Weekly Scoreboard*

Indices

• S&P 500 1,691.75 -1.06%

• DJIA 15,258.20 -1.25%

• NASDAQ 3,781.59 +.18%

• Russell 2000 1,074.19 +.13%

• S&P 500 High Beta 27.14 -.84%

• Wilshire 5000 17,809 -.82%

• Russell 1000 Growth 789.34 -.64%

• Russell 1000 Value 853.61 -1.17%

• Morgan Stanley Consumer 1,021.51 -1.77%

• Morgan Stanley Cyclical 1,318.53 -.90%

• Morgan Stanley Technology 826.03 -.43%

• Transports 6,597.59 -1.42%

• Utilities 482.19 -.65%

• Bloomberg European Bank/Financial Services 101.57 -1.74%

• MSCI Emerging Markets 41.44 -1.32%

• HFRX Equity Hedge 1,120.94 -.25%

• HFRX Equity Market Neutral 933.63 -.03%

Sentiment/Internals

• NYSE Cumulative A/D Line 190,844 -.25%

• Bloomberg New Highs-Lows Index 200 -755

• Bloomberg Crude Oil % Bulls 24.14 -36.87%

• CFTC Oil Net Speculative Position 320,758 -1.86%

• CFTC Oil Total Open Interest 1,881,081 -2.35%

• Total Put/Call .94 -10.48%

• OEX Put/Call 10.89 +1,296.1%

• ISE Sentiment 77.0 -9.41%

• NYSE Arms 1.25 -21.38%

• Volatility(VIX) 15.46 +17.83%

• S&P 500 Implied Correlation 47.41 +.38%

• G7 Currency Volatility (VXY) 8.65 -3.35%

• Emerging Markets Currency Volatility (EM-VXY) 10.07 +2.44%

• Smart Money Flow Index 11,327.80 -2.79%

• Money Mkt Mutual Fund Assets $2.693 Trillion +1.35%

• AAII % Bulls 36.0 -20.1%

• AAII % Bears 30.6 +3.1%

Futures Spot Prices

• CRB Index 286.98 -.16%

• Crude Oil 102.87 -1.75%

• Reformulated Gasoline 267.62 -.42%

• Natural Gas 3.59 -2.66%

• Heating Oil 299.01 -.56%

• Gold 1,338.40 +.90%

• Bloomberg Base Metals Index 191.94 -.04%

• Copper 332.95 +.67%

• US No. 1 Heavy Melt Scrap Steel 335.67 USD/Ton -2.04%

• China Iron Ore Spot 131.90 USD/Ton +.08%

• Lumber 341.80 -4.10%

• UBS-Bloomberg Agriculture 1,428.38 +.76%

Economy

• ECRI Weekly Leading Economic Index Growth Rate 4.9% +40 basis points

• Philly Fed ADS Real-Time Business Conditions Index .0888 unch.

• S&P 500 Blended Forward 12 Months Mean EPS Estimate 118.64 -.07%

• Citi US Economic Surprise Index 46.50 +2.1 points

• Citi Emerging Markets Economic Surprise Index 4.20 +2.1 points

• Fed Fund Futures imply 42.0% chance of no change, 58.0% chance of 25 basis point cut on 10/30

• US Dollar Index 80.52 +.12%

• Euro/Yen Carry Return Index 138.52 -1.12%

• Yield Curve 229.0 -11 basis points

• 10-Year US Treasury Yield 2.62% -11 basis points

• Federal Reserve's Balance Sheet $3.691 Trillion +.32%

• U.S. Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 31.0 +38.5%

• Illinois Municipal Debt Credit Default Swap 173.0 +.39%

• Western Europe Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap Index 84.91 -2.30%

• Asia Pacific Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap Index 119.19 +21.4%
  

• Emerging Markets Sovereign Debt CDS Index 247.50 +20.6%
  

• Israel Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 120.54 +3.03%

• Egypt Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 650.0 unch.

• China Blended Corporate Spread Index 378.0 +13 basis points

• 10-Year TIPS Spread 2.18% -6 basis points

• TED Spread 23.75 -.25 basis point

• 2-Year Swap Spread 14.0 -1.5 basis points

• 3-Month EUR/USD Cross-Currency Basis Swap -6.5 -.25 basis point

• N. America Investment Grade Credit Default Swap Index 80.56 +2.04%
  

• European Financial Sector Credit Default Swap Index 145.23 +3.47%
  

• Emerging Markets Credit Default Swap Index 293.95 +12.03%
  

• CMBS AAA Super Senior 10-Year Treasury Spread  to Swaps 110.0 -1.5 basis points

• M1 Money Supply $2.554 Trillion -.11%

• Commercial Paper Outstanding 1,064.0 +1.70%

• 4-Week Moving Average of Jobless Claims 308,000 -6,800

• Continuing Claims Unemployment Rate 2.2% +10 basis points

• Average 30-Year Mortgage Rate 4.32% -18 basis points

• Weekly Mortgage Applications 451.90 +5.53%

• Bloomberg Consumer Comfort -28.10 +1.3 points

• Weekly Retail Sales +3.90% -10 basis points

• Nationwide Gas $3.42/gallon -.07/gallon

• Baltic Dry Index 2,046 +7.5%

• China (Export) Containerized Freight Index 1,090.62 -1.30%

• Oil Tanker Rate(Arabian Gulf to U.S. Gulf Coast) 25.0 +11.11%

• Rail Freight Carloads 262,897 -1.12%

Best Performing Style

• Small-Cap Growth +.33%

Worst Performing Style

• Large-Cap Value -1.17%

Leading Sectors

• Computer Hardware +1.1%

• HMOs +1.0%

• Telecom +.5%

• Restaurants +.4%

• Gaming +.2%

Lagging Sectors

• Road & Rail -1.7% 

• Networking -1.9%

• Steel -2.1%

• Medical Equipment -3.1%

• Coal -3.9%

Weekly High-Volume Stock Gainers (27)

• MAKO, CLDX, GWAY, PTCT, ASNA, GEVA, SHEN, PCRX, ECOM, RM, OMX, AMAT, CNC, EHTH, DRII, UCP, SRPT, BLUE, SRDX, FUL, CHEF, SAI, ZOLT, VIAS, ACXM, DRIV and TW

Weekly High-Volume Stock Losers (16)

• WMC, GS, RPAI, LGND, BAX, JBL, LNDC, FUR, BRSS, CPRT, CLDT, CCL, ABMD, RHT, HTZ and AMAG

Weekly Charts
ETFs

• High-Volume Gainers

• High-Volume Losers

Stocks

• High-Volume Gainers

• High-Volume Losers

*5-Day Change

Stocks Falling into Final Hour on European/Emerging Markets Debt Angst, US Debt Ceiling Worries, Technical Selling, Homebuilding/Tech Sector Weakness

Click Here for Today's Market Take.

Broad Equity Market Tone:

• Advance/Decline Line: Lower
  

• Sector Performance: Almost Every Sector Declining
  

• Volume: Below Average

• Market Leading Stocks: Underperforming

Equity Investor Angst:

• Volatility(VIX) 15.77 +12.16%

• Euro/Yen Carry Return Index 138.60 -.44%

• Emerging Markets Currency Volatility(VXY) 10.09 +1.61%

• S&P 500 Implied Correlation 47.85 +6.73%

• ISE Sentiment Index 79.0 -11.24%

• Total Put/Call .95 +35.71%

• NYSE Arms 1.13 +1.85% 

Credit Investor Angst:

• North American Investment Grade CDS Index 80.97 +1.54%

• European Financial Sector CDS Index 145.23 +3.21%

• Western Europe Sovereign Debt CDS Index 84.91 -.11%

• Emerging Market CDS Index 293.88 +3.78%

• 2-Year Swap Spread 14.0 +.75 basis point

• TED Spread 23.75 -1.5 basis points

• 3-Month EUR/USD Cross-Currency Basis Swap -6.5 -.25 basis point

Economic Gauges:

• 3-Month T-Bill Yield .01% +1 basis point

• Yield Curve 229.0 -1 basis point

• China Import Iron Ore Spot $131.90/Metric Tonne -1.42%

• Citi US Economic Surprise Index 46.5 -1.3 points

• Citi Emerging Markets Economic Surprise Index 4.20 +.3 point

• 10-Year TIPS Spread 2.18 -2 basis points

Overseas Futures:

• Nikkei Futures: Indicating -25 open in Japan

• DAX Futures: Indicating +12 open in Germany

Portfolio: 

• Slightly Higher: On gains in my biotech sector longs, index hedges and emerging markets shorts

• Disclosed Trades: Covered some of my (IWM)/(QQQ) hedges, then added them back

• Market Exposure: 25% Net Long

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:

• Osborne Increases BOE Home-Plan Checks as Bubble Fears Rise. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne will introduce annual checks with the Bank of England over his Help-to-Buy program as he responds to mounting concerns that the plan may fuel excessive house-price increases. Osborne and the BOE’s Financial Policy Committee will reassess the program, which helps buyers purchase homes with as little as a 5 percent deposit, every September starting next year, the Treasury in London said. The FPC will advise Osborne on whether key parameters, such as the price cap and the fee charged to lenders, remain appropriate. The chancellor’s plan has drawn criticism from the International Monetary Fund and Business Secretary Vince Cable who say it may spark a property bubble.

• European Stocks Fall on Italy Auction, U.S. Budget Woes. European stocks declined as Italian bonds fell after a debt auction and concern grew that budget wrangling in Washington will lead to a government shutdown. Vallourec (VK) SA plunged 8.2 percent after warning that slower drilling in Brazil and a weak real may hurt profit. Vestas Wind Systems A/S (VWS) rose to its highest price since June 2011 after Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and the Danish turbine maker agreed to form a venture to develop offshore wind energy. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.3 percent to 312.18 at the close of trading.

• Gold Futures Rise to One-Week High on U.S. Stimulus Speculation. Gold futures for December delivery added 1.1 percent to $1,338.20 an ounce at 10:13 a.m. on the Comex in New York. Earlier, the price reached $1,345.20, the highest for a most-active contract since Sept. 20.

• Rubber Falls to One-Month Low as Stronger Yen Reduces Appeal. Rubber declined to the lowest level in a month, paring a quarterly advance, as a strengthening Japanese currency cut the appeal of the commodity used in tires. The contract for March delivery on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange lost 2.7 percent to end at 270.2 yen a kilogram ($2,741 a metric ton), the lowest settlement since Aug. 30. Futures have gained 14 percent this quarter, the first such climb this year, paring losses to 11 percent for the year.

• Goldman Sachs(GS), Morgan Stanley(MS) Estimates Lowered by Hintz. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Morgan Stanley (MS) had their earnings estimates lowered by Brad Hintz, a Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analyst, amid a decline in trading he called “a full-scale rout.” Hintz cut Goldman Sachs’s third-quarter per-share earnings estimate by 15 percent to $2.62 and the full-year estimate by 8.6 percent to $15.59 per share, according to a note today about the two New York-based banks. Morgan Stanley’s per-share third-quarter estimate was decreased 20 percent to 41 cents, and the 2013 figure dropped 4.8 percent to $1.98. “While the third quarter is typically seasonally soft, Q3 2013 appears to be turning into a full-scale rout in trading as weak activity and limited risk-taking constrained performance,” Hintz wrote. Fixed-income trading volume could decline 20 percent to 25 percent on average in the three months ended Sept. 30, he wrote.

Wall Street Journal:

• Budget Battle: Streaming Coverage.

Fox News:

• ‘Stupid’: Dems refuse to consider tax-repeal compromise in ObamaCare standoff. President Obama and his congressional allies are digging in ahead of a series of key votes on a contentious budget bill, refusing to consider a potential compromise that might satisfy GOP demands to chip away at the health law. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid went so far as to call one counterproposal "stupid."

MarketWatch:

• Will Obamacare hurt job creation and marriage? Commentary: Families and employers pay the price.

CNBC:

• Blackstone(BX): We're in an 'epic credit bubble'. One of the world's largest investment firms believes the financial system is overly leveraged. "We are in the middle of an epic credit bubble, in my opinion, the likes of which I haven't seen in my career in private equity," Joseph Baratta, The Blackstone Group's global head of private equity, said Thursday night at the Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst Conference in New York City. "The cost of a high yield bond on an absolute coupon basis is as low as it's ever been."

• Lumber Liquidators(LL) shares plunge after headquarters search.

• What you need to know if DC's fiscal follies deepen. With the grownups in Congress apparently no longer in charge, the risk of a government shutdown seems to have risen this week ahead of a Monday night deadline to pass a law funding operations.

Zero Hedge:

• Japan Pummeled By Soaring Food And Energy Prices, Plunging Wages And Ongoing Core Deflation.

• Italian GDP Slumps Fastest Since 1861's Unification. (graph)

• Personal Income, Spending Both As Expected; Savings Rate Rises To Highest Since May. (graph)

• Surge In Shipping Rates Temporary - Growth Hopes Dashed (Again). (graph)

• Goldman(GS) Slams Deutsche Bank(DB) Next, Expects "Severe Revenue/Profit Pressure".

• Consumer Sentiment Plunges To 5-Month Lows; Biggest Miss Of 2013. (graph)

• Five Years Later: FHA Demands $1.7 Billion Treasury Bail Out.

• European Peripheral Bond Risk Spikes Most In 6 Months. (graph)

Business Insider:

• NYSE Margin Debt Is Rising Once Again. (graph)

• ANALYST: JCPenney(JCP) Will Need A 'Historic' Holiday Season To Survive.

• ASSAD: Forget Chemicals, We Have Other Weapons That Could 'Blindside' Israel. 

• ALBERT EDWARDS: The Fed Is Inflating A Housing Bubble To Hide A Destabilizing Economic Problem.

@FGoria: 

• IMF on NPLs in Italian Banking System. (graph)

Washington Times:

• PAUL: Why must the American people suffer when even so many Democrats don’t want Obamacare? Officials who implemented the law should not escape its pain.

Real Clear Politics:

• Cavuto: Mr. President, Your Health Care Law Is The Problem. (video)

Reuters:

• Japan could face debt downgrade if budget deficit doesn't shrink: S&P. Japan could face a debt downgrade if it does not shrink its budget deficit, which is unlikely to return to primary balance by a targeted date of fiscal 2020, even if the prime minister's policies go well, a senior official of Standard & Poor's said. Japan's outstanding debt burden is the highest in the world at 1,000 trillion yen, or more than twice the size of its economy. Standard & Poor's remains doubtful about the scale of Japanese welfare reform and how much spending can be cut, Takahira Ogawa, director of sovereign ratings at the agency, told reporters on Friday.

• Brazil sees private banks slowing loan disbursements pace. Brazil's private-sector banks will keep slowing the pace of new loan disbursements through the end of the year, the central bank said on Friday, a sign that an approach to avoiding risky lending will stretch for a longer period than previously thought. The central bank cut the estimate for loan book growth among domestic non-government lenders to 6 percent from a prior 10 percent forecast. Likewise, it lowered the same estimate for foreign lenders operating in the country to 7 percent from 8 percent previously.

• BlackBerry(BBRY) confirms deep loss and revenue drop. BlackBerry Ltd reported a quarterly loss of nearly $1 billion on Friday, in line with a warning it gave last week, just days after the smartphone maker accepted its largest shareholder's tentative $4.7 billion bid to take it private. The report showed Blackberry turned in a particularly limp performance in Latin America, a region it recently touted as a enthusiastic supporter of its devices.

Financial Times:

• Obama and Republicans remain poles apart as twin crises loom. Days from the first deadline in a series of cascading budget crises, President Barack Obama and his Republican opponents remain far apart on resolving their latest stand-off over the reach of government, symbolised by his health reforms.

Bear Radar

Style Underperformer:

• Large-Cap Value -.60%

Sector Underperformers:

• 1) Steel -2.30% 2) Gaming -1.42% 3) Coal -1.41%

Stocks Falling on Unusual Volume:

• UIL, AMPE, CYOU, CLMT, ZOLT, NKTR, LL, DXCM, AZZ, ROYT, PODD, UAL, ACN, IGT, TS, CNH, IP, MSCC, ATRO, MKC, RKT, ANF, QIHU, BNNY, UNXL, LNKD and SAI

Stocks With Unusual Put Option Activity:

• 1) CTB 2) KSS 3) JCP 4) NKE 5) NSM
  

Stocks With Most Negative News Mentions:

• 1) JCP 2) AAPL 3) YELP 4) FB 5) TSLA
  

Charts:

• ETFs Falling on Unusual Volume

• Stocks Falling on Unusual Volume

Bull Radar

Style Outperformer:

• Small-Cap Value -.43%

Sector Outperformers:

• 1) Gold & Silver +.67% 2) Alt Energy +.55% 3) Software +.47%
  

Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume:

• HALO, MHR, BSBR, RDA, FINL, NKE, TSL and FL

Stocks With Unusual Call Option Activity:

• 1) MTW 2) NKTR 3) GERN 4) IP 5) ZOLT
  

Stocks With Most Positive News Mentions:

• 1) PEGI 2) T 3) FLIR 4) TASR 5) JOY
  

Charts:

• ETFs Rising on Unusual Volume 

• Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume

Friday Watch

Evening Headlines 
Bloomberg:

• Soros Adviser Turned Lawmaker Sees Crisis by 2020: Japan Credit. Takeshi Fujimaki, a former adviser to billionaire George Soros and now a member of Japan’s upper house of parliament, said a fiscal crisis in Asia’s second-biggest economy is inevitable and neither a higher sales tax nor the 2020 Olympics will be able to stop it. “I decided to become a politician because I think financial crisis will come sooner or later,” Fujimaki said in a Sept. 24 interview in Tokyo. “This total debt will continue to increase. I don’t think Japan can survive until 2020.”    

• Japan Inflation Accelerates to Fastest Since 2008 on Energy. Consumer prices excluding fresh food increased 0.8 percent from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said today in Tokyo. The median forecast of 30 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a gain of 0.7 percent. Stripping out energy and perishables, prices fell 0.1 percent.

• Rajan Seen Switching Main India Inflation Gauge at RBI: Economy. Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan is set to use consumer-price inflation as the main guide for monetary policy for the first time, a shift that signals further increases in the benchmark interest rate.

• Asia Stocks Set for Best Monthly Gain Since Sept. 2010. Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501) gained 7.5 percent as the operator of the crisis-ridden Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear station received approval for nuclear safety checks. Australand Property Group gained 1.3 percent in Sydney after JPMorgan Chase & Co. advised buying shares of the developer. Mirabela Nickel Ltd. (MBN) slumped 52 percent after the Australian producer of the metal said it may miss its output forecast. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.1 percent to 140.66 as of 9:53 a.m. in Hong Kong.

• Copper Drops, Paring Quarterly Gain, as Data Stoke Stimulus Bets. Copper declined for the first time in three days, paring the biggest quarterly gain since March 2012, as reports showed the U.S. economy improved, boosting the case that the Federal Reserve may reduce its stimulus. The metal for delivery in three months on the London Metal Exchange fell as much as 0.3 percent to $7,227 a metric ton and traded at $7,240.25 by 11:04 a.m. in Tokyo.

• Market Outages Highlight Exchanges’ Conflicts Over Data Streams.

• Accenture(ACN) Forecasts Profit That May Fall Short of Estimates. Accenture Plc (ACN), the world’s second-largest technology-consulting company, forecast earnings that may fall short of analysts’ estimates amid increasing competition from Indian providers.

Wall Street Journal:

• No Clear Path to Avoid Shutdown as House GOP Stands Firm. Congress's rocky path to avoiding a government shutdown became even rougher Thursday, as Speaker John Boehner said the House wouldn't accept the spending plan likely to emerge from the Senate. The Ohio Republican's announcement foreshadows a set of last-minute legislative volleys between the House and Senate to fund federal agencies ahead of a deadline Monday, the final day of the fiscal year. he Senate is expected to pass a bill Friday that would fund the government for the first 1½ months of the new fiscal year. But Senate Democrats plan to restore money for the Affordable Care Act that House Republicans had stripped out, leaving the two chambers in conflict.

• Fed's Stein Was Open to Bond-Buy Cuts.

• Wharton Applications Drop 12% Over Four Years. Business-School Experts and Students Say School Has Lost Its Luster.

• U.N. Members Agree on Syria Disarmament. Security Council's Five Top Powers Draft Resolution That Requires Destruction of Chemical Arsenal but Puts Off Enforcement.

• BATS Prepares to Take On Big Bell Ringers. Shift Reflects Changing Nature of Stock Trading.

• Demand Propels Nike(NKE), but China Is a Drag.

• A Small President on the World Stage. At the U.N., leaders hope for a return of American greatness.

CNBC:

• Why big American businesses fail in China.

• Boom! Corporate debt bonanza sets a new record.

Zero Hedge:

• As US Default Risk Spikes To 5-Month High, Here Is How To Trade The Debt Ceiling Showdown. (graph)

• Spot The Wealth Effect. (graph)

• Greece On The Verge? Military Special Forces Have 15 Demands... Or Else.

• $5.25m For Senate Hair Care & 21 Other Ways Politicians Are Living The High Life At Your Expense.

• Goldman's Analyst Index Plunges Most In A Year. (graph)

• Cyprus-Style Wealth Confiscation Is Starting All Over The World.

• JCPenney Throws CNBC Under The Bus, Says CEO Was "Misquoted".

Business Insider:

• Investors: Get Ready For Two ~$100 Million Enterprise Tech IPOs On Friday. 

• K.C. FED PRESIDENT: Delaying The Taper Threatens The Fed's Credibility.

• The First Cracks Appear In The Insane LBO Craze.

• Senior Obama Adviser Compares House Republicans To Terrorists, Kidnappers, And Arsonists.

• Ford(F) CEO Alan Mulally Is Now In The Lead To Be Microsoft's CEO — REPORT.

• New Images Show Huge Scale Of Destruction At Nairobi Mall.

New York Times:

• Report Warns of Chinese Municipal Debt Risks. A report by Nomura said Thursday that Chinese municipal debt, a focal point of major concern about the country’s economy, had grown at an alarming 39 percent clip in recent years. The report by Nomura estimated that the financing vehicles used by local governments to raise cash had created debts totaling at least 19 trillion renminbi, or $3.1 trillion, by the end of last year and posed a “major risk to the economy.”

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis:

• Italy on Verge of Downgrade to Junk; Silvio Berlusconi's Supporters Threaten Mass Resignation from Parliament.

Reuters:

• Some U.S. brokers not policing 'hold' recommendations: regulator. Some securities brokerages are struggling with an industry rule requiring, among other things, policies to make sure that recommendations to hold securities are appropriate for their investors, according to findings this week by Wall Street's industry-funded watchdog. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) rule, which took effect in July 2012, required that investments recommended by brokerage firms be suitable for investors at all times, and not just when investors buy them. In the past, brokers mainly had to worry only that their "buy" and "sell" recommendations were suitable at the time of sale.

• Japan's Aso: not thinking of lowering effective corp tax rate now. Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said on Friday that he is not thinking of lowering the effective corporate tax rate right now, but that the government would need to figure out how to make up for lost tax revenue if it did.

Economic Information Daily:

• China's Local Debt May Have Doubled From End-2010. New audit of local government debt shows size of debt may have almost doubled from 2011 results, citing a person involved in the audit. China found outstanding local government debt of 10.7t yuan at end-2010, according to audit results released in 2011, the report said.

Evening Recommendations 

• None of note

Night Trading

• Asian equity indices are -.25% to +.50% on average.

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 149.50 +.5 basis point.

• Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 116.25 -1.25 basis points. 

• FTSE-100 futures +.22%.

• S&P 500 futures -.01%.

• NASDAQ 100 futures +.06%.

Morning Preview Links

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate

• (AZZ)/.66

• (BBRY)/-0.47

• (FINL)/.46

Economic Releases 
8:30 am EST

• Personal Income for August is estimated to rise +.4% versus a +.1% gain in July.

• Personal Spending for August is estimated to rise +.3% versus a +.1% gain in July.

• The PCE Core for August is estimated to rise +.1% versus a +.1% gain in July.

 9:55 am EST

• Final Univ. of Mich. Consumer Confidence for September is estimated to rise to 78.0 versus a prior estimate of 76.8.

Upcoming Splits

• None of note

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Fed's Dudley speaking, Fed's Evans speaking, Fed's Rosengren speaking, Fed's Evans speaking, Eurozone CPI Report, Eurozone Consumer Confidence Report and the Eurozone Industrial Production Report could also impact trading today.

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly higher, boosted by consumer and industrial shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open mixed and to weaken into the afternoon, finishing modestly lower. The Portfolio is 25% net long heading into the day.