U.S. president did not meet the religious leader during his occasional visits to Washington.

Houston Chronicle:

- Climategate: You Should Be Steamed by Neil Frank. Now that Copenhagen is past history, what is the next step in the man-made global warming controversy? Without question, there should be an immediate and thorough investigation of the scientific debauchery revealed by “Climategate.”

TheStreet.com:

- 2010 Stock Picks.

Politico:

- All travelers flying into the U.S. from foreign countries will receive tightened random screening, and 100 percent of passengers from 14 terrorism-prone countries will be patted down and have their carry-ons searched, the Obama administration was notifying airlines on Sunday. The more stringent Transportation Security Administration rules, to take effect at midnight, follow the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a U.S. airliner headed into Detroit from Amsterdam.

Rasmussen Reports:

- In December, the number of Americans identifying themselves as Democrats fell to the lowest level recorded in more than seven years of monthly tracking by Rasmussen Currently, 35.5% of American adults view themselves as Democrats. That’s down from 36.0 a month ago and from 37.8% in October. Prior to December, the lowest total ever recorded for Democrats was 35.9%, a figure that was reached twice in 2005. See the History of Party Trends from January 2004 to the present.

- Fifty-three percent (53%) of voters favor a ban on abortion coverage in any health insurance plan that receives federal subsidies. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 40% are opposed to such a ban in the proposed health care legislation now before Congress.

LA Times:

- TV makers hope viewers will embrace 3-D-enabled sets. Advances in technology have made home versions of the format viable.

Slate:

- America's economic recovery will be twice as big as experts predict.

Engadget:

- Exclusive: Google(GOOG) Nexus One hands-on, video, and first impressions.

zerohedge:

- Origins of an American Keptocracy. Some days ago we wondered aloud at the blank check extended to Fannie and Freddie along with the suspiciously convenient timing of those announcements on Christmas Day. Back then we wondered if we had been told the entire story. To wit: So. Let us summarize:

Reuters:

- Somalia's hardline Islamist rebel group al Shabaab said on Friday it was ready to send reinforcements to al Qaeda in Yemen should the U.S. carry out retaliatory strikes, and urged other Muslims to follow suit. Yemen-based al Qaeda groups have come under intense scrutiny since the Nigerian who tried to explode a bomb aboard a Detroit-bound Christmas Day flight from Amsterdam was linked to the country. Yemeni and American officials are reported to have mulled targets for retaliatory strikes against such groups inside Yemen. "We call upon all Muslims to give a hand to our brothers in Yemen and we, al Shabaab, are ready to send them reinforcements ... and Inshallah we shall win over America," said Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Abuu Mansuur, a senior al Shabaab official.

- A Somali man armed with an axe and suspected of links with al Qaeda broke into the home of a Danish cartoonist whose drawings of the Prophet Mohammad caused global Muslim outrage and was shot and wounded by police.

- Cable operator Cablevision Systems Corp, (CVC) on Sunday accused Scripps Networks Interactive (SNI), the provider of the HGTV and Food Network channels, of holding viewers hostage as it seeks a 200 percent fee hike.

- Shares of Japan Airlines Corp (9205.T) jumped 36 percent to bounce back from a plunge last week after the government sought to boost the amount of funds available to the struggling carrier.

- Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS) has begun a review of its London operations that could result in entire departments going overseas to avoid paying increasing British taxes, the Daily Telegraph reported in its Monday edition.

Financial Times:

- Britain is in danger of succumbing to a budgetary crisis this year, with the economy likely to stay in the doldrums until at least the end of 2010, a Financial Times survey of economists warns. Asked to name the three biggest risks to the economy, 37 of the 79 economists polled said the UK was threatened by a fiscal crisis that could derail any revival.

- The shipbuilding industry looks set for a rash of insolvencies as one of the sharpest-ever collapses in order levels combines with banks’ reluctance to finance ship construction to starve many yards of cash.

Telegraph:

- Britain facing one of the coldest winters in 100 years, experts predict. Britain is bracing itself for one of the coldest winters for a century with temperatures hitting minus 16 degrees Celsius, forecasters have warned. They predicted no let up in the freezing snap until at least mid-January, with snow, ice and severe frosts dominating. And the likelihood is that the second half of the month will be even colder. Weather patterns were more like those in the late 1970s, experts said, while Met Office figures released on Monday are expected to show that the country is experiencing the coldest winter for up to 25 years. The cold weather comes despite the Met Office’s long range forecast, published, in October, of a mild winter. That followed it’s earlier inaccurate prediction of a “barbecue summer”, which then saw heavy rainfall and the wettest July for almost 100 years. Paul Michaelwaite, forecaster for NetWeather.tv, said: “It is looking like this winter could be in the top 20 cold winters in the last 100 years. “It’s going to be very cold the for the next 10 days and although there could be a milder spell at some stage the indications are that the second half of the month will be even colder.”

Seoul Economic Daily:
- Samsung Electronics Co., Hynix Semiconductor Inc. and LG Display Co. of South Korea plan to boost combined capital expenditure this year by about 32% from 2009 to more than 14.3 trillion won.

Yonhap News:

- South Korean electronics giant Samsung Electronics Co. said Sunday it aims to nearly quadruple its sales of light emitting diode (LED) TVs in the global market to around 10 million units this year.

Aljazeera.net:

- Mir Hossein Mousavi, the Iranian opposition leader, has called for an immediate end to the government crackdown on opposition activists, saying he was ready to die in defence of people's rights. In a statement on his Kaleme website on Friday, Mousavi also said that the Islamic Republic was in "serious crisis" following the disputed presidential election in June. "I am not afraid to die for people's demands ... Iran is in serious crisis ... Harsh remarks ... will create internal uprising ... the election law should be changed ... political prisoners should be freed," his statement added. He accused the government of making more mistakes by resorting to "violence and killings" to quell the protests over the poll outcome, that saw Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the incumbent president, re-elected for another term. "Arresting or killing Mousavi, [another opposition leader Mehdi] Karoubi ... will not calm the situation," Mousavi, who lost the election, said in the statement. Mousavi also demanded that the government "take responsibility for the problems it has created in the country... and recognise people's right to lawful assembly". "I say openly that until there is an acknowledgement of the existence of a serious crisis in the country, there will be no possibility of resolving the problems and issues."

Weekend Recommendations
Barron's:
- Made positive comments on (AAPL), (GOOG), (CRM), (RVBD), (CVX), (LPS) and (AMGN).

Citigroup:

- Reiterated Buy on (ESRX), raised target to $112.

- Our high level investment thesis into 2010 is that we expect money to rotate into healthcare stocks after federal healthcare reform efforts conclude(by March), and Managed Care in particular has been under-owned by large mutual funds. We maintain a positive rating on all 9 covered Managed Care stocks that we expect will continue to rebound in 2010 from historic low valuations in 2009. Buy (AET), our top pick in Managed Care, followed by (WLP). Upgrade (UNH) to Buy from Hold, target $39.

- Reiterated Buy on (MHS), raised target to $77.

- Reiterated Buy on (MRK), raised target to $45.

Night Trading
Asian indices are -.25% to +1.0% on avg.

Asia Ex-Japan Inv Grade CDS Index 94.50 -3.50 basis point.
S&P 500 futures +.44%.
NASDAQ 100 futures +.58%.

Morning Preview
BNO Breaking Global News of Note

Google Top Stories

Bloomberg Breaking News

Yahoo Most Popular Biz Stories

MarketWatch News Viewer

Asian Financial News

European Financial News

Latin American Financial News

MarketWatch Pre-market Commentary

U.S. Equity Preview

TradeTheNews Morning Report

Briefing.com In Play

SeekingAlpha Market Currents

Briefing.com Bond Ticker

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

Conference Calendar

Who’s Speaking?
Upgrades/Downgrades

Politico Headlines
Rasmussen Reports Polling

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate
- None of note

Upcoming Splits

- None of note

Economic Releases

10:00 am EST

- The ISM Manufacturing Index for December is estimated to rise to 54.0 versus 53.6 in November.

- The ISM Prices Paid for December is estimated to rise to 58.8 versus 55.0 in November.

- Construction Spending for November is estimated to fall -.5% versus unch. in October.

Other Potential Market Movers
- The Fed's Lockhart speaking and the Fed's Duke speaking could also impact trading today.

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are higher, boosted by technology and automaker stocks 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.

Weekly Outlook

Click here for Wall St. Week Ahead by Reuters.

Click here for Stocks to Watch Monday by MarketWatch.

Click here for TradeTheNews.com Weekly Calendar.

BOTTOM LINE: I expect US stocks to finish the week modestly higher on declining financial sector pessimism, short-covering, technical buying, diminished terrorism concern, tech sector optimism and less economic fear. My trading indicators are giving bullish signals and the Portfolio is 100% net long heading into the week.

Market Week in Review

S&P 500 1,115.10 -.49%*

Click here for the Weekly Wrap by Briefing.com.

*5-Day Change

Weekly Scoreboard*

Indices
S&P 500 1,115.10 -.49%
DJIA 10,428.05 -.37%
NASDAQ 2,269.15 -.02%
Russell 2000 625.39 -.89%
Wilshire 5000 11,385.11 -.58%
Russell 1000 Growth 500.22 -.39%
Russell 1000 Value 566.27 -.73%
Morgan Stanley Consumer 670.32 -.75%

Morgan Stanley Cyclical 829.86 -1.24%
Morgan Stanley Technology 578.10 +.19%
Transports 4,099.63 -2.0%
Utilities 398.01 -.69%
MSCI Emerging Markets 41.58 +2.34%

Lyxor L/S Equity Long Bias Index 973.91 +.43%

Lyxor L/S Equity Variable Bias Index 850.10 +.52%

Lyxor L/S Equity Short Bias Index 942.82 -1.64%

Sentiment/Internals
NYSE Cumulative A/D Line +68,909 -.16%
Bloomberg New Highs-Lows Index +178 -453
Bloomberg Crude Oil % Bulls 44.0 -8.33%
CFTC Oil Net Speculative Position +75,262 +41.49%

CFTC Oil Total Open Interest 1,159,436 -4.74%
Total Put/Call .91 +10.98%
OEX Put/Call 2.30 -20.42%
ISE Sentiment 92.0 -42.86%
NYSE Arms 2.15 +241.27%
Volatility(VIX) 21.68 +10.0%
G7 Currency Volatility (VXY) 13.66 -1.30%
Smart Money Flow Index 9,176.11 -1.01%

Money Mkt Mutual Fund Assets $3.294 Trillion +.70%
AAII % Bulls 49.18 +30.52%
AAII % Bears 22.95 -39.09%

Futures Spot Prices
CRB Index 283.38 +1.44%

Crude Oil 79.36 +2.07%
Reformulated Gasoline 205.29 +2.52%
Natural Gas 5.57 -2.50%
Heating Oil 211.56 +2.97%
Gold 1,096.20 -.71%
Bloomberg Base Metals 211.72 +2.40%
Copper 334.65 +1.72%

US No. 1 Heavy Melt Scrap Steel 260.0 USD/Ton +2.23%

China Hot Rolled Domestic Steel Sheet 3,899 Yuan/Ton +1.70%

S&P GSCI Agriculture 353.43 +1.80%

Economy
ECRI Weekly Leading Economic Index 131.20 +.69%

Citi US Economic Surprise Index +18.40 +308.89%

Fed Fund Futures imply 64.0% chance of no change, 36.0% chance of 25 basis point cut on 1/27

US Dollar Index 77.86 +.16%

Yield Curve 269.0 -14 basis points

10-year US Treasury Yield 3.83% +3 basis points

Federal Reserve’s Balance Sheet $2.219 Trillion -.07%

U.S. Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 43.0 unch.

10-year TIPS Spread 2.40% +2 basis points
TED Spread 19.0 -2.0 basis points
N. Amer. Investment Grade Credit Default Swap Index 85.60 +3.88%

Euro Financial Sector Credit Default Swap Index 62.17 -5.92%
Emerging Markets Credit Default Swap Index 258.44 -1.33%
CMBS Super Senior AAA 10-year Treasury Spread 440.0 -25.0 basis points

M1 Money Supply $1.685 Trillion unch.

Business Loans 664.70 -.27%
4-Wk MA of Jobless Claims 460,300 -1.2%

Continuing Claims Unemployment Rate 3.8% -10 basis points
Average 30-year Mortgage Rate 5.14% +9 basis points
Weekly Mortgage Applications 595.80 -10.71%

ABC Consumer Confidence -44 -2 points
Weekly Retail Sales +1.90% +40 basis points
Nationwide Gas $2.64/gallon +.06/gallon
US Heating Demand Next 7 Days 13.0% above normal
Baltic Dry Index 3,005 unch.

Oil Tanker Rate(Arabian Gulf to US Gulf Coast) 37.50 +4.17%

Rail Freight Carloads 141,699 -32.45%

Iraqi 2028 Govt Bonds 77.17 -.37%

Best Performing Style
Large-Cap Growth -.39%

Worst Performing Style
Mid-Cap Value -1.17%

Leading Sectors
Disk Drives +1.52%

Education +1.33%

Steel +1.28%

Semis +.28%
Homebuilders +.12%

Lagging Sectors
Hospitals -2.26%
Airlines -2.54%
HMOs -3.11%

Oil Tankers -3.33%
Coal -5.46%

One-Week High-Volume Gainers

One-Week High-Volume Losers

*5-Day Change