Friday, February 24, 2006

Friday Watch

Late-Night Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Japan’s two-year notes tumbled, pushing yields to the highest since 2001, after the Yomiuri newspaper said the central bank may shift its five-year deflation-fighting policy as early as next month.
- Oil prices may fall as rising US inventories temper concern about unrest in Nigeria and a possible disruption of Iranian exports, a Bloomberg survey shows.

Wall Street Journal:
- China may allow appreciation of the yuan to accelerate rather than implementing a sudden revaluation, citing foreign-exchange traders including Shanghai-based Kenneth Poon at ABN Amro Holding NV.

Business Week:
- Home Depot(HD) CEO Nardelli is using military-style management to centralize operations at the world’s third-largest retailer.

AP:
- DP World has offered to delay part of a $6.8 billion acquisition that would give it operational control of six US ports.

Chosun Ilbo:
- South Korea’s Kia Motors Corp. may build its US plant in Georgia.

Late Buy/Sell Recommendations
Goldman Sachs:
- Reiterated Outperform on (OXY), (MRVL) and (MYL).
- Reiterated Underperform on (NFS), (MCCC), (WGR) and (CBS).

Business Week:
- GlaxoSmithKline’s(GSK) revenue and earnings, plus its eight medicines in late-stage testing, may make it a better performer than other big drugmakers facing generic competitors.
- Zonagen Inc.(ZONA) may be bought by a larger drugmaker such as Pfizer Inc. or Wyeth, citing Mark Lappe of Efficacy Capital Ltd.
- Research in Motion’s(RIMM) shares may rise as much as 30% within the next year on a potential settlement with NTP Inc., which has a patent-infringement claim against the company’s BlackBerry device, citing Morgan Keegan’s Tavis McCourt.

Night Trading
Asian Indices are -.25% to +.50% on average.
S&P 500 indicated +.05%.
NASDAQ 100 indicated +.18%.

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
Daily Stock Events
Macro Calls
Rasmussen Consumer/Investor Daily Indices
CNBC Guest Schedule

Earnings of Note
Company/EPS Estimate
- (AMT)/-.03
- (CZN)/.14
- (HDL)/.93
- (KSE)/.70
- (NOV)/.62
- (PIXR)/.18
- (SNDA)/.27

Upcoming Splits
- (CELG) 2-for-1
- (EXP) 3-for-1

Economic Releases
8:30 am EST
- Durable Goods Orders for January are estimated to fall 2.0% versus a 1.8% increase in December.
- Durables Ex Transportation for January are estimated to rise .5% versus a 1.7% gain in December.

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly higher, led by indsutrial shares in the region. I expect US equities to open modestly lower and to rise slightly into the afternoon, finishing mixed. The Portfolio is 75% net long heading into the day.

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