Wednesday, August 25, 2004

Wednesday Watch

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate
CWTR/.00
DLTR/.26
SJM/.56
MIK/.40
TOL/1.19
WSM/.19

Splits
IVX 5-for-4

Economic Data
Durable Goods Orders for July estimated up 1.0% versus an increase of .9% in June.
Durable Goods Less Transportation for July estimated up 1.3% versus a decrease of .4% in June.
New Home Sales for July estimated at 1.3M versus 1.33M in June.

Recommendations
Goldman Sachs reiterated Outperform on NFP.

Late-Night News
Asian indices are mostly higher as exporters rise after oil prices remained near a 2-week low. General Motors is cutting back production of its Hummer H2 sport-utility vehicle because of lower consumer demand for the large vehicles, the Wall Street Journal reported. Boeing won a $3.7 billion order from Singapore Airlines for 18 long-range 777s, beating out Airbus SAS, Bloomberg reported. Shareholders of Wal-Mart Stores say the world's biggest retailer should proceed with a plan to buy stores from Daiei, a Japanese supermarket chain that is trying to restructure more than $9 billion in debt, Bloomberg said. Two Russian airliners crashed nearly simultaneously late Tuesday, purportedly killing all 86 people on board. Authorities suspect terrorism, CNN reported. A resurgence of capital spending by companies such as Boeing, Caterpillar and Verizon Communications may create jobs and strengthen the U.S. economy after a mid-year lull, economists say.

Late-Night Trading
Asian Indices are -.25% to +.75% on average.
S&P 500 indicated +.01%.
NASDAQ 100 indicated -.11%

BOTTOM LINE: I expect U.S. equities to open modestly higher in the morning on strength in Asia and continuing optimism over falling oil prices. The Portfolio is 50% net long heading into tomorrow.

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