Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Wednesday Watch

Late-Night Headlines
Bloomberg:
- BlueScope Steel Ltd., Australia’s largest steelmaker, said full-year earnings may fall as much as 53% after prices of the alloy declined because of a glut of production from China.

Financial Times:
- The UN, the European Union and the Organization of the Islamic Conference have called for an end to violence after the publication of satirical drawings of the prophet Muhammad, citing a joint statement.
- EBay Inc.(EBAY), Google(GOOG), Yahoo!(YHOO) and Amazon.com(AMZN) will focus on their core businesses rather than compete with each other, citing an interview with EBay CEO Whitman.

London-based Times:
- The threat of terrorism has been the main driver of higher gold prices, citing former US Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan.

International Oil Daily:
- Iraq is planning to export 1.55 million barrels of oil a day in February, an increase of 275,000 barrels a day from January.

Guardian:
- Sweden aims to “break” its dependency on oil to become the world’s first oil-free economy within 15 years.

China Post:
- China will have deployed 1,800 guided missiles by 2010 and it will have created aircraft carrier battle groups by 2015, posing a serious threat to Taiwan.

China Securities Journal:
- Prices of flat steel products including cold-rolled sheets used in cars and appliances will fall this year because of rising supplies, citing a government report.

Late Buy/Sell Recommendations
Goldman Sachs:
- Reiterated Outperform on (BSX), (SPG), (PFE), (CSCO), (CAKE) and (FSH).
- Reiterated Underperform on (TOL), (BMC) and (TCO).

Night Trading
Asian Indices are -1.50% to -.75% on average.
S&P 500 indicated +.06%.
NASDAQ 100 indicated +.12%.

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
(ACL)/.82
(APPB)/.27
(CI)/1.66
(DF)/.53
(DO)/.61
(EDS)/.23
(ENER)/-.18
(FCL)/.34
(IACI)/.46
(NWS/A)/.20
(PEP)/.65
(PRU)/1.22
(RAI)/1.52
(JOE)/.53
(TMK)/1.18
(VFC)/1.14
(WWW)/.36
(XTO)/1.10
(ZBRA)/.39

Upcoming Splits
- None of note

Economic Releases
- None of note

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are lower on losses in commodity-related stocks in the region. I expect US equities to open modestly lower and to rally later in the afternoon, fishing modestly higher. The Portfolio is 50% net long heading into the day.

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