Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:

- The London interbank offered rate that financial companies charge each other for three-month dollar loans fell to within a basis point of 1 percent as central banks and governments unlock credit markets. Libor declined one basis point to 1.01 percent today, according to the British Bankers’ Association. The Libor-OIS spread, a gauge of banks’ reluctance to lend, narrowed to 81 basis points, the lowest level since Sept. 4. Libor hasn’t been at 1 percent since June 2003.

- Conditions are falling into place for the U.S. economy to begin growing again in the second half of 2009, according to economists at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Barclays Capital Inc. “We’re probably hitting the bottom around now,” Larry Kantor, head of research at Barclays, said in an interview today. “The second quarter is going to be a transitional quarter,” Bruce Kasman, chief economist at JPMorgan, told Bloomberg Radio on April 21. Gains in consumer confidence and better credit conditions will lead to a pickup in spending, and an improving housing market and a boost from federal spending “is kind of where you get your recovery,” said Kasman. Kasman and Kantor forecast the economy will contract at an annualized pace of 2 percent in the current quarter. Kasman projects the U.S. will then grow at a 1 percent rate in the last half of 2009, while Barclays looks for acceleration from 1 percent growth in the third quarter to 2 percent in the last three months of the year. Lakshman Achuthan, managing director at the Economic Cycle Research Institute in New York, said leading economic indicators are giving positive signals compared with past recoveries. “They are on track,” said Achuthan, who forecasts the start of an economic expansion by September. “You’re starting to get a positive feedback loop in the drivers of the economy,” he said. Barclays’s Kantor said the risk to his bullish outlook “is now decidedly on the upside.” That’s contrary to the consensus forecast of other economists, he said, “although consensus seems to be heading our way.”

- The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index may jump 20 percent to 1,050 over the next six to 12 months as investors buy stocks trading at low valuations, said Abby Joseph Cohen, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s senior investment strategist. “You could see the market sustain at these levels,” Cohen, 57, said in a Bloomberg Radio interview. “We’re going to set a new trading range much higher than the trading range in February and March.” Cohen said the Federal Reserve’s delay in releasing stress tests on the biggest U.S. banks isn’t worrisome.

- Crude oil rose to a four-week high as U.S. consumer confidence improved and manufacturing shrank at the slowest pace in seven months, signaling that the recession will end later this year.

- Former Cuban President Fidel Castro said that while he is still studying President Barack Obama’s administration, the U.S. is making demands that would turn the island country into “slaves.” “Today they are prepared to pardon us if we resign ourselves to return to the fold as slaves, who after knowing freedom, accept anew the whip and yoke,” Castro said in a “reflection” dated yesterday and published on the Web site of the government newspaper Granma.

- The Federal Reserve and U.S. banking regulators will reveal the results of the stress tests on the country’s 19 largest banks on May 7 after financial markets close, according to a government official. The government will unveil both aggregate information about the capital buffer required to absorb losses if the recession worsens and firm-specific details, the official said on condition of anonymity.

- U.S. manufacturing and consumer confidence last month unexpectedly jumped to their highest levels since the credit crisis intensified in September, indicating the economy is on the mend. The Institute for Supply Management’s factory index rose to 40.1 from 36.3 in March. “The recession’s end may be drawing closer,” said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. in New York. Companies cut stockpiles last quarter at the fastest pace on record, bringing forward the day when production and employment stabilize and help right the world’s largest economy. The ISM’s gauge of new orders climbed to 47.2, the highest level since August, from 41.2 the prior month, and the measure of export orders improved to 44 from 39. The production gauge increased to 40.4 from 36.4. “This is the first report we’ve seen in quite some time we can call very encouraging,” Norbert Ore, chairman of the ISM factory survey, said in a conference call from Atlanta. “It certainly looks like the worst is over.” The group’s employment index rose to 34.4 from 28.1. The consumer sentiment gauge rose from 57.3 in March, posting the biggest gain since October 2006.

- Municipal bonds posted their biggest April gains in two decades as the advent of federally subsidized taxable offerings from state and local governments reduced new tax-exempt debt issues by about 29 percent from last year. The Municipal Master Index, a gauge of total investment return compiled by Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch & Co., rose 2.5 percent last month, the best since the April 1989 gain of 3.3 percent.

Wall Street Journal:

- Verizon Communications Inc.(VZ) is preparing to offer free Wi-Fi access at hotspots to subscribers to its home broadband services, according to people familiar with the matter. The phone giant will partner with Boingo, a startup that counts former EarthLink founder Sky Dayton as chairman, to deliver the access. Discussions are fluid, and Verizon is uncertain about particulars like whether users would have free access only in their regions or nationwide. The service may launch as soon as the summer, according to a person familiar with the situation.

- The Chrysler creditors at least represent teachers, pensioners and retirees, among others. The Administration is advancing its own social and political agenda through its ever-deeper entanglement with Chrysler and General Motors. That explains why the government is giving 55% of the new Chrysler to the UAW's retiree-benefit trust, a junior creditor, while those ahead of the trust in line get a mere 30 cents on the dollar.

CNBC:

- Peter A. Weinberg and Joseph R. Perella are part of a band of Wall Street renegades — “a small group of speculators,” President Obama called them Thursday — who helped bankrupt Chrysler. That, anyway, is the Washington line. In fact, Mr. Weinberg and Mr. Perella, with sparkling Wall Street pedigrees, are the epitome of white-shoe investment bankers. And their boutique investment bank, a latecomer to Chrysler, played only a small role in the slow-motion wreck of the Detroit carmaker. But now the two men, along with a handful of other financiers, are being blamed for precipitating the bankruptcy of an American icon. As Chrysler’s fate hung in the balance Wednesday night, this group refused to bend to the Obama administration and accept steep losses on their investments while more junior investors, including the United Automobile Workers union, were offered favorable terms. OppenheimerFunds, in a statement, said: “Our holdings in secured Chrysler debt are entitled to priority in long-established U.S. bankruptcy law, and we are obligated to our fund shareholders to support agreements that respect these laws.” But now that Chrysler has tipped into bankruptcy, some industry executives worry the administration will try to turn this episode to its political advantage. Washington, these people contend, needed some political cover for the mess in Detroit — and Wall Street provided a handy scapegoat. JPMorgan Chase(JPM) and other large banks involved in the negotiations are, to greater and lesser degrees, beholden to Washington. Many have received billions of taxpayer dollars, as well as other generous subsidies. For the banks, defying the administration was never a serious option, according to people close to the talks with lenders, who asked not to be identified because they had signed confidentiality agreements. The other creditors, who sought to distinguish themselves from those who have received bailout money, believed they had a stronger hand. Many of them bought Chrysler debt for about 30 cents on the dollar, long after it became clear that the company was in trouble. Most of this debt is secured by Chrysler assets — factories, equipment, real estate and the like. The thinking was that in the worst case, these assets could be sold at a profit if Chrysler were liquidated. The dissident creditors said they had a fiduciary responsibility to seek the best possible returns for their own investors — which, the group said, include teachers’ unions, pension funds and endowments. “The government has risked overturning the rule of law and practices that have governed our world-leading bankruptcy code for decades,” the group said in a statement Thursday. The creditors suggested banks that had received bailout money were being strong-armed by the administration, a view some of the bankers privately said they shared.

MarketWatch:
- Dubai’s construction woes expose U.A.E myths. Commentary: As economy slides, leaders look the other way.

Washington Times:

- In a rare gesture, House intelligence committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes sent a letter this week to all CIA employees suggesting that Congress shared some blame for the CIA interrogation controversy and should play a more robust role in the intelligence policymaking process. The letter, which was sent Wednesday and made available to The Washington Times on Thursday, appeared to undercut remarks by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that there was little Congress could do about harsh interrogations, including waterboarding. The Times reported last month that members of Congress, including Mrs. Pelosi, California Democrat, had been briefed on numerous occasions about the interrogation program for high-value detainees. "One important lesson to me from the CIA's interrogation operations involves congressional oversight," wrote Mr. Reyes, Texas Democrat.

LATimes:

- The Senate Judiciary Committee began hearings today on the prospects for comprehensive immigration reform as the Department of Homeland Security issued new work-site enforcement protocols, refocusing attention on employers rather than illegal workers. The new federal guidelines instruct immigration agents to look for evidence of money laundering, mistreatment of workers, trafficking, smuggling and identification document fraud. They also direct agents to get indictments, criminal arrest or search warrants before arresting employees.

AFP:

- As expected, the Federal Reserve Board on Friday announced that, starting in June, commercial mortgage-backed securities and securities backed by insurance premium finance loans will be eligible collateral under the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility. Talk of TALF expansion into CMBS has tightened spreads on super senior tranches of existing CMBS over the past two weeks. “The inclusion of CMBS as eligible collateral for TALF loans will help prevent defaults on economically viable commercial properties, increase the capacity of current holders of maturing mortgages to make additional loans, and facilitate the sale of distressed properties. CMBS accounted for almost half of new commercial mortgage originations in 2007,” the Federal Reserve said in a statement announcing the expansion.

Reuters:
- The U.S. jobless rate will probably not rise to levels reached during the recession of the early 1980s and is likely to crest above 9 percent before declining, St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said on Friday. "I'm hopeful that we will stay under the peak hit in 1982, 10.8 percent," he told reporters after speaking to the Arkansas Bankers Association. Bullard said the harsh recession is likely moderating and expansion is possible in the second half of 2009 after several quarters of contraction. "We will see a less severe rate of decline in the second quarter and I'm hopeful we'll see some positive growth in the second half of this year," said Bullard, who is not a voter on the Fed's policy-setting panel this year.

Financial Times:
- May Day protesters clashed with riot police in Germany, Turkey and Greece on Friday while thousands angry at the government’s responses to the global financial crisis took to the streets in France. Rising unemployment across Europe and beyond has added intensity to May Day marches as last year’s market crash and banking meltdown rolls into the real economy. Almost one in three young people in Turkey is without a job and the government fears social unrest and increased ethnic tension because of the downturn. France’s headline jobless total rose to almost 2.5m in March, 2.7 per cent up on the previous month. The number of jobseekers under 25 increased 36 per cent year on year. In a sign of how far disillusion has spread, even staff in management positions are expected to take part in the marches.

- Warren Buffett will be under pressure at Saturday’s annual gathering of faithful shareholders to explain his worst year ever, with the usually adoring crowd set to probe the legendary investor on his bargain-hunting strategy, succession plans and views of the crisis. Buffett-watchers say this year’s meeting of shareholders in Berkshire Hathaway, his candies-to-insurance group, will depart from the usual pattern of deferential questions and folksy answers and witness some criticism of the billionaire investor. “The hard questions will be asked this year,” said James Altucher, a hedge fund manager and author of Trade Like Warren Buffett. “There will be people who always stand by him and others who will ask: ‘Have you lost your way?’”.

Bear Radar

Style Underperformer:
Large-cap Growth (+.52%)

Sector Underperformers:
Education (-3.47%), Insurance (-2.14%) and REITs (-2.14%)

Stocks Falling on Unusual Volume:
AOC, SEPR, ITMN, CLI, CBEY, GPRO, BEAT, SCOR, VSEA, GSIC, QLGC, XRAY, PLXS, SGR, MA, DF and AGP

Stocks With Unusual Put Option Activity:
1) OI 2) WY 3) CHRW 4) FRO 5) LAMR

Bull Radar

Style Outperformer:
Large-cap Value (+.46%)

Sector Outperformers:
Steel (+2.07%), Energy (+1.98%) and Airlines (+1.81%)

Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume:
TEG, CLF, IOC, RIO, SU, CIG, TSL, MCRS, NETL, MFE, RIMM, PVR, LLL, AMAG, BGFV, VPRT, JRCC, BGC, MTD, CEC and PKI

Stocks With Unusual Call Option Activity:
1) RSH 2) HIG 3) ILMN 4) SVU 5) BGC

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Friday Watch

Late-Night Headlines
Bloomberg:

- Al-Qaeda and related terrorist networks suffered setbacks last year, even as they remained the “greatest threat” to the U.S. and its allies, the State Department said in a report today. The annual assessment of terrorism threats cited “significant achievements” in 2008, such as the capturing or killing of terrorist leaders in Pakistan, Iraq and Colombia. The number of terrorist incidents worldwide fell 20 percent to 11,770 in 2008 from 14,506 a year earlier, according to the department’s tally. Fatalities dropped to 15,765 from 22,508. “Terrorist leaders were kept on the move, kept in hiding,” Ronald Schlicher, the department’s acting coordinator of counterterrorism, told reporters in Washington. “Dozens of countries passed new counter-terrorism laws,” and worldwide efforts to squeeze terrorist finances may have led al-Qaeda to solicit for money in their recent public messages, he said.

- The Federal Reserve will postpone the release of stress tests on the biggest U.S. banks while executives debate preliminary findings with examiners, according to government and industry officials. The results, originally scheduled for publication on May 4, now may not be revealed until toward the end of next week, said the people, who declined to be identified. A new release date may be announced as soon as tomorrow, they said.

- Gold fell for a second day as rising equity markets added to signs of improvement in the world economy and reduced the investment appeal of the metal. European stocks posted a record monthly gain yesterday, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index completed its best monthly performance in nine years. “There was a time when we saw a safe-haven bid for gold and that is clearly not as strong as it was,” David Moore, commodity strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd., said from Sydney. “Without that safe-haven investment, the overall demand for gold is diminishing.” Investment demand, the biggest driver of gold prices the past 18 months, is waning amid stronger equity markets and signs industrial production may have bottomed, Moore said. While demand from jewelry makers, the biggest users, has improved, it remains “tepid,” he said.

- The yen slid to a two-week low against the euro and weakened against the dollar on speculation a report today will show U.S. manufacturing contracted at a slower pace, encouraging investors to buy higher-yielding assets.

Wall Street Journal:

- The U.S. government's restructuring plan for Chrysler LLC is sounding alarm bells for those in the business of lending money who worry that the plan could subvert decades of standing legal precedent and investing principles. Banks, hedge funds and other investors that hold $6.9 billion in secured loans are being asked to release their contractual claims over Chrysler's assets in exchange for a fraction of what they are owed. Many lenders see that as a raw deal, because in the bankruptcy code's priority scheme, secured creditors are supposed to get paid before unsecured creditors such as employees.

- The World Health Organization said Thursday that a new flu strain continued to spread, particularly in Mexico and the U.S., but refrained from declaring a global pandemic even as more European countries confirmed cases. Amid a growing debate around the globe about travel restrictions, the United Nations public-health agency raised the number of confirmed cases of the A/H1N1 virus to 257 from the 148 reported Wednesday.

- Oracle Corp.(ORCL) is developing a set of online software offerings, an expansion of the company's use of a business model it has often resisted. The software giant is working on seven new online products, including offerings to help business run sales campaigns, keep track of employees and job applicants, according to people briefed on the plans and a company document reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

- How has the recession affected entrepreneurship? So far, it’s helped to drive it up. That’s according to a new study from the Kauffman Foundation, a Kansas City-based organization. The study, out Thursday, found that an average of 320 out of 100,000 adults created a new business each month last year even as the recession took hold, up from 300 out of 100,000 adults in 2007.

- The Federal Reserve is near announcing new terms on one of its lending programs that officials hope will help revive the commercial real estate market, according to people familiar with the matter. The program is the Term Asset Backed Securities Loan Facility, or TALF, in which investors are given low-cost loans from the Fed and in turn use the money to buy securities backed by consumer debt. The loans in this program are three year loans and so far have been aimed at car debt, credit card debt and other consumer loans. The Fed is preparing to announce new loans with five year terms, to better match the needs of investors in commercial mortgage backed securities, an effort to boost that sector.

- The animal-rights group PETA is preparing a campaign against McDonald's Corp., hoping to pressure the fast-food giant into changing the way millions of chickens are raised and slaughtered. With its campaign, budgeted at about $500,000 this year, PETA is hoping to spur industry-wide change by pressuring an iconic chain that uses three billion eggs and 290 million chickens a year.

- “It’s about time…It’s about change.” That was Barack Obama’s campaign slogan. Judging by statements from the White House of late, President Obama’s change extends to definitions like, say, fiduciary duty. Specifically, the fiduciary duty of hedge funds, those private pools of capital that the White House called out today for rejecting the Treasury Department’s offer to cut the auto maker’s debt. “Their failure to act in either their own economic interest or the national interest does not diminish the accomplishments” by Chrysler, its planned alliance partner Fiat SpA and other stakeholders in the company, said an administration official. Wait, the national interest is a standard for hedge-fund investing? Then the SEC had better update its Web site, where the agency says hedge-fund managers have the same fiduciary duties as other investment advisers. And what is fiduciary duty? “Fiduciary duty is the first principle of the investment adviser—because the duty comes not from the SEC or another regulator, but from common law,” said Lori A. Richards, then director of the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, in this February 2006 speech. “A fiduciary must act for the benefit of the person to whom he owes fiduciary duties, to the exclusion of any contrary interest.”

MarketWatch.com:
- The Japanese government reported Friday that the country's core consumer price index fell 0.1% in March, the first year-over-year decline since late 2007, raising concerns of a potential deflationary spiral.

- Investors still stung by the market downturn may want to consider the recent performance of growth-stock focused mutual funds as an antidote. In the first quarter growth funds beat their value rivals by the largest margin in nine years. And as of April 28, midcap growth funds this year are up 4.3%, small-cap growth funds are up 0.8% while large-cap growth has returned 2.6%, according to investment researcher Morningstar Inc., which provided the data Thursday. By contrast large-cap value funds are down 6%, midcap value funds have lost 1.7% and small-cap value funds have lost 4.4%. As of early Thursday afternoon, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index (SPX) was down about 3% in 2009.

CNBC.com:
- ‘Sell in May and Go Away’ May Not Be a Good Idea This Year. Despite a massive April rally that gave the indexes their highest monthly percentage gains in years, market pros remain fairly confident even if they do expect some natural pullback to happen along the way. "A lot of the old adages right now are kind of out the window given what we've seen happen," says Dave Lutz, managing director at Stifel Nicolaus. "The economic cycles have changed so much in the last 12 months that it's kind of difficult to pinpoint seasonality." Lutz sees a market that could soon register in the mid-900s on the S&P. "Well if history is any guide—it’s never gospel—investors may be wiser to "turn a deaf ear this year,' " says Standard & Poor's chief investment strategist Sam Stovall, who notes that the S&P has rallied between May and October during or shortly after the 14 bear market bottoms since 1932. Schaeffer's Investment Research, a Cincinnati firm that has taken a mostly contrarian approach to the various rallies since the bear market began, said investors anticipating a retreat could be surprised. Historical trends show that when the S&P posts six consecutive weekly gains, the trend in the ensuing weeks is actually for market gains. "Bullish momentum can last longer than most believe," Todd Salamone, Schaeffer's senior vice president of research, recently wrote to clients. "Therefore, one should be open and positioned for this possibility."

- On Thursday, the Economic Cycle Research Institute said that the recession will probably end before the summer is out. The research group, whose leading indicators have a solid track record of predicting turns in the business cycle, said enough of its key gauges have turned upward to indicate with certainty that a recovery is coming. "The economy is on the cusp of a growth rate cycle upturn—a cyclical acceleration in economic growth," ECRI said in an emailed statement. "In other words, U.S. economic growth...which is still plunging deeper into negative territory, will start becoming less negative in short order."

NY Times:

- Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates suggested on Thursday that as many as 100 detainees at the prison at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba would end up held without trial on American soil, a scenario he acknowledged would create widespread if not unanimous opposition in Congress. The estimate from Mr. Gates was the most specific yet from the Obama administration about how many of the 241 prisoners now at Guantanamo could not be safely released, sent to other countries or appropriately tried in American courts. In January President Obama ordered the prison closed by the end of year, but his administration is still working on what to do with the detainees.
- The Tennessee comptroller plans on Friday to propose a sweeping overhaul of the way the municipal bond market is regulated in the state. The comptroller, Justin P. Wilson, said Thursday that his recommended changes would prohibit small cities and counties from using sophisticated derivatives, which have crashed, causing interest payments to increase by as much as 500 percent and putting a strain on local governments. “I think what we are proposing is a fundamental change in the way we will regulate local government financing,” Mr. Wilson said in an interview. “These changes would be revolutionary.”

CNNMoney:

- After more than 18 years on the nation's highest court, Supreme Court Justice David Souter is retiring, a source close to Souter told CNN Thursday.

Seeking Alpha:

- 2009 Hedge Fund Rankings: Top 10 Asset Losers.

Google Blog:

- Since last year's DoubleClick acquisition, we've increased our focus on helping marketers and agencies use Google(GOOG) tools for all of their display advertising needs. DoubleClick Rich Media is the part of DoubleClick that provides the technology for the most technically advanced and engaging of these display ads, which are typically created by creative agencies for their brand-focused clients. To help make this process even easier and efficient, today we're launching DoubleClick Studio, our new rich media production and development tool.

Politico:

- With a flash of anger Thursday morning, President Barack Obama offered a blistering critique of “a small group of speculators” who refused to go along with the government’s plan to keep Chrysler out of bankruptcy. A group calling itself “The Committee of Chrysler Non-Tarp Lenders” put out a statement Thursday complaining that the negotiating process was unfair – because they were forced to deal with the banks that had taken significant government investment, and therefore were unfairly biased toward the government’s negotiating position. The group – which refuses to list its members – claims to represent about $1 billion in loans to Chrysler, and says its members have not taken any government TARP bailout money. “We have been systematically precluded from engaging in direct discussions or negotiations with the government” the group complained. “Instead, we have been forced to communicate through an obviously conflicted intermediary: a group of banks that have received billions of TARP funds.” The group also urges the public not to “succumb to unproductive and unwarranted finger pointing.” Obama’s tough tone sets up a dramatic showdown with the lenders. But it might be exactly the political fight that the White House wants right now. It’s clear that the White House thinks the politics of battling unnamed “speculators” works in its favor.

USA Today.com:

- Real estate boost: Fixer-uppers draw first-time buyers in droves.

Reuters:

- Charles Schwab Corp (SCHW), the largest U.S. discount brokerage, said on Thursday it would be an interested buyer if troubled peer E*Trade Financial Corp (ETFC) were willing to sell assets, but it would not launch a hostile bid.

- McAfee Inc (MFE), the No. 2 security software maker, reported a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit, helped by new software modules and partnerships with PC vendors. The company, which competes with No. 1 security software maker Symantec Corp (SYMC), forecast second quarter earnings at the high end of market expectations and its shares rose 3.9 percent in after-hours trading on Thursday

- Hartford Financial Group (HIG) posted its third straight net loss and said it plans to stop selling new policies in Japan and the United Kingdom, as the insurer reeled from the same weak financial markets that triggered a net loss at MetLife Inc (MET). Both posted results worse than analysts had expected, and their shares dropped after hours, with Hartford down 12 percent.

- Citadel Investment Group is expanding into investment banking and has hired three former Merrill Lynch executives to anchor the new operation, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday.

Late Buy/Sell Recommendations
Citigroup:

- Reiterated Buy on (IRM), raised target to $32.

- Reiterated Buy on (MDCO), target $29.

- Reiterated Buy on (EXPE), target $19.

- Reiterated Buy on (MFE), raised estimates and target to $46.

- Reiterated Buy on (BEAT, target $29.

Morgan Stanley:

- Upgraded (NTDOY) to Overweight.

Night Trading
Asian Indices are -.25% to +.25% on average.
S&P 500 futures -.16%.
NASDAQ 100 futures -.07%.

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Earnings of Note
Company/EPS Estimate
- (AGN)/.53

- (CVX)/.81

- (CLX)/.90

- (ED)/.86

- (FO)/.22

- (MA)/2.61

- (UTHR)/.61

- (PPL)/.46

- (LPNT)/.63

- (HMSY)/.17

Economic Releases

10:00 am EST

- The Final Univ. of Mich. Consumer Confidence reading for April is estimated at 61.9 versus a prior estimate of 61.9.

- Factory Orders for March are estimated to fall .6% versus a 1.8% gain in February.

- ISM Manufacturing for April is estimated to rise to 38.4 versus 36.3 in March.

- ISM Prices Paid for April is estimated to rise to 34.0 versus 31.0 in March.

Afternoon:

- Total Vehicle Sales for April are estimated to fall to 9.7M versus 9.9M in March.

Upcoming Splits
- None of note

Other Potential Market Movers
- The (R) shareholders meeting, (MAR) shareholders meeting and the(OXY) shareholders meeting could also impact trading today.

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly higher, boosted by technology and shipping 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 Finished Mixed as Gains in Gaming, Hospital, Alt Energy, Tech and Steel Stocks Offset Losses in Airline, Biotech, Bank, Gold and Energy Shares

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