Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Tuesday Watch

Earnings of Note
Company/Estimate
MO/1.25
BSX/.46
CDWC/.74
CAKE/.30
CYMI/.39
EMC/.09
ERTS/.35
DO/.04
F/.14
MCD/.61
MNST/.16
MOT/.19
RSH/.39
STX/.04
FON/.21
TASR/.15
TER/.23
WFC/1.06

Splits
None of note.

Economic Data
Consumer Price Index for September estimated to rise .2% versus a .1% increase in August.
CPI Ex Food & Energy for September estimated to rise .2% versus a .1% gain in August.
Housing Starts for September estimated at 1950K versus 2000K in August.
Building Permits for September estimated at 1950K versus 1969K in August.

Recommendations
Goldman Sachs reiterated Outperform on PXD, GDT, STLD, TPX, MMM, RE and ACN.

Late-Night News
Asian indices are higher, led by technology shares, after IBM, Texas Instruments and Fujitsu Ltd. beat earnings expectations. U.S. regulators may force all of the nation's insurance brokers to return commission payments even if there is no evidence individual clients were harmed, the Financial Times reported. General Motor's Cadillac Escalade EXT is more likely to get stolen than any other vehicle in the U.S., the Wall Street Journal reported. Wal-Mart Stores for the first time will move an annual meeting to decide purchases of electronics goods to China from the U.S., the Commercial Times said. California Governor Schwarzenegger endorsed a proposal to sell $3 billion of bonds to fund stem-cell research, two weeks before a vote that may make California the biggest U.S. sponsor of such studies, Bloomberg reported. Google's share price has risen 75% since the company's IPO in August, enriching founders, employees and investors, Bloomberg said.

Late-Night Trading
Asian Indices are +.50% to +1.0% on average.
S&P 500 indicated +.08%.
NASDAQ 100 indicated +.41%

BOTTOM LINE: I expect U.S. equities to open higher in the morning on short-covering, bargain-hunting, declining energy prices and President Bush's lead in the polls. The Portfolio is 125% net long heading into tomorrow.

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