Friday, February 27, 2004

Friday Watch

Earnings Announcements
Company/Estimate
TTWO/.70
IART/.30

Splits
None of note

Economic Data
4Q revised GDP estimated at 3.8% from 4.0% actual.
4Q revised Personal Consumption estimated at 2.6% vs. 2.6% actual.
4Q revised GDP Price Deflator estimated at 1.1% vs. 1.0% actual.
University of Michigan Consumer Confidence for Feb. estimated at 94.0 vs. 93.1 prior month.
Chicago Purchasing Manager's Index for Feb. estimated at 63.5 vs. 65.9 last month.

Late-Night News
Japanese Industrial Production rose 3.4% in January vs. expectations of 2.5%. Pimco purchased about $3B of U.S. Treasury inflation-linked securities at the government's January auction, anticipating a return of inflation. Disney may be interested in buying InterActiveCorp(IACI) to discourage Comcast, Business Week reported. George Soros raised his stake in Valentis(VLTS) to 20%, Business Week said. Disney said that more than 30% of its shareholders may not back Chairman and CEO Eisner at next week's meeting, the WSJ reported. China's growing demand for cars is causing global rubber prices to surge. Michelin and Bridgestone said they will raise prices to compensate. Investors are becoming increasingly concerned about junk bonds, Citi Smith Barney said.

Late-Night Trading
Asian markets are mostly up, ranging from +.50% to +2.0%.
S&P 500 indicated +.22%.
NASDAQ indicated +.30%.

BOTTOM LINE: The strength in Japan, Korea and Hong Kong tonight bodes well for tech stocks tomorrow. It is likely that Consumer Confidence will fall below expectations again and I will closely watch the market's reaction to this news. The Chicago Purchasing Manager's report should meet or beat expectations. The Portfolio remains 75% net long and I will likely make some trades tomorrow on the long side.

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