Evening Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Russia Seizes on Kerry Comment on Syria Giving Up Weapons. Russia
seized on a casual comment by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to
urge that Syria turn over its arsenal of chemical weapons to
international control to avert an American military strike. “If the
establishment of international control of chemical weapons in
the country will help avoid military strikes, we will immediately start
working with Damascus,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said
after meeting with his Syrian counterpart in Moscow. Syria’s government
said it welcomed the idea. Russia jumped on a hypothetical comment by
Kerry, who told reporters in London that Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad could avert a threatened U.S. attack by turning over “every
single bit of his chemical weapons to the
international community in the next week.” While Kerry added immediately
that Assad “isn’t about to do it, and it can’t be done, obviously,” the
idea took on a life of its own.
- Asian Stocks to Baht Climb Before China Data as Oil Slips.
Asian stocks rose, extending the longest rally in the benchmark equity
gauge this year, and the Thai baht and Malaysian ringgit climbed before
Chinese factory
output and retail sales data expected to show growth in August.
Crude oil slipped for a second day and credit risk fell. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.9 percent at 12:20 p.m.
in Tokyo, advancing for a ninth day in its longest winning
streak since December.
- Rubber Drops Most in 3 Weeks With Oil on Easing Syria Concerns.
Rubber declined the most in three
weeks as oil prices dropped, cutting the appetite for the commodity used
in tires, amid speculation that the U.S. Congress won’t endorse a
strike against Syria. Rubber for delivery in February lost as much as 2.1 percent,
the biggest drop for a most-active contract since Aug. 20, to
280 yen a kilogram ($2,812 a metric ton) on the Tokyo Commodity
Exchange. Futures traded at 280.4 yen by 12:05 p.m. local time,
down 7.3 percent this year.
- Rebar Falls From One-Week High as Steel Mills Boost Production.
Steel reinforcement-bar futures in Shanghai retreated from a one-week
high as Chinese steel mills increased production of the building
material. Rebar for delivery in January on the Shanghai Futures Exchange declined as much as 0.5 percent to 3,735 yuan ($610) a
metric ton before trading at 3,736 yuan at 10:43 a.m. local
time. The contract closed at 3,752 yuan yesterday, the highest
level since Sept. 2.
- Banks Seen at Risk Five Years After Lehman Collapse. While the amount of capital at the six largest U.S. lenders has almost
doubled since 2008, policy makers and some Wall Street veterans say
that’s not enough. They see a system still too leveraged, complicated
and interconnected to withstand a panic, and regulators ill-equipped to
head one off -- the same conditions that led to the last crisis.
- Apple(AAPL) to Unveil IPhones Seeking End to Year of Struggles. Apple
Inc. (AAPL)’s introduction of new iPhones is a chance for the company
to turn the page on a dour year that included no big new gadgets, a
falling stock and stepped-up competition. Apple will update its
flagship product, adding more colors and a less-expensive model, at an
event at its Cupertino, California, headquarters today, a person with
knowledge of the plans said last month. Apple, which will hold a viewing
of the presentation in Beijing for the first time, is also close to
securing deals with China Mobile Ltd. (941) and Japan’s NTT DoCoMo Inc.
(9437) to sell iPhones in Asia’s biggest markets.
Wall Street Journal:
- Mortgage Lenders, Home Buyers Feel Rate Squeeze. Wells Fargo, J.P. Morgan Warn of Slowdown. A rise in interest rates is slamming homeowners' demand for
mortgages, prompting large and midsize banks to cut jobs and warn
investors of declining profitability in the home-loan business.
Wells Fargo & Co., the nation's largest mortgage company by loan
value, on Monday told investors at a conference that it expects
mortgage
originations to drop nearly 30% in the third quarter to roughly $80
billion, down from $112 billion in the second quarter. Businesses Aim to
Ride New Funding Wave. As Ban Is Set to End, Some Regulators Fret About
Possible Scams.
- China Tightens Grip on Social Media.
Chinese authorities said that social-media users who post comments
considered to be slanderous could face prison if the posts attract wide
attention—a ruling free-speech advocates criticized as an attempt to
give legal backing to the suppression of online dissent.
- John B. Taylor: The Weak Recovery Explains Rising Inequality, Not Vice Versa. Obama blames tax cuts that began under Reagan for today's slow growth. The data don't back him up.
Last year at this time a debate raged about whether economic growth
and job creation has been abnormally slow compared with previous
recoveries from recessions in the United States. Now that the growth
rate has declined to 1.6% over the past year from 2.8%, the debate is no
longer about whether. It's about why. The poor economic policies of the past few years is a reasonable explanation for today's weak economy.
Fox News:
- Obama backs off 'red line,' opens door to 'diplomatic track' on Syria. President Obama on Monday took a sharp turn away from his "red line"
threat to Syria on the eve of taking his case to the American people,
saying in an interview with Fox News that he's open to negotiations on
an alternative plan that could avert a military strike. The president was responding to a proposal, formally put forward by
the Russians, to have the Assad regime turn over its chemical weapons to
international control. "We will pursue this diplomatic track," Obama told Fox News. "I
fervently hope that this can be resolved in a non-military way."
- Fox News Poll: Voters say US less respected since Obama took office. Nearly half of American voters -- 48 percent -- think the United
States is less respected around the world today than it was five years
ago. That’s up from 37 percent who felt that way last year, according
to a Fox News poll. The new poll, released Monday, finds 14 percent of voters think the
U.S. is more respected today -- nearly five years into the Obama
presidency -- and 36 percent say it’s unchanged.
CNBC:
- Bank of America(BAC) to cut 2,100 jobs as loan demand weakens. Bank of America plans to eliminate nearly 2,100 jobs and close 16 mortgage offices due to weak loan demand, Bloomberg reported Monday. Sources with direct knowledge of the plans said 1,500 of the employees
process home loans and about 200 deal with overdue mortgages.
- India's crisis a 'wake-up call': Stephen Roach. (video) Long-term India bull Stephen Roach told CNBC on Tuesday that he was
turning bearish on Asia's third-largest economy, and warned that the
country's currency crisis should prove a "wake-up call" for investors.
Zero Hedge:
ValueWalk:
- Black Swan Risk Shifts to Emerging Markets: SocGen. SocGen
is out with a lengthy report titled Global Economic Outlook: Looking
under the hood of recovery. In the report there is an interesting tidbit
on black swan risks. Below is an excerpt on that segment.
Reuters:
The Economic Times:
- Banks expect no quick fix for NPA pain despite RBI warning. Despite the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) hard talks against loan
defaulters, banks are expecting more pain in terms of asset quality as
the systemic gaps allow bad borrowers to divert funds and go scot-free
under the garb of economic slowdown.
China Securities Journal:
- China Should Implement Strict Property Controls. China should
maintain its "prudent" monetary policy and implement "relatively strict"
property controls to prevent a rebound in consumer and property prices,
a commentary by reporters Gu Xin says. Chinese consumer prices will
face "relatively heavy" pressure to rise next year, the commentary said.
- Beware: Wall St. debt re-packaging machine is back. Wall Street's re-packaging of debt into an alphabet soup of complex,
leveraged investments helped fell Lehman Brothers five years ago this
month and brought other financial institutions like AIG to the
government's door begging for bailouts. This slicing and dicing — known as securitization or structured finance —
is on the rebound, and not much has changed in the way it is done. If
it catches on in a big way again, the financial system could become
fragile once more, experts say. "It's basically the same people doing the same things all over again,
only more intensely," says Brian Reynolds, chief market strategist at
Rosenblatt Securities. "In the long term we should be worried."
Evening Recommendations
Wells Fargo:
Night Trading
- Asian equity indices are +.50% to +1.75% on average.
- Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 135.0 -8.0 basis points.
- Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 117.0 -5.5 basis points.
- NASDAQ 100 futures +.16%.
Morning Preview Links
Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate
Economic Releases
7:30 am EST
- The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index for August is estimated to rise to 95.0 versus 94.1 in July.
10:00 am EST
- JOLTs Job Openings for July are estimated to fall to 3900 versus 3936 in June.
Upcoming Splits
Other Potential Market Movers
- The
Italian GDP report, China Industrial Production/Fixed Asset/Retail
Sales reports, 3Y Note auction, weekly retail sales reports, Baird Healthcare Conference, RBC
Industrials Conference, Goldman Sachs Retail Conference, (STX) analyst
meeting, (TPX) investor day, (HAS) investor day and the (CGNX) analyst
day could also impact trading today.
BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are higher, boosted by industrial and financial shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly higher and to weaken into the afternoon, finishing mixed. The Portfolio is 75% net long heading into the day.
Broad Equity Market Tone:
- Advance/Decline Line: Substantially Higher
- Sector Performance: Almost Every Sector Rising
- Market Leading Stocks: Outperforming
Equity Investor Angst:
- Volatility(VIX) 15.47 -2.40%
- Euro/Yen Carry Return Index 137.68 +1.08%
- Emerging Markets Currency Volatility(VXY) 10.81 -5.09%
- S&P 500 Implied Correlation 48.49 -3.98%
- ISE Sentiment Index 129.0 +32.99%
- Total Put/Call .66 -25.0%
Credit Investor Angst:
- North American Investment Grade CDS Index 81.72 -2.98%
- European Financial Sector CDS Index 139.38 -4.57%
- Western Europe Sovereign Debt CDS Index 91.65 +.72%
- Emerging Market CDS Index 319.70 -3.17%
- 2-Year Swap Spread 15.5 -.25 bp
- 3-Month EUR/USD Cross-Currency Basis Swap -9.75 +.5 bp
Economic Gauges:
- 3-Month T-Bill Yield .01% -1 bp
- China Import Iron Ore Spot $134.80/Metric Tonne +.52%
- Citi US Economic Surprise Index 55.0 -1.5 points
- Citi Emerging Markets Economic Surprise Index -14.0 +1.0 point
- 10-Year TIPS Spread 2.07 -1 bp
Overseas Futures:
- Nikkei Futures: Indicating +125 open in Japan
- DAX Futures: Indicating +23 open in Germany
Portfolio:
- Higher: On gains in my tech/medical/retail/biotech sector longs
- Disclosed Trades: Covered some of my (IWM), (QQQ) hedges and some of my (EEM) short
- Market Exposure: Moved to 75% Net Long
Bloomberg:
- Obama Shrinking Second-Term Hastened by Syria Opposition. As Barack Obama seeks approval for a military strike in Syria, he finds the footprint of his historic presidency shrinking. It’s the fate of most second-term presidents as it becomes harder to
keep public support and win legislative fights while their power wanes.
For Obama, it’s arrived early.
- Italy Senate Panel Probably Will Delay Vote on Berlusconi Ouster.
An Italian Senate panel that must
decide whether to expel former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
probably will delay a vote on the issue after its first review today. The 23-member panel is still discussing legal and procedural issues outlined in a report presented today in Rome
by Senator Andrea Augello of Berlusconi’s People of Liberty
Party. Senator Mario Giarruso of the Five-Star Movement told
reporters that the first vote on the procedural matters raised
by Augello may occur later today or tomorrow.
- European Stocks Little Changed on Chinese Export Data. European stocks
were little changed after their biggest weekly advance since April, as
Chinese exports rose more than expected and investors awaited a U.S.
decision this week on possible air strikes against Syria. BG Group Plc
retreated 5.1 percent as the U.K.’s third-largest oil and gas producer
said output next year will fall short of its estimates. Vallourec (VK)
SA climbed 3.6 percent after
Kepler Cheuvreux upgraded the producer of steel pipes for the
oil-and-gas industry.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index lost 0.1 percent to 305.84 at
the close of trading.
- Japan Dispatches Fighters After China Bomber Flight Near Islands. Japan Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera described a flight by two Chinese bombers between
southern Japanese islands as “unusual,” two days before the
anniversary of the purchase of islands disputed with China. Japan dispatched fighter planes when the Chinese H-6
bombers flew between the main southern island of Okinawa and
Miyakojima about 280 kilometers (174 miles) further southwest on
Sunday, without entering Japanese airspace, the Defense Ministry
said in a statement on its website. China said the flight was
legal and that it would continue such maneuvers.
- Fed’s Williams Says Data Signal Gradually Improving Job Market. Federal
Reserve Bank of San Francisco President John Williams, who has backed
record stimulus, said recent economic data signal gradual job market
improvement in line with his expectations. The “latest data” is
“consistent with the forecast that I’ve had for the U.S. economy of
gradual improvement and doesn’t change my particular views” on policy,
Williams said to reporters today after a speech in San Francisco. “We
are
continuing to get closer to this marker of substantial
improvement” in the labor market, said Williams, who doesn’t
vote on policy this year.
Wall Street Journal:
- White House Wants 'Hard Look' at Syria Weapons Offer. Syria said it welcomed a Russian proposal that it hand over chemical
weapons to be destroyed, without saying whether it would comply, as
opponents of a military strike against Syria leapt at the chance for
another delay to possible U.S. attack. The White House said it would take a "hard look" at the proposal from
the Russian government to get Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to turn
over his chemical-weapons stockpiles, but said it didn't have confidence
that Mr. Assad would do so.
Fox News:
CNBC:
Zero Hedge:
Business Insider:
Automotive News:
- Tesla's(TSLA) State battles yield mixed results. A federal approach might be next. After mixed results in a flurry of state-level battles with dealers
over its direct-selling model, Tesla Motors is pondering whether to take
the fight to Washington. The rest of the auto industry intently
awaits Tesla's decision. A federal challenge -- through legislation or a
lawsuit -- may be a long shot. But some dealers say they fear for the
future of the franchise system if Tesla succeeds.
Style Underperformer:
Sector Underperformers:
- 1) Hospitals -1.23% 2) Gold & Silver -.65% 3) HMOs -.50%
Stocks Falling on Unusual Volume:
- THC, ESRX, CVI, SSNI, SCOR, KONG, KMR, SGNT, OMCL, SNTS, MGAM, UNXL, UTIW, NTI, CYH, HFC, YELP, SN, STMP, TSLA, EE, MTB and MPC
Stocks With Unusual Put Option Activity:
- 1) WBMD 2) INVN 3) VMW 4) JNK 5) NFX
Stocks With Most Negative News Mentions:
- 1) CYH 2) CKP 3) NOV 4) IACI 5) AIG
Charts:
Style Outperformer:
Sector Outperformers:
- 1) Homebuilders +3.85% 2) Steel +2.85% 3) Airlines +2.23%
Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume:
- END, MHR, MOLX, RDA, TW, DAL, LQDT, ISIS, FIO, YY, POT, AMAP, AMBA, ACAD, IPI, MOS, GRPN and SWHC
Stocks With Unusual Call Option Activity:
- 1) SFD 2) TWX 3) BIOD 4) FIO 5) DRI
Stocks With Most Positive News Mentions:
- 1) MOLX 2) KMI 3) LMT 4) WDC 5) FIO
Charts:
Weekend Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Syria Vote in Skeptical Congress Puts Obama’s Agenda at Risk. President Barack Obama enters one of
the most pivotal weeks of his presidency, as he makes a final
push to persuade a skeptical Congress and a reluctant American
public to support air strikes against Syria. With U.S. lawmakers increasingly lining up against the
president, the looming congressional vote threatens to undermine
Obama’s domestic agenda and weaken his clout internationally.
Bashar al-Assad disputed U.S. allegations he used chemical
weapons against civilians, according to CBS News correspondent
Charlie Rose who interviewed the Syrian president in Damascus. A failure in Congress could reverberate through Obama’s
second-term agenda, heightening the difficulty he’ll face in
winning congressional support for domestic initiatives and
hampering his foreign policy agenda during his final three years
in office. “The president’s asking a lot for Republicans to support
him on Syria,” Tom Davis, a former Republican representative
from Virginia who was head of his party’s campaign operation,
said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “To go back again
on immigration or on the budget is going to be very tough.”
- Japan Boosts GDP Estimate as Abe Weighs Sales-Tax Increase.
Japan’s economy grew faster than previously estimated in the second
quarter, aiding Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s reflation campaign as he
considers whether the nation can withstand a sales-tax increase. Gross
domestic product expanded an annualized 3.8 percent from the first
quarter, higher than an initial estimate of 2.6 percent, reflecting
stronger private capital investment, the Cabinet Office said in Tokyo
today. The median forecast of 23 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News
was for a 3.9 percent increase. The economy grew 4.1 percent in the first quarter.
- BlackRock(BLK) Predicts Deeper Emerging-Markets Rout: Credit
Markets. Wall Street's biggest firms are predicting intensifying bond
losses in emerging markets, where borrowing costs have already soared to
the highest in more than four years versus U.S. corporate debt, as the
Federal Reserve considers curtailing record stimulus. "We're not yet
convinced that we've seen the worst in terms of flows out of emerging
markets," Jeffrey Rosenberg, the chief investment strategist in
fixed-income at NY-based BlackRock Inc., the world's largest asset
manager, said in a telephone interview. "We see a lot of valuation
change but we see the potential for even more valuation change."
Investors have yanked $22.1 billion from emerging-market bond funds
since the end of April, almost five times the amount pulled from U.S.
corporate credit, according to EPFR Global.
- China May Cut 2014 Growth Target to 7%, State Economist Fan Says.
The drop would be in line with the goal set in the country’s 2011-2015
five-year plan for annual average expansion of 7 percent, Fan, who works
at the State Information Center under the National Development and
Reform Commission, said in an interview in Shanghai on Sept. 7. “It’s
hard to find good reasons to be optimistic” about a recovery in China’s
growth, Zhang Zhiwei, chief China economist at Nomura Holdings Inc. in
Hong Kong, said in a Sept. 6 interview. “The economy has been pretty
much supported by investment, especially property and infrastructure,
but it’s
hard to see how the momentum can continue.” Zhang, who sees
“moderate upside risks” to his third-quarter growth estimate of 7.4
percent after better-than-expected economic data, said he’s maintaining
his 2014 forecast
of 6.9 percent as the current recovery is unsustainable.
- Chinese Zombies Emerging After Years of Solar Subsidies. Only
five solar-power vendors remain
in a space built for 170 at a sprawling complex of offices stacked three
stories high outside Xinyu city in China’s southeast. Locked doors and
empty offices are what’s left of the government’s audacious plan to
dominate the global solar industry. What happened in Xinyu is being replicated across China, which used subsidies and $47.5 billion of credit to wrest
supremacy from Germany, Japan and the U.S., saddling an industry
with losses for at least two years. “There is definitely a slew of smaller zombie companies
out there that are going to continue to fall one by one,” said
Angelo Zino, an analyst at S&P Capital IQ in New York. “You’ll
see 10 to 12 names here when it all shakes out. The remaining
names will either go bankrupt or be consolidated.”
- Asian Stocks Gain as Yen Drops on Olympics; Metals Rise.
Asian stocks rose, with Japan’s benchmark index reaching a one-month
high, and the yen weakened after Tokyo was selected to host the 2020
Olympics. Metals rallied and the won gained on improving Chinese exports
and easing concerns over a reduction in U.S. stimulus. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 0.8 percent by 11:06
a.m. in Hong Kong, rising for an eighth day.
- WTI Crude Drops From Two-Year High as China’s Crude Imports Slip. West Texas Intermediate fell from the highest price in more than two years. Hedge
funds reduced their bullish bets last week and China’s net crude
imports shrank in August from a record high. Futures slid as much as 0.7
percent in New York after two
days of gains.
- Gold Declines as Investors Expect Fed to Press On With Tapering. Gold fell, extending two weeks of
losses, as investors weighed the prospects of reduced stimulus
in the U.S. against signs of increased demand.
Gold for immediate delivery dropped as much as 0.5 percent
to $1,385.50 an ounce, and traded at $1,389.71 at 9:11 a.m. in
Singapore.
- Rebar Rises First Time in Five Days as Traders’ Inventory Falls.
Steel reinforcement-bar futures in Shanghai rose for the first time in
five days as traders’ inventory fell to the lowest in more than seven
months. Rebar for January delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange
gained as much as 1.1 percent to 3,762 yuan ($615) a metric ton, before
trading at 3,758 yuan at 10:45 a.m. local time. The
contract fell to the lowest close in almost a month on Sept. 6.
- Merkel Says Danger SPD May Break Vow and Ally With Left Party. German
Chancellor Angela Merkel said there’s a danger that the opposition
Social Democrats and the Greens may break an election pledge not to ally
with the anti-capitalist Left Party in a bid to take power. Merkel said the vote “will be very close” in a speech at
a rally in Dusseldorf yesterday, marking the start of the final
two weeks of campaigning before Sept. 22 elections.
- Treasuries Drop as Weak Jobs Growth Can’t Derail Fed Taper View. Treasuries fell for the first time
in three weeks, pushing 10-year note yields to a two-year high,
on speculation economic growth has improved enough to make the
Federal Reserve comfortable slowing bond purchases this month. Benchmark yields breached 3 percent yesterday for the first
time since July 2011 before a lower-than-forecast jobs report
sent them plunging the most on an intraday basis since November.
Fed policy makers are debating whether the pace of economic
growth merits reducing the asset purchases they have made to
support the economy and keep borrowing costs low. The Treasury
Department sale of $63 billion in notes and bonds next week
includes the smallest auction of three-year debt in four years.
- Russia to Brazil Intervention Adds to U.S. Debt Woes Amid Losses. Investors
suffering the worst losses
in Treasuries since at least 1978 can add dollar sales by
emerging-market central banks to their list of challenges. Speculation
that the Federal Reserve, the biggest buyer of Treasuries, will reduce
its purchases sent U.S. debt down 4.1 percent this year and boosted the
dollar against developing-nation currencies for four straight months,
matching the longest streak since 2001, according to Bloomberg data.
India, Brazil, Russia and Indonesia have intervened in foreign-exchange
markets, and dollar sales mean liquidating Treasuries, according to
bond traders at Scotiabank and Bank of America Corp.
Wall Street Journal:
- Obama Hones Pitch on Syria As Opposition Rises at Home. In
a week poised to define his second term, President Barack Obama will
mount an intensive campaign to promote a U.S. military strike on Syria
as opposition rises in both Congress and across the country. Mr. Obama will make his case repeatedly in coming days to Americans wary
of opening a new military front in the Middle East, including in a
battery of interviews set for Monday and a nationally televised address
Tuesday evening. He also is sending aides to hold closed-door
intelligence briefings for members of Congress about the alleged gassing
deaths of more than 1,400 Syrian civilians by the forces of President
Bashar al-Assad.
- Hedge Funds Cut Back on Fees. Pressure From Disappointed Investors Changes '2 and 20' Model. Pressure from disappointed investors is forcing hedge funds to roll
back their fees, putting the standard charge of 2% of assets under
management and 20% of investment profits on the endangered list. Until a few years ago, most funds were like upscale New York
restaurants: Some succeeded, others failed, but almost none cut prices.
This pricing power was a product of the tens of billions of dollars that
flowed into the industry after the tech meltdown of 2000, when savvy
investments by some hedge funds shielded their investors from the
drubbing suffered by holders of broad stock funds.
Fox News:
- Benghazi anniversary hurts White House push to win Syria support. The Obama administration’s effort Sunday to win support for a
punitive military strike on Syria is facing opposition and criticism in
part because of its handling of the fatal Benghazi terror attacks, which
occurred one year ago Wednesday. Federal prosecutors last month filed the first criminal charges
related to the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks on the U.S. outpost in Benghazi,
Libya, in which four Americans were killed.
Business Insider:
- Obama's Stance On Syria Is One Contradiction Too Many. First, the Middle East. For the last six years, Obama has
told Americans that the United States needs to extricate itself from
the region. He proclaimed a "pivot to Asia" — the region, he said, that
was far more important to America's economic future than the Middle
East. Iraq and then Afghanistan were countries that the United States
should get out of,Obama declared. And never look back. For two years, this same message was conveyed about Syria. Now, Obama is telling Americans that acting in Syria is vital. Voters respond with a simple question: Why now?
Wall Street All-Stars:
Telegraph:
- China to dictate tough terms on BRICS rescue fund. A top Chinese official has dashed hopes for imminent use of a new $100bn BRICS
fund to rescue emerging market currencies in crisis, warning that China will
not deploy its reserves unless tough terms are imposed.
dna:
- India is reeling under crisis of confidence: Yashwant Sinha. India's top economic minds like Yashwant Sinha, Pratip Chaudhary, Meera
Sanyal, and Brinda Jagirdar lament the fact that the fundamental
structure of the economy has become weak during the UPA-II regime.
Speaking at Bharat Bhagya Vidhata 'India Ka Agenda' show to be aired
tonight @ Zee News at 10 pm, they identified elevated twin deficits, low
growth rate, and high inflation as three key factors that had weakened
the pillars of the economy.
Weekend Recommendations
Barron's:
- Bullish commentary on (MSFT), (AET), (CAT), (GE), (JOY), (BOBE) and (TXT).
- Bearish commentary on (MCD).
Night Trading
- Asian indices are +.50% to +1.75% on average.
- Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 143.0 -12.0 basis points.
- Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 122.50 -3.25 basis points.
- NASDAQ 100 futures +.38%.
Morning Preview Links
Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate
Economic Releases
3:00 pm EST
- Consumer Credit for July is estimated to fall to $12.3B versus $13.81B in June.
Upcoming Splits
Other Potential Market Movers
- The Fed's
Williams speaking, BoJ minutes, Barclays Financial Services Conference,
KeyBanc Basic Materials/Packaging Conference and the (NS) analyst
meeting could also impact trading today.
BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are higher, boosted by automaker and real estate 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 week.
