Bull Radar

Style Outperformer:

• Mid-Cap Growth (+2.91%)

Sector Outperformers:

• 1) Steel +2.01% 2) HMOs +1.93% 3) Biotech +1.91%

Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume:

• REGN, TWTC, E, BTE, SODA, LFUS, RRGB, EXXI, CENX, FFIV, SBRA, LKQX, PANL, AMRN and BGG
  

Stocks With Unusual Call Option Activity:

• 1) ROC 2) AVP 3) SYY 4) MNKD 5) RSX
  

Stocks With Most Positive News Mentions:

• 1) GOOG 2) NVDA 3) JWN 4) THI 5) ASYS
  

Charts:

• ETFs Rising on Unusual Volume
• Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume
  

Friday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:

• EU Heads for Eurobond Clash Over Fiscal Union. European ratification of a reinforced crisis-management fund will act as a prelude to an even more divisive debate: whether to put more money into the pool and use it to borrow on behalf of all 17 euro states. The question of “eurobonds” or “fiscal union” -- toxic language in northern countries like Germany -- will force itself onto the agenda once the retooled rescue fund is in place as soon as next month. The trigger will be a European Commission feasibility study of jointly sold eurobonds, seen by a growing number of economists as the only way of guaranteeing to the markets that countries such as Italy won’t go bust. Unprecedented bailouts by governments and the European Central Bank have so far failed to stamp out the crisis that is menacing the region’s core members. “No single currency has ever survived without some form of debt mutualization,” said Simon Tilford, chief economist at the London-based Centre for European Reform, a research institute focused on European integration. “There’s an increasing recognition that that is the only way of stabilizing the euro zone.” “Only Germany can reverse the dynamic of a European decay,” billionaire investor George Soros wrote in today’s Handelsblatt, the Dusseldorf-based newspaper. “Germany and other countries with a AAA rating have to approve some sort of euro- bond regime. Otherwise, the euro will implode.” Germany, which authored the rules that failed to prevent Europe’s debt explosion, fears that mutual borrowing would drive up its financing costs, historically the euro area’s lowest and the benchmark for the region. A switch to shared borrowing would push up German funding costs by 1.22 percentage points -- German 10-year yields are about 2.3 percent -- adding 25 billion euros a year to Germany’s interest bill, Kai Carstensen of the Ifo Institute in Munich told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on July 19.
• France, Spain, Italy, Belgium Try to Halt Bank Rout. France, Spain, Italy and Belgium will impose bans on short-selling from today to stabilize markets after European banks including Societe Generale SA hit their lowest level since the credit crisis. “While short-selling can be a valid trading strategy, when used in combination with spreading false market rumors this is clearly abusive,” the European Securities and Markets Authority, which coordinates the work of national regulators in the 27-nation European Union, said in a statement after talks ended late yesterday. National regulators will impose the bans “to restrict the benefits that can be achieved from spreading false rumors or to achieve a regulatory level playing field.” The watchdogs are trying to stem a rout that sent European bank stocks to their lowest in almost 2 1/2 years and quell concern that European lenders may be struggling to fund themselves. Banks’ overnight borrowings from the European Central Bank jumped to the highest in three months yesterday, a sign some lenders may have need for emergency cash. Regulators imposed similar limits on short sales in September 2008 following the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. The gap between the three-month euro interbank offered rate and the overnight indexed swap rate widened yesterday to the most since April 2009, showing that European banks are becoming more reluctant to lend to each other for longer than overnight.
• China Said to Tell Banks to Tighten Curbs on Property Loans. Chinese regulators have told banks to tighten lending for real estate on concern credit risks will increase as the impact of government curbs deepens in the next three to five months, a person familiar with the matter said. The regulator aims to guard against the risk of bad loans should government efforts to cool the market cause property prices to fall. China Vanke Co., the nation’s biggest listed property developer, fell 1.2 percent to 8.45 yuan as of 10:23 a.m. in Shenzhen trading.
• Growth Forecasts for U.S. Reduced Through 2013 on Limited Employment. The world’s largest economy will expand at an average 2.3 percent annual rate in the second half of the year, about a percentage point less than projected last month, according to the median forecast of 53 economists polled from Aug. 2 to Aug. 10. Gross domestic product will grow 2.4 percent next year and 2.8 percent in 2013, also less than previously estimated.
• U.S. Companies Poised for Third-Highest Rate of Annual Buybacks. U.S. companies are authorizing share repurchase plans at a rate that may make 2011 the third biggest year for buybacks since at least 1985, according to Birinyi Associates Inc. There were $36 billion in repurchases approved last month, bringing the total this year to $324 billion, Rob Leiphart, an analyst at the Westport, Connecticut-based research firm, wrote in a note today. Should the rate hold up, 2011 would end with $554 billion. Only 2006 and 2007 had more, with $655 billion and $863 billion authorized, Birinyi data show. Chief executive officers have more money than ever after boosting cash for 10 straight quarters to $963.3 billion, Standard & Poor’s data show. With stocks down 14 percent from their April 2011 high, companies may be more inclined to repurchase shares than return money through dividends, he said.
• Vulpes, BIA, Riley Paterson Hedge Funds Profit From Rout With Bearish Bets. Asian hedge funds run by Vulpes Investment Management, Ballingal Investment Advisors Ltd. and Riley Paterson Investment Management rose this month as managers profited from the worst rout in equity markets since 2008. Vulpes’s long Asian volatility and arbitrage fund, LAVA, advanced 5 percent in the month through Aug. 10, said Stephen Diggle, the firm’s founder. Ballingal’s BIA Pacific Macro Fund rose about 4 percent, said two people briefed on the return who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The Riley Paterson Asian Opportunities Fund gained 2 percent in the same period, according to its managers. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index declined 11 percent this month to yesterday.
• Bank of America(BAC) Credit-Default Swaps Lead Surge in Lender Risk. Credit-default swaps on Bank of America Corp., the nation’s biggest lender, surged to the highest since April 2009 before paring the gain. A swaps index that gauges the perceived risk of owning junk bonds, which falls as sentiment deteriorates, plunged to the lowest in almost two years. Investors are turning to the derivatives to protect against losses as European leaders struggle to contain a crisis of confidence that has sent borrowing costs for Spain and Italy to euro-region records and this week caused credit swaps on France to soar. Confidence in corporate credit deteriorated even as U.S. jobless claims fell and stocks rose. Swaps on Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America soared as much as 71 basis points to a mid-price of 375 basis points before trading at 345 basis points as of 9:43 a.m. in New York, according to broker Phoenix Partners Group. Credit swaps on Goldman Sachs Group Inc. added 29 basis points to 224, and those on Morgan Stanley jumped 32 basis points to 289, according to data provider CMA. Swaps on Societe Generale SA, the French bank whose shares have plunged 16.5 percent the past two days, climbed 42 basis points to 379 basis points, CMA data show. The Markit CDX North America Investment Grade Index of credit-default swaps, which investors use to hedge against losses on corporate debt or to speculate on creditworthiness, added as much as 11.1 basis points to a mid- price of 126.5 basis points earlier today.
• Oil Heads for Third Weekly Drop on Concern Volatility Threatens Recovery. Oil fell in New York, heading for a third weekly decline, as concerns that market volatility will derail the economic recovery countered an unexpected drop in jobless claims in the world’s biggest crude-consuming nation. Crude for September delivery fell as much as 62 cents to $85.10 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and was at $85.20 at 12:04 p.m. Sydney time. The contract yesterday gained 3.4 percent to $85.72. Prices are down 2 percent this week and 12 percent higher the past year.
• AIG(AIG) Share Slide May Prolong Treasury's Ownership, Goldman(GS) Says. American International Group Inc.’s share slide may prolong the U.S. Treasury Department’s ownership of the bailed-out insurer, limiting near-term gains for private investors, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said. Michael Nannizzi, a Goldman Sachs analyst, cut his one-year price target for New York-based AIG to $27 from $31 in a note to clients today. The insurer has plunged by more than half since Dec. 31 as it paid claims tied to natural disasters and said it would take charges to bolster reserves for policies sold in prior years.
• High-Frequency Firms Tripled Trading as S&P 500 Plunged 13%, Wedbush Says. The stock market’s fastest electronic firms boosted trading threefold during the rout that erased $2.2 trillion from U.S. equity values, stepping up strategies that profit from volatility, according to one of their biggest brokers. The increase from Aug. 1 to Aug. 10 over their 2011 average surpassed the 80 percent rise in U.S. equity volume, showing that high-frequency traders made up more of the market during the plunge, Gary Wedbush, executive vice president and head of capital markets at Wedbush Securities, said in a telephone interview. Wedbush is the largest broker supplying bids and offers on the Nasdaq Stock Market, according to exchange data. “We’re seeing a tremendous amount of high-frequency trading,” said Wedbush, whose company is one of the biggest execution and clearing brokers catering to high-speed firms. “Their business is a trading business, and volatility creates far more opportunities. Some of their algorithms and automated systems are trading two, three or five times as many shares as they would have in a more normalized volatility environment.”
• Emerging Stock Funds Report Third-Largest Weekly Outflows. Emerging-market equity funds posted the third-largest weekly outflows on record amid Standard & Poor's unprecedented downgrade of the U.S. credit rating and a spread in Europe's debt crisis, Citigroup Inc. said. Funds investing in developing-nation stocks reported withdrawals of $7.7 billion in the week ended Aug. 10, Citigroup analysts led by Markus Rosgen said in a report today, citing figures compiled by EPFR Global. That took total outflows for the year to $14 billion, according to Citigroup.

Wall Street Journal:

• Senator Hatch Warns of Future Downgrades, Debt-Limit Impasses. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R., Utah) Thursday warned that the U.S. could face more ratings downgrades and future debt-limit impasses, and asked the Treasury Department to outline its contingency plans for both scenarios. In a blunt letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Hatch blasted the department for a “belated and incomplete” response to an earlier inquiry, and demanded a fuller account of the government’s fiscal situation in the days leading up to an eventual compromise that saw Congress lift the debt ceiling. “We may again have a debt limit impasse in the event of unexpectedly sluggish economic activity and receipts, or if Congress fails to follow through on deficit reduction called for in the recent debt limit legislation,” Hatch said. “I wish to avoid having Congress and the public relying on guesses about Treasury’s cash position and liquidity from think tanks and Wall Street firms.”
• Risk of New Recession Rises. The risk of a double dip recession has climbed sharply as the economy endures the double whammy of slowing growth and wild swings in global markets, according to economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal over the past week. The 46 economists in the survey—not all of whom answer every question—put the odds that the U.S. is already in another recession at 13%, while they peg the chances of going that way in the next year at 29%—up from 17% only a month ago.
• BofA(BAC) Chief Sees Top U.S. Officials. Embattled Bank of America Corp. boss Brian Moynihan met privately this week with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve governor Daniel Tarullo amid the bank's campaign to calm investors and employees about the bank's dramatic share slump. The separate meetings took place on Wednesday in Washington, said people familiar with the situation. Earlier that day, Mr. Moynihan participated in an unusual public conference call arranged by one of the bank's largest shareholders, where he offered assurances about the bank's strategy, financial strength and ability to withstand market volatility.
• Citadel Considers Cutbacks. Hedge-fund manager Kenneth Griffin's Citadel LLC is making cuts to its New York operations, after struggling for three years to expand into investment banking and research and keep high-level executives in place, people familiar with the matter say. Chicago-based Citadel is in talks to sell all or part of its investment-banking business, and on Thursday morning told equity research employees in New York that their jobs were being eliminated, the people say.
• Foreign Central Banks Didn't Tap Fed Forex Swap Line In Latest Week. Major foreign central banks didn't tap a facility with the Federal Reserve designed to provide short-term dollar funding to banks in the latest week, even as euro-zone banks found it difficult to borrow in dollar-based money markets.
• Texas Gov. Perry to Run for President. Republican Gov. Rick Perry of Texas intends to run for president, his spokesman confirmed Thursday afternoon, signaling a new addition to the contest for the GOP nomination that is sure to recast the race.
• Debate Jolts Republican Race to Life. A slow-moving Republican presidential campaign came to life Thursday night in a GOP candidates' debate that featured the fiercest face-to-face exchanges of the 2012 contest.
• States Go After Big Bank on Forex. The legal stakes are rising for Bank of New York Mellon Corp. in a widening controversy over the way it prices currency trades for pension funds and other big clients.
• Judgement Call: Appraisals Weigh Down Housing Sales. William Maxwell is an expert in finance. He's a professor at Southern Methodist University's business school, has co-authored a book on high-yield debt and spent years calculating values of financial markets. Yet there's one valuation he can't understand: the appraisal of his Dallas home.
• Tablet War Is An Apple(AAPL) Rout. H-P Cuts Price on Its iPad Rival by 20%; Apple Sells Out but Rivals Combat High Inventories.
• Happy Cost of Government Day! You Worked For It. From Jan. 1 until today, every penny Americans earned paid for federal, state and local spending and regulations. The drama of the last-minute vote to increase the debt ceiling by $2.5 trillion has focused on projected deficits of the federal government and how they will add to the national debt. Those numbers are large. The national debt was $10 trillion when President Obama was inaugurated and is expected to be $15.5 trillion at the end of the year. Yet focusing on the deficit understates the true cost of government. In fact, this year's deficit of $1.5 trillion is "only" 40% of federal spending. And while federal spending has jumped to $3.8 trillion in 2011 from $2.9 trillion in 2008—a 31% increase—that does not include state and local spending, which is estimated to total $1.6 trillion in 2011, according to new report from the Americans for Tax Reform Foundation (ATRF). Nor do these numbers include the cost of individuals and businesses complying with federal regulations: The total cost of such compliance is estimated to be $1.8 trillion. Focusing national attention on the deficit rather than on the total cost of government—federal, state and local spending plus the cost of the federal and state regulatory burden—causes several problems.

MarketWatch:

• China Economist: Policy-Tightening May Continue. The complex nature of its present round of inflation may drive China to keep tightening its monetary policy for a longer period, increasing the risk of going too far, Ba Shusong, an economist at a government think-tank, said in a column published in the People's Daily on Friday. An overlap of domestic factors and imported inflation pressures make managing this round of inflation especially tricky, said Ba, a deputy director-general of the Financial Research Institute under the State Council's Development Research Center.

CNBC:

• China Is As Much A Debt Sinner as U.S. and E.U. The Chinese government is not quite the frugal, prudent borrower it portrays itself to be. When assessing a country’s real debt situation, rating agencies usually use a concept known as “general government” debt. This includes the liabilities of central and local governments as well as social security funds. Most debt ratios for developed economies such as the U.S. are calculated in this way. In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, China’s local and regional governments went on an infrastructure building spree that saw them run up huge debts, usually channeled through special-purpose financing vehicles that allow them to get around laws requiring them to keep balanced budgets. Various parts of the Chinese government have different estimates of the total size of local government debt, but one of the more authoritative figures puts it at about 37 percent of GDP at the end of last year, according to the GaveKal-Dragonomics economic research firm. By including a range of other liabilities that Beijing is explicitly or implicitly on the hook for — such as ballooning debt at the railway ministry, bonds issued by so-called policy banks that lend on behalf of the state, and bad debts in the state-owned banking system — GaveKal-Dragonomics estimates that China’s real debt-to-GDP ratio could be as high as 90 percent. Other analysts believe the total is more like 70-80 percent.
• Thousands Riot in Southwest China Town. Thousands of residents of a town in southwest China took to the streets on Thursday, smashing police vehicles in the latest protest by citizens angered by the rough handling of local officials, according to news reports. The protest in Qianxi County, Guizhou province, was the latest of thousands of brief, local riots and demonstrations that happen in China every year, and like many recent outbreaks this one pitted residents against "urban administration" officials charged with enforcing law and order. The "clash broke out between urban administration officials and the owner of an illegally parked vehicle, drawing in thousands of onlookers and sparking incidents of crowds smashing law enforcement vehicles and blocking roads," the website of China National Radio reported on Friday. Rioters turned over one urban administration vehicle and smashed five police vehicles, while others blocked the main streets around the riot with fork lifts and trucks, said the report. "While dealing with the incident, some police were injured," said the report, which added that by the early hours of Friday the crowds had largely scattered as police asserted control.
• Hedge Funds Battling the Bear. (video) We know misery loves company but the fact of the matter is, some investors are making money in this difficult market. And a select few are making a lot of money.
• Nordstrom(JWN) Beats Estimates; Raises Outlook. Nordstrom raised its full-year profit and same-store sales outlooks, and reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit that was helped by more full-price selling.
• Nvidia(NVDA) Outlook Tops Forecasts; Shares Soar. Nvidia delivered a better-than-expected revenue outlook, sending its shares skyrocketing as the graphics chip maker accelerates a push into the fast-growing mobile device market.
• Retail Sales of Video Games Tumbled in July: NPD. A market research firm says that U.S. retail sales of video game hardware, software and accessories dropped 20 percent in July to $707.7 million, compared with the same month a year earlier.

Business Insider:

• Genetically-Engineered T Cells Raise Hope For Big Cancer Breakthrough.

Zero Hedge:

• SEC To Investigate Trades Based On S&P Downgrade Inside Information.
• Letter to Mary Schapiro Demanding An Explanation For Millions of Stub Quote Rule Violations.
  

IBD:

• Limited Brands'(LTD) Victoria's Secret Gets A Lift.

Forbes:

• Nomura Cuts Russia Growth Forecast.

NY Times:

• Postcrisis, New Investment Tactics to Lure the Ultra Wealthy. Funds of hedge funds are changing their ways.

NY Post:

• George Soros Accused of Physical Assault, Sued by Ex-Girlfriend for $50 Million. A beautiful Brazilian soap star has the lead role in her own daytime drama, which casts George Soros, the billionaire financier of lefty causes, as a heavy who not only broke her heart, but also reneged on a promise to give her an Upper East Side apartment worth $1.9 million. The drama will be staged in Manhattan Supreme Court, where 28-year-old Adriana Ferreyr yesterday filed a blockbuster $50 million suit charging, among other things, that the frisky octogenarian slapped her around while they were in bed discussing his real-estate betrayal. The sultry actress and the mogul, who's worth some $14.5 billion, had dated for five years before he heartlessly dumped her a year ago, the lawsuit says.
  

Washington Post:

• U.S. Postal Service Proposes Cutting 120,000 Jobs, Pulling Out of Health-Care Plan. The financially strapped U.S. Postal Service is proposing to cut its workforce by 20 percent and to withdraw from the federal health and retirement plans because it believes it could provide benefits at a lower cost. The layoffs would be achieved in part by breaking labor agreements, a proposal that drew swift fire from postal unions. The plan would require congressional approval but, if successful, could be precedent-setting, with possible ripple effects throughout government. It would also deliver a major blow to the nation’s labor movement. In a notice informing employees of its proposals — with the headline “Financial crisis calls for significant actions” — the Postal Service said, “We will be insolvent next month due to significant declines in mail volume and retiree health benefit pre-funding costs imposed by Congress.”During the past four years, the service lost $20 billion, including $8.5 billion in fiscal 2010.

Rasmussen Reports:

• Daily Presidential Tracking Poll. The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 21% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-three percent (43%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -22 (see trends).

Telegraph:

• Italy Turn on the 'Parasites on Society' in Tax Clampdown. Italy has launched a hard-hitting television campaign against the country's endemic tax evasion as Silvio Berlusconi's government tries frantically to reassure Europe and the markets that it can reduce its massive public debt and avoid a Greek-style meltdown.

Passauer Neue Presse:

• Christian Lindner, general secretary of Germany's Free Democratic Party, said the discussion about euro bonds has to end, citing an interview."Markets are speculating about it futilely," Lindner, whose party is in coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, was quoted as saying. "Germany can't assume responsibility for the debt of crisis countries," he said. That would make Germany's financing more expensive and take away incentives for reform in countries such as Greece, he said.
  

China Securities Journal:

• The People's Bank of China may rely more on yuan gains to ease imported inflationary pressure, the China Securities Journal said in a front-page commentary today. China will continue its monetary tightening against inflation, according to the commentary, written by a reporter at the newspaper named Wang Hui.

Securities Times:

• China's regulators suspended approvals of applications from city commercial banks seeking initial public offerings as they try to restrict lenders to expand outside their home cities to control risks, citing an investment banker. The fast, large-scale expansion of some city banks has caused some market concerns about their asset quality, the report said. Concerns about risks of loans extended to local government financing vehicles may also cause the suspension, citing another investment banker. Some city banks are controlled or partly owned by local governments, according to the report.

Economic Observer:

• China's National Development and Reform Commission refrained from cutting domestic fuel prices because of the "large decline" in profits at refineries, citing an official at the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation.

21st Century Business Herald:

• China's Railways Ministry is in discussion with National Development and Reform Commission on whether to halt some rail projects or postpone construction of high-speed trains that are under construction, citing a person at the ministry.

Evening Recommendations
Janney Montgomery:

• Rated (AKAM) Buy, target $27.
• Rated (ICLK) Buy, target $9.
• Rated (EHTH) Buy, target $17.
• Rated (DGIT) Buy, target $27.
• Rated (KITD) Buy, target $17.
• Rated (VCLK) Buy, target $22.
• Rated (LPSN) Buy, target $14.
  

Night Trading

• Asian equity indices are -.50% to +1.0% on average.
• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 151.0 +15.5 basis points.
  
• Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 144.75 -2.75 basis points.
• FTSE-100 futures +.59%.
  
• S&P 500 futures -.96%.
  
• NASDAQ 100 futures -.87%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate

• (JCP)/.06

Economic Releases
8:30 am EST

• Advance Retail Sales for July are estimated to rise +.5% versus a +.1% gain in June.
• Retail Sales Less Autos for July are estimated to rise +.3% versus unch. in June.
• Retail Sales Ex Autos & Gas for July are estimated to rise +.2% versus a +.2% gain in June.

9:55 am EST

• Preliminary Univ. of Mich. Consumer Confidence for August is estimated to fall to 62.0 versus a reading of 63.7 in July.

10:00 am EST

• Business Inventories for June are estimated to rise +.5% versus a +1.0% gain in May.

Upcoming Splits

• None of note
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Fed's Dudley speaking could also impact trading today.
  

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly higher, boosted by financial and commodity shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly lower and to rally into the afternoon, finishing mixed. The Portfolio is 75% net long heading into the day.

Stocks Soaring into Final Hour on Better US Economic Data, Euro Bounce, Bargain-Hunting, Short-Covering

Broad Market Tone:

• Advance/Decline Line: Substantially Higher
  
• Sector Performance: Every Sector Rising
  
• Volume: Heavy
  
• Market Leading Stocks: Outperforming
  

Equity Investor Angst:

• VIX 38.89 -9.54%
  
• ISE Sentiment Index 107.0 +2.23%
  
• Total Put/Call .98 -19.01%
  
• NYSE Arms .47 -91.49%
  

Credit Investor Angst:

• North American Investment Grade CDS Index 119.05 +4.67%
  
• European Financial Sector CDS Index 221.25 +13.33%
  
• Western Europe Sovereign Debt CDS Index 298.17 +2.52%
  
• Emerging Market CDS Index 299.86 +3.97%
  
• 2-Year Swap Spread 24.0 unch.
  
• TED Spread 27.0 unch.
  

Economic Gauges:

• 3-Month T-Bill Yield .02% unch.
  
• Yield Curve 210.0 +12 bps
  
• China Import Iron Ore Spot $176.10/Metric Tonne -.06%
  
• Citi US Economic Surprise Index -78.80 -8.3 points
  
• 10-Year TIPS Spread 2.26% -5 bps
  

Overseas Futures:

• Nikkei Futures: Indicating +145 open in Japan
• DAX Futures: Indicating +113 open in Germany

Portfolio:

• Higher: On gains in my Biotech, Medical, Retail and Tech sector longs
  
• Disclosed Trades: Covered all of my (IWM)/(QQQ) hedges and some of my (EEM) short and then added some of them back
  
• Market Exposure: Moved to 75% Net Long

BOTTOM LINE: Today's overall market action is very bullish, as the S&P 500 is sharply higher with heavy volume on a bounce in the euro, better US jobless claims, short-covering, bargain-hunting, a reversal lower in precious metals/bonds and less financial sector pessimism. On the positive side, Coal, Steel, Oil Tanker, I-Banking, Networking, Alt Energy, Disk Drive, Bank, Insurance and Gaming shares are especially strong, rising more than +6.0% on the day. (XLF) has traded well throughout the day. Gold is falling -2.69%, copper is surging +4.0% and lumber is rising +2.48%. The 10-year yield is soaring +22 bps to 2.33%, which is a positive at this point. European equity indices put in strong showings today, rising 3-4%. The France sovereign cds is down -5.53% to 165.17 bps, the Italy sovereign cds is down -4.4% to 368.0 bps and the Belgium sovereign cds is down -4.2% to 265.0 bps. On the negative side, Telecom shares are are underperforming, rising less than +3.0%. Oil is up +5.2% and the UBS-Bloomberg Ag Spot Index is up +2.21%. Rice is still near a multi-year high, soaring +27.0% in about 6 weeks. The US price for a gallon of gas is falling -.02/gallon today to $3.62/gallon. It is up .48/gallon in about 6 months. The China sovereign cds is jumping +14.53% to 109.27 bps, the Japan sovereign cds is rising +7.84% to 108.56 bps, the Russia sovereign cds is gaining +7.25% to 218.13 bps, the Israel sovereign cds is jumping +12.25% to 169.86 bps and the Brazil sovereign cds is climbing +9.5% to 169.99 bps. The China and Brazil sovereign cds are breaking out to multi-year highs. The German sovereign cds is hitting another multi-year high and is only 6.0 bps from its Feb. 09 high of 93.0 bps. The Eurozone Financial Sector CDS Index is making another record high. Despite the +1.3% gain in the Shanghai Composite last night, Hong Kong fell another -.95% and is down -14.9% ytd. Ukraine shares plunged another -4.1% today and are down -30.2% ytd. The AAII % Bulls rose to 33.43 this week, while the % Bears fell to 44.78, which is a negative. Given the market's massively oversold state and hope of some sort of forthcoming European debt solution, I suspect we can build on today's gains in the near-term. However, gauges of Eurozone debt angst aren't falling much today, with some even rising meaningfully. Key emerging market cds continue to rise substantially. As well, the rises in the European/North American Investment Grade CDS Indices are troubling, as they likely indicate rising worries over global recession. I expect US stocks to trade modestly higher into the close from current levels on a bounce in the euro, better US economic data, short-covering, bargain-hunting, less financial sector pessimism and a reversal lower in precious metals/bonds.

Bear Radar

Style Underperformer:

• Mid-Cap Value (+4.0%)

Sector Underperformers:

• 1) Gold & Silver +.71% 2) Tobacco +2.0% 3) Telecom +2.06%

Stocks Falling on Unusual Volume:

• OTEX, SODA, GOLD, HMIN, ENS, BGG and IBA
  

Stocks With Unusual Put Option Activity:

• 1) OVTI 2) AMJ 3) CIM 4) FXF 5) AAP
  

Stocks With Most Negative News Mentions:

• 1) VQ 2) IL 3) ISIL 4) CNIT 5) AOL
  

Charts:

• ETFs Falling on Unusual Volume
• Stocks Falling on Unusual Volume
  

Bull Radar

Style Outperformer:

• Large-Cap Growth (+2.91%)

Sector Outperformers:

• 1) Networking +6.01% 2) Oil Tankers +5.0% 3) Coal +4.40%

Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume:

• BCS, CLMT, UBS, BBL, AZN, NZT, LGCY, TI, BHP, BMY, EPOC, TPCG, CSCO, NWS, MOLXA, EXXI, QNST, PEGA, UTIW, CREE, RDEN, SYKE, NXPI, CATY, DGT, EWD, ISI, KIE, EAT, AAP and TRP
  

Stocks With Unusual Call Option Activity:

• 1) AMJ 2) OSG 3) SODA 4) CCL 5) CSCO
  

Stocks With Most Positive News Mentions:

• 1) ADM 2) COV 3) CVX 4) CSCO 5) AAPL
  

Charts:

• ETFs Rising on Unusual Volume
• Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume
  

Thursday Watch

Evening Headlines

Bloomberg:

• Tremonti to Present New Austerity Plan as Unions Threaten General Strike. Italian Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti will present a new austerity plan that has prompted threats of strikes from unions as he seeks to eliminate the budget deficit and secure continued European Central Bank support for the country’s bonds. Tremonti will testify before bicameral committees in Parliament on the measures at 11 a.m. in Rome. The package seeks to bring down the deficit next year to between 1.5 percent and 1.7 percent of gross domestic product before eliminating it in 2013, Tremonti told business and labor leaders at a meeting yesterday. “If the measures that end up in the budget adjustment are those that have been circulated in the newspapers and that the government hasn’t denied, the only response will be a general strike,” Susanna Camusso, head of Italy’s biggest federation of unions, the CGIL, said after the talks.
• SocGen Denies Credit Rumors as Shares Tumble. Societe Generale (GLE) SA, France’s second-largest bank, denied “all market rumors” and asked the nation’s market watchdog for an investigation after speculation France’s creditworthiness was in doubt sent the shares tumbling. The lender’s performance in July and early August shows it will be able to post “solid” results in the future, Paris- based Societe Generale said in a statement after the market closed yesterday. The bank asked France’s Autorite des Marches Financiers to open a probe into the origin of speculation that is “extremely harmful to the interests of its shareholders.” Societe Generale led European bank stocks to the lowest since the aftermath of the credit crisis yesterday, tumbling 15 percent to 22.18 euros in Paris, the biggest drop since Oct. 27, 2008.
• Fed Said to Follow Basel Capital Rules for Biggest U.S. Banks. Federal Reserve officials are drafting rules for the biggest U.S. banks that won't be more stringent than international capital standards agreed to in Basel, Switzerland, according to a person familiar with the discussions. Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo cited a "goal of congruence" between the Basel standards and the Fed's work on rules under the Dodd-Frank Act, which overhauls banking regulation, in a June 3 speech. The central bank hasn't veered from that, according to the person, who declined to be identified because the rules are still being drafted. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, which includes regulators from the U.S. and Europe, set an additional capital buffer standard for the largest international banks in June that will range from 1 percentage point to 2.5 percentage points of risk-weighted assets. That comes on top of a requirement of 7 percent of common equity for all banks.
• Koschyk Backs Call for Euro 'Stability Council,' Passauer Says. German Deputy Finance Minister Hartmut Koschyk supports Economy Minister Philipp Roesler’s call for a “stability council” for the euro area, Passauer Neuen Presse reported, citing an interview. Koschyk also called for the introduction of a “debt limit” among European Union members in order to help to regain market confidence, the newspaper reported. The U.S. should also introduce a debt limit policy, the newspaper cited Koschyk as saying, according to an e-mailed preview of an interview to appear in tomorrow’s edition.
• Central Bankers Worldwide Race to Save Growth in 72 Hours of Policymaking. Central bankers are racing to shield their economies from fiscal tightening and lopsided currency swings that threaten a new global recession. In the 72 hours after a Group of Seven conference call on Aug. 7, the Federal Reserve pledged to keep interest rates near zero through at least mid-2013, the European Central Bank intervened in bond markets and the Bank of England indicated it’s ready to add more stimulus if needed. Japan signaled renewed concern about the yen and Switzerland yesterday stepped up its fight to curb an “overvalued” franc.
• Gold Exceeds $1,800 as Investors Seek 'Ultimate Collateral' on Debt Crisis. Gold extended a rally to an all-time high, topping $1,800 an ounce, on increased demand for a haven investment as global equities plunged amid escalating European and U.S. debt woes. Immediate-delivery metal rallied as much as 1.2 percent to $1,814.95 an ounce, and traded at $1,802.60 at 8:55 a.m. in Singapore.
• Junk Fund Outflows Soar to Record. Investors pulled an unprecedented $2.1 billion from high-yield bond funds globally yesterday. The outflows exceed the previous record of $1.43 billion on May 10, 2010, and followed $1.18 billion of redemptions on Aug. 8, said Cameron Brandt, director of research at Cambridge, Massachusetts-based EPFR Global.
  
• Paulson Loses 31% in Main Hedge Fund After August Rout. John Paulson, the billionaire who is betting on an economic recovery by the end of 2012, lost 11 percent in the first week of August in his largest hedge fund, according to a person familiar with the firm. The decline leaves the Advantage Plus Fund, which tries to profit from corporate events such as takeovers and bankruptcies, down 31 percent since the start of the year, said the person, who asked not to be named because the fund is private. "He's in an awkward position because he doesn't have a lot of time to restore that capital," said Geoff Bobroff, who runs a money management consulting firm in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. "The only way to do it is to make significant bets, and he has to hope they are right."
• Ford(F) Says It's Feeling 'Pricing Pressure' as China Market Slows. Ford Motor Co. (F), seeking to accelerate its growth in China, said it’s encountering pricing pressure as that auto market slows. “In the last three or four months, the auto industry clearly is not growing at the rate it was last year or even in the first quarter,” Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s group vice president and Asia chief, said today at the JP Morgan auto conference in Detroit. “We have seen some pricing pressure.” Ford is spending $1.6 billion to build four factories in China, where it plans to triple its lineup by offering 15 models by mid-decade, Hinrichs said. “The growth rate is not nearly as aggressive” in China as it has been, Hinrichs said.
• Cooperman's Omega Sells Stakes in Bank of America(BAC), Citigroup(C), Filing Says. Leon Cooperman, chief executive officer of New York-based hedge fund Omega Advisors Inc., sold all of his Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and Citigroup Inc. (C) holdings in the second quarter as he reduced his financial stakes. Cooperman sold 794,000 Citigroup shares and 2.54 million Bank of America shares, according to a document filed today with the U.S. Securities and Commission. He sold 247,000 shares of Blackstone Group LP (BX), reducing his position to about 2 million shares as of June 30. The fund’s equity weighting in financial stocks decreased by 3.6 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
• North, South Korea Trade Artillery Salvos. South Korea said North Korea fired artillery salvos near a disputed sea border that was the scene of a deadly shelling in November, a charge North Korea denied. South Korea returned fire after North Korea lobbed three shells into the waters near Yeonpyeong Island about 1 p.m. yesterday and shot back again around 7:46 p.m. when two more shells landed in the ocean, said an official from the defense ministry in Seoul who declined to be identified, citing military policy. North Korea denied firing any artillery and accused its neighbor of using construction blasting in nearby Hwanghaenam Province as a pretext for confrontation, according to a report from the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
• China's Ban on U.S. Professors Elicits Silence. They call themselves the “Xinjiang 13.” They have been denied permission to enter China, prohibited from flying on a Chinese airline and pressured to adopt China- friendly views. To return to China, two wrote statements disavowing support for the independence movement in Xinjiang province. They aren’t exiled Chinese dissidents. They are American scholars from universities, such as Georgetown and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who have suffered a backlash from China unprecedented in academia since diplomatic relations resumed in 1979. Their offense was co-writing “Xinjiang: China’s Muslim Borderland,” a 484-page paperback published in 2004. “I wound up doing the stupidest thing, bringing all of the experts in the field into one room and having the Chinese take us all out,” said Justin Rudelson, a college friend of U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and former senior lecturer at Dartmouth College, who helped enlist contributors to the book and co-wrote one chapter.
• Australian Jobless Rate Rises Most Since 2010. Australia’s jobless rate unexpectedly rose to an eight-month high last month as employers cut full-time staff, prompting investors to increase bets the central bank will lower the developed world’s highest interest rates. Unemployment jumped to 5.1 percent in July from 4.9 percent a month earlier, the first increase since October, the statistics bureau said in Sydney today. The number of workers fell by 100 after a revised 18,200 gain in June. That compares with the median estimate for 10,000 additional jobs in a Bloomberg News survey of 25 economists.
• Turkey Scrutinizes Short Sales Amid Rout After Bans in Greece, South Korea. Turkey is increasing scrutiny of short sales, joining countries from Greece to South Korea that have sought to prevent bearish bets from fueling declines in stocks after the worst global tumble since 2008.

Wall Street Journal:

• Dissents Pose New Test for Bernanke. Regional Bank Presidents Fisher, Kocherlakota Say Their No Votes Not a Sign of Decisive Break With the Fed Chairman. Ben Bernanke's decision to open the door to easier monetary policy Tuesday marked another watershed moment in his 5½-year odyssey as chairman of the Federal Reserve. This time, it wasn't just the policy that raised eyebrows, but also the manner in which it was decided. For the first time in Mr. Bernanke's tenure, three colleagues formally dissented from the Fed's move, a new sign of deep internal opposition that contrasts with the chairman's oft-stated desire for consensus. Since the financial crisis, Mr. Bernanke has labored with mixed success to manage divisions within the central bank.
• Among Hedge Funds, Big Winners, Losers. Yes, some investors are making money in this difficult market. Some are making a lot of money. Ray Dalio's Bridgewater Associates LP has scored gains of more than $3.5 billion, or about 5%, in its flagship hedge fund just in the past week, according to investors. The $71 billion fund now is up more than 20% this year, investors said, making it among the best performers in the hedge-fund business. The gains are partly due to a spike in safe-haven investments, such as gold, Treasury bonds and the Swiss franc, in which Bridgewater has sizable positions.
• FTC Focuses Probe on Android, Web Search. U.S. antitrust regulators are focusing their investigation of Google Inc.(GOOG) on key areas of its business, including its Android mobile-phone software and Web-search related services, people familiar with the probe say. Six weeks after serving Google with broad subpoenas, Federal Trade Commission lawyers, in conjunction with several state attorneys general, have been asking whether Google prevents smartphone manufacturers that use its Android operating system from using competitors' services, these people said.
  
• Deere & Co.(DE) Under Investigation For Possible Foreign Bribery. Deere & Co., the world’s largest manufacturer of farm equipment, is under investigation by U.S. authorities for possible violations of foreign bribery laws, according to two people familiar with the matter. Investigators are looking at whether payments made in Russia and elsewhere fell foul of the FCPA.
• Verizon(VZ) Sues Union Over Workers' Strike in East. Verizon says striking workers have taken their demonstrations too far, and the telecommunications company is suing in five Eastern states to limit picketing and stop what it claims is harassment, sabotage and blocking access to its facilities. The company sued Communications Workers of America leaders Wednesday in New York and got a court order Monday in Pennsylvania.
• Treasurys Extend Rally As US Sells Debt At Record Low Yields. The United States is no longer a purely triple-A rated borrower, but that fact hasn't done anything to stop the country from raising debt this week at the lowest yields on record.
• Riots Stoke British Ethnic Tensions. Race Relations Come to Fore After Birmingham Car Attack Kills Three Asian Men; 'An Eye for an Eye'.
• China Flexes Naval Muscle. China sent its first aircraft carrier to sea, a defining moment in its effort to become a top-tier naval power that seeks to challenge U.S. military supremacy in Asia and protect Chinese economic interests that now span the globe.
• TV Buoys News Corp.(NWSA) Results. Murdoch Dismisses Criticism of Board; Media Giant Raises Dividend as Operating Profit Rises 8.9%.
• Oil Surplus Seen if Recession Re-Emerges.
• America as Less Than No. 1. So this is a taste of what it will be like when the American superpower starts shrinking. Enjoying it yet?

MarketWatch:

• CME(CME) Hikes Gold Margins, But Prices Still Rising. U.S. exchange operator CME Group said late Wednesday it is raising the margin requirements for trade in a wide range of gold products, effective Thursday. The speculative margin requirement for a new position in Comex 100 gold futures will rise to $7,425 from $6,075, or to $5,500 from $4,500 for existing "current maintenance" margins.
• China Widens Access to Shale Gas.
  

CNBC:

• Global Banking Crisis Fears Lurch to the Foreground.
  
• Cisco(CSCO) Delivers an Encouraging Outlook; Shares Surge. Cisco Systems beat expectations with its fiscal fourth-quarter results and delivered an encouraging outlook, sending its shares higher in after-hours trading.
• Asian Stocks Not Cheap Despite 20% Slump: Experts.
  

Business Insider:

• S&P Lobbies The Government For Beneficial Treatment Even As It Rates Federal Finances.
• Michael Lewis Uncovers Germany's Dirty Fetish And Secret Motives In The Euro Crisis. Michael Lewis's big new article in Vanity Fair will probably anger a lot of Germans.
• Chart of the Day: Apple(AAPL) Closes The Day As The Most Valuable Company In The World For The First Time Ever.
• Chris Whalen On The Growing Funding Issues For Euro Banks.
  

Zero Hedge:

• Weekly Outflows From Domestic Equity Mutual Funds Surge To $13 Billion, Nearly Surpasses Post-Flash Crash Record. (graph)
• "The Punch Line" - All The Ad Hoc Data That's Fit To Print... And Then Some.
  

IBD:

• MasterCard(MA) Grows As The World Goes Plastic.

Forbes:

• Obamacare Bombshell: Did the Government Underestimate the Costs of PPACA's Exchanges by Hundreds of Billions?

CNN:

• Obama Set to Raise Money in New York. President Obama is scheduled to attend two fundraisers in New York on Thursday to benefit his re-election effort, two Democratic sources tell CNN. One is a reception for 15 people at a hotel. Following that he’ll attend a dinner for approximately 50 people hosted by film producer Harvey Weinstein and Vogue Editor Anna Wintour, according to the sources. The dinner will be held at Weinstein’s apartment, one of the sources said. Tickets for both events are $35,800 with proceeds going to the Obama Victory Fund, whose proceeds are shared by the re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Earlier this week the President attended two separate events in Washington. He attended a fundraiser with approximately 140 guests at a private residence with its proceeds also going to the Victory Fund. He also went to a reception that night which was a donor outreach event.
• Inside a Hedge Fund. (video) As stock markets brace themselves for more turmoil, Nina Dos Santos gets a glimpse inside a hedge fund.
  

NY Times:

• Hedge Funds Gets Unfamiliar Taste of Losing. For hedge funds, just one week can change their entire year. With the stock market shedding billions of dollars in value and uncertainty in Europe stoking fear, some funds are watching their returns sink by double digits while others are shooting the lights out. August, in less than two weeks, has brought a 13 percent decline in the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index and roughly 12 percent drop in the Dow Jones industrial average.The turmoil has whipsawed some of the biggest names in hedge funds.
• In U.S. Stress Tests, a Tool to Gauge Contagion in Europe.
  

Seeking Alpha:

• SodaStream(SODA) Bubbles With Excitement.

Gallup:

• Obama Job Approval: Approve 41%, Disapprove 51%. (graph)

Politico:

• Super Committee Lineup Gives Hope For Deal.

Rasmussen Reports:

• 16% Say U.S. Heading In Right Direction.

USA Today:

• Economic Woes Offer Awkward Backdrop for Obama's Vacation. Fourteen million people are out of work. Millions more are losing fortunes in the stock market. America's AAA bond rating has slipped. So should President Obama be vacationing next week in Martha's Vineyard, off the coast of Massachusetts, where the average home costs $650,000? Yes, says White House press secretary Jay Carney. Obama, like most Americans, needs down time to recharge his batteries for the battles ahead. And besides, he says, "The presidency travels with you." Maybe not, say some academics, authors and political pundits. While Obama deserves a break, they say, this might not be the time, and Martha's Vineyard might not be the place.

Reuters:

• BofA(BAC) Negotiates to Sell Big China Bank Stake - Sources. Bank of America Corp has held exploratory talks with the principal investment funds of Kuwait and Qatar about selling part of its stake in China Construction Bank, sources with direct knowledge of the talks told Reuters. Bank of America, which owns about 10 percent of CCB's Hong Kong-listed shares and is scurrying to raise capital for its mortgage-scarred balance sheet, will be contractually free to sell the bank shares after Aug. 29. They are valued at about $17 billion.

Telegraph:

• Weaker Euro States Could Lose Local Banks. Weaker eurozone members face the prospect of being left with no domestic banks in future as market resistance to funding lenders in peripheral countries grows.
• Commerzbank Takes €760m Greek Hit. The results knocked its profits for the second quarter down more than 90pc, as it became the latest European lender to take a hit on its exposure to the indebted Southern European country.

The Telegraph.au:

• French President Nicolas Sarkozy Gathers Ministry to Battle Possible Credit Downgrade. PRESIDENT Nicolas Sarkozy cut short his holiday to announce new moves to slash France's massive debt amid fears it might be next after the United States to suffer a credit-rating downgrade. Sarkozy gave his finance and budget ministers one week to come up with new ideas for keeping France's promises to slash its public deficit, it said, adding that the measures would then be decided on on August 24. The announcement came after ministers battled this week to head off speculation that France will be the next country to lose its top AAA status after the United States was stripped of the prized credit rating last week. Shares in French banking giant Societe Generale briefly crashed more than 20 per cent on the ratings speculation and concern over its exposure to Greek debt amid renewed concern about Athen's implementation of a rescue plan. If France, the eurozone's second-largest economy, lost its AAA rating the effects would stretch far beyond its borders. France provides the second-largest contribution, after Germany, to the eurozone's temporary rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, which enjoys an AAA rating to borrow at low rates and lend to states under bailout programmes. Markets are wondering whether France and Germany can continue to underwrite the debts of troubled eurozone countries without losing their own top credit ratings and thus falling victim to the crisis themselves. French debt has faced pressure on the markets as the cost of credit default swaps - insurance policies against a default -- hit record highs this week, suggesting investors were starting to look at the country more closely. After the United States, "the other AAA-rated G7 sovereigns are all at risk of a downgrade, with the markets focusing particularly on France," said London-based Citi economist Willem Buiter. Jennifer McKeown, senior economist at Capital, said: "Growing concerns about France's fiscal position have underlined the breadth of the eurozone's debt crisis." The International Monetary Fund said last month that France would probably need extra action to cut its deficit in 2012 and 2013 as falling growth threatened to complicate economic recovery.

South China Morning Post:

• Industrial Bank Chief Economist Lu Zheungwei said China should work with developing countries through the G20 to limit countries' net sovereign debt as a proportion of GDP. Emerging economies are "victims" of high inflation caused by easy credit in developed countries, especially the U.S., says Wang Jun, senior economist at the Beijing-based China Centre for International Economic Exchanges.

Beijing News:

• Chinese central bank adviser Li Daokui said a third round of quantitative easing in the U.S. may increase imported inflationary pressure in China, citing comments he made in an interview.

Evening Recommendations
Raymond James:

• Upgraded (CCOI) to Strong Buy, target $17.
  
• Upgraded (TWTC) to Strong Buy, target $25.
• Upgraded (JBL) to Strong Buy, target $26.
• Upgraded (PLXS) to Strong Buy, target $37.
• Upgraded (ARW) to Strong Buy, target $50.
• Upgraded (AVT) to Strong Buy, target $45.
• Upgraded (DELL) to Strong Buy, target $20.
• Upgraded (IM) to Strong Buy, target $23.
• Upgraded (NTAP) to Strong Buy, target $60.
  

Night Trading

• Asian equity indices are -1.50% to +.50% on average.
• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 135.50 +15.5 basis points.
  
• Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 147.50 +4.75 basis points.
• FTSE-100 futures +1.25%.
  
• S&P 500 futures +1.28%.
  
• NASDAQ 100 futures +1.29%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate

• (EAT)/.47
• (WEN)/.05
• (RGLD)/.40
• (KSS)/1.08
• (SLE)/.20
• (NVDA)/.31
• (BYI)/.56
• (MCP)/.41
• (RRGB)/.36
• (JWN)/.74
• (DV)/1.04
• (BGG)/.38
  

Economic Releases
8:30 am EST

• The Trade Deficit for June is estimated at -$48.0B versus -$50.2B in May.
• Initial Jobless Claims are estimated to rise to 405K versus 400K the prior week.
• Continuing Claims are estimated to fall to 3725K versus 3730K prior.
  

Upcoming Splits

• None of note
  

Other Potential Market Movers

• The 30-Year Treasury Bond Auction, Fed's weekly balance sheet report, M1/M2 reports, weekly EIA natural gas inventory report and the weekly Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index could also impact trading today.
  

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly lower, weighed down by financial and industrial shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly higher and to maintain gains into the afternoon. The Portfolio is 50% net long heading into the day.