Links of Interest

Market Snapshot
Detailed Market Summary
Quick Summary
Economic Commentary
Movers & Shakers
Today in IBD
NYSE OrderTrac
I-Watch Sector Overview
NYSE Unusual Volume
NASDAQ Unusual Volume
Hot Spots
NASDAQ 100 Heatmap
DJIA Quick Charts
Chart Toppers
Option Dragon
Intraday Chart/Quote

Friday Watch

Late-Night Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Dow Jones’(DJ) owners and directors were sued by a shareholder seeking to compel acceptance of a $5 billion buyout offer by News Corp.(NWS/A) Chairman Rupert Murdoch.
- US Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, laying out her first presidential health-policy agenda since the failed attempt during her husband’s administration, said she would bar insurers from “cherry picking” profitable enrollees.
- Rational decision makers would normally quake at warnings about the casino mentality in Shanghai. Greenspan, after all, is a very cautious fellow who doesn’t utter a word before considering what damage it might do. So when the former Fed chairman said May 23 that stocks in China face a “dramatic contraction,” he’s probably far more concerned than he lets on.
- President Bush said war funding legislation moving through Congress sets out a “clear road map” for progress by the Iraqi government and that the next few months will be a crucial period in the conflict.
- Nasdaq Stock Market(NDAQ), trailing NYSE Euronext in the race to expand into Europe, may say as early as today that it’s buying Sweden’s OMX AB for more than $3 billion.
- A “large” appreciation of the yuan would hurt China’s economy, Vice Premier Wu Yi said, signaling the nation won’t cave in to US demands for faster gains to ease the US trade deficit.
- Japan’s core consumer prices fell .1% in April versus a .3% decline in March that was the steepest decline in two years, the government statistics bureau said in Tokyo.
- Congress approved $120 billion in emergency spending for military operations and domestic projects after dropping Iraq troop withdrawal timelines.
- Pakistan’s economic progress is being threatened by terrorism and extremism that may force the country to reverts to backwardness, said President Pervez Musharraf.
- World sugar output will rise by 1.2% to 163.3 million metric tons during the 2007-2008 crop year, pushing the stocks-to-use ratio to a 25-year high, the US Foreign Agricultural Service said.

NY Times:
- The number of eighth graders in NY who passed an annual English test increase for the first time since 1999.

CNBC:
- Apple’s(AAPL) iPhone will be available June 20, citing an unidentified AT&T phone store. Apple spokesman Steve Dowling declined to comment on the report. The device will be available in late June, Dowling said, reiterating earlier comments from Apple.

Shanghai Securities News:
- Stock brokers in Beijing shut their offices and evicted customers before closing time yesterday in an effort to prevent a rampage and cool China’s stock market. Many brokerages are encouraging customers to open online accounts rather than come to their offices, which are mostly too small to accommodate big crowds.

Late Buy/Sell Recommendations
Citigroup:
- Reiterated Buy on (SNDK), target $52.
- Reiterated Buy on (KYPH), target $54.
- Reiterated Buy on (VAR), target $52

Morgan Stanley:
- Demand for LCD-TVs seems stronger than we had expected. 6G lines are being stretched to capacity as large models penetrate further, and 32” LCD panels are in serious shortage. Panel prices are rising at a 2% MoM clip.

Business Week:
- Billionaire investor George Soros acquired a 12% stake in Bioenvision Inc.(BIVN), a biopharmaceutical company focused on certain types of cancer. SCO Financial CEO Steven Rouhandeh said share of the company could reach $20 a share if its clofarabine drug is approved for adult use in Europe.
- YRC Worldwide(YRCW), the largest US trucking company, is a potential buyout target. Justin Yagerman, an analyst with Wachovia Securities, expects the shares to hit $53 in a year.
- Shares of Amgen Inc.(AMGN) will rise 17% in a year, citing chief investment officer at Ryan Beck & Co.

Night Trading
Asian Indices are -1.25% to -.50% on average.
S&P 500 indicated +.04%.
NASDAQ 100 indicated +.09%.

Morning Preview
US AM Market Call
NASDAQ 100 Pre-Market Indicator/Heat Map
Pre-market Commentary
Before the Bell CNBC Video(bottom right)
Global Commentary
Asian Indices
European Indices
Top 20 Business Stories
In Play
Bond Ticker
Conference Calendar
Daily Stock Events
Macro Calls
Rasmussen Consumer/Investor Daily Indices
CNBC Guest Schedule

Earnings of Note
Company/EPS Estimate
- None of note

Upcoming Splits
- (POT) 3-for-1
- (TSO) 2-for-1

Economic Releases
10:00 am EST
- Existing Home Sales for April are estimated at 6.12M versus 6.12M in March.

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

Stocks Finish Near Session Lows on Profit-taking and Emerging Market Worries

Evening Review
Detailed Market Summary
Market Gauges
Daily ETF Performance
Style Performance
Market Wrap CNBC Video(bottom right)
S&P 500 Gallery View
Economic Calendar
Timely Economic Charts
GuruFocus.com
PM Market Call
After-hours Movers
Real-time/After-hours Stock Quote
In Play

Stocks Sharply Lower into Final Hour on Profit-taking and Emerging Market Worries

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio is slightly lower into the final hour on losses in my Semi longs and Computer longs. I have not traded today, thus leaving the Portfolio 75% net long. The tone of the market is very negative as the advance/decline line is substantially lower, every sector is lower and volume is heavy. "High-school dropout" copper is getting pounded 3.4% today and is down almost 17% in less than a month, even as U.S. economic data have improved meaningfully over the last few weeks. I continue to believe prices anywhere around current levels are absurd and any substantial rallies in the metal can be sold. Slowing demand growth from emerging markets, rising production, a firmer U.S. dollar and more investment fund downside speculation will provide the catalysts for further declines in the commodity. I still believe it can approach $2 a pound by year-end. I expect US stocks to trade modestly higher into the close from current levels on buyout speculation, short-covering and more economic optimism.

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- Russ Koesterich, who helps manage $1.8 trillion at Barclays Global Investors, said today’s New Home Sales report was “unambiguously good.”
- Crude oil is falling $1.53/bbl. because of a glut of oil at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point used for benchmark futures.
- Gold is falling another $8/oz. to a two-month low in NY as a gain in the value of the dollar reduced demand for the precious metal and worries over emerging market demand rose.
- Copper futures in NY fell the most in more than three months on speculation that supplies in China, the biggest consumer, may exceed demand. The metal has declined 17% in about five weeks.
- Shares of Greenlight Capital(GLRE), the reinsurer led by hedge fund manager David Einhorn, surged on their first day of trading as investors bet on his ability to manage the company’s portfolio.
- Dell Inc.(DELL) said it will sell personal computers at Wal-Mart Stores(WMT), in the biggest step away from its direct-sales strategy since the company was dethroned by Hewlett-Packard(HPQ) as the industry leader.

Wall Street Journal:
- Citigroup Inc.(C), one of the biggest issuers of credit cards in the US, is switching thousands of American Airlines credit cards from Visa to American Express(AXP) as part of its bid to boost its relationship with American Express.
- China stock picking has turned to numerology that often relies on combinations of the letter eight.
- Goldman Sachs Group(GS) started a market to trade stakes in companies that want to avoid the oversight and costs of going public.
- Services from SimulScribe.com and SpinVox Ltd. that convert voice mail messages to text are quite useful.

Washington Post:
- Democratic strategist Robert Shrum, who worked on John Edwards’ 1998 North Carolina Senate campaign, is critical of Edwards in a new book. In Shrum’s memoir, “No Excuses: Concessions of a Serial Campaigner,” he wrote that he asked Edwards at the beginning of the 1998 campaign about his position on gay marriage. Shrum wrote that Edwards replied, “I’m not comfortable around those people,” to which his wife, Elizabeth said “John, you know that’s wrong.”

Reuters:
- Iraq will auction 15 oil and gas fields for exploration after a new energy law is passed by parliament, citing an Iraq oil ministry official on a trip to India.

Interfax:
- Russian President Vladimir Putin said the country’s $113.7 billion Stabilization Fund won’t be invested in Russian stocks.

Yonhap News:
- South Korea will suspend plans to provide food aid to North Korea until the country meets a commitment to close its main nuclear reactor.

Algeria Presse Service:

- OPEC won’t heed calls from consumers to increase crude-oil output because the market is already well supplied, citing Algerian Energy Minister Chakib Khelil.

Durable Goods Rise for 3rd Consecutive Month, Job Market Healthy, News Home Sales Soar Most in 14 Years, New Home Inventories Fall Most in 26 Years

- Durable Goods Orders for April rose .6% versus estimates of a 1.0% gain and an upwardly revised 5.0% increase in March.

- Durables Ex Transports for April rose 1.5% versus estimates of a .6% increase and an upwardly revised 1.5% gain in March.

- Initial Jobless Claims for last week rose to 311K versus estimates of 305K and 296K the prior week.

- Continuing Claims rose to 2529K versus estimates of 2495K and 2471K prior.

- New Home Sales for April rose to 981K versus estimates of 860K and 844K in March.

BOTTOM LINE: Orders for durable goods recorded a third straight gain last month, the longest streak in almost two years, confirming that manufacturing will help buoy the economy, Bloomberg reported. Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a gauge of future business investment, rose 1.2% versus a 4.4% jump the prior month. Manufacturers had a 1.47 month’s supply of durable goods on hand at the current sales pace, the lowest this year. The last time durables (excluding transports) rebounded this sharply in a three-month period was the first quarter of 2002. I continue to believe manufacturing will add to economic growth this quarter and help boost overall US growth back to around average levels before year-end.

The number of Americans filing first-time claims for state jobless benefits rose from a four-month low last week while remaining at a level that economists say shows resilience in the labor market, Bloomberg reported. The four-week moving-average of jobless claims fell to 302,750, the lowest in more than a year. The unemployment rate among those eligible for benefits, which tracks the US unemployment rate, held steady at a historically low 1.9%. I continue to believe the labor market will remain healthy over the intermediate-term without generating substantial unit labor cost increases.

Purchases of new homes in the US unexpectedly surged in April by the most in 14 years, Bloomberg reported. Sales rose 16% to an annual pace of 981,000. “The report starts to seal the argument that the housing market is beginning to stabilize, at least in terms of demand,” said Richard DeKaser, chief economist at National City Corp. The median price of a new home fell from $257,000 to $229,100. The supply of new homes on the market at the current sales pace fell 20% to 6.5 months’ worth from 8.1 months’ worth in March. New home sales soared 28% in the South, 8.5% in the West and 3.8% in the Northeast. Sales fell 4% in the Midwest. Housing has subtracted about one percentage point off US economic growth the last 3 quarters. This was the largest percentage monthly drop in inventory since December 1981. One of the key components to the bear housing collapse/imminent economic collapse argument was that home inventories would skyrocket this spring, sending prices plunging. I continue to believe home sales are stabilizing at relatively high levels by historic standards and that overall housing will subtract less from economic growth as the year progresses.