Sunday, March 19, 2006

Monday Watch

Weekend Headlines
Bloomberg:
- A federal judge said Google(GOOG) doesn’t have to turn over any search queries to the US, which sought the data to defend a law aimed at blocking children’s access to Internet pornography.
- The US, Japan and Australia have “grave concerns” about Iran’s nuclear program and called for concerted action by the UN Security Council to convince the country to suspend uranium enrichment.
- US 10-year Treasuries had their biggest weekly gain since December as slower-than-expected inflation spurred traders to scale back bets for how high the Fed will raise rates this year.
- President Bush said Iraqi political leaders are “making good progress” toward forming a unity government, and that recent violence in the country has spurred them to set aside their differences.
- Hundreds of thousands of students, workers and other protestors marched through Paris, seeking to force Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin to withdraw proposed new labor contracts, unions said.
- Through a period marked by a boom-bust in many stocks, terrorist attacks on US soil and the war in Iraq, stocks have significantly outperformed the two other main classes of financial assets.

Denver Post:
- Colorado Governor Owens said he will sign a statewide ban on smoking at workplaces that was passed by the legislators yesterday.

LA Times:
- Los Angeles area speculators who profited for the rising price of real estate in the second-largest US city have started to buy property in places such as Las Vegas and Arizona instead.

Crain’s Chicago Business:
- JC Penney(JCP) plans to open more than a dozen free-standing stores in the Chicago area over the next two years, targeting rival Kohl’s Corp.(KSS) in Kohl’s biggest market.

Financial Times:
- US executive pay rises slowed even as companies had record growth in profits, citing findings from the Corporate Library, an independent corporate governance watchdog.

Nihon Keizai:
- Sony Corp.(SNE) plans to triple production capacity for LCDs in Europe this year, aiming to grab a 20% share of the market in the region.

Sing Tao Daily:
- Ingram Micro(IM) plans to pay $260 million for a 60% stake in Digital China Holdings’ distribution business to expand in China.

Weekend Recommendations
Barron's:
- Had positive comments on (UNP), (LUV), (RRI), (AMR), (AAI), (GNW), (FNM) and (CYTC).

Night Trading
Asian indices are +.25% to +1.25% on average.
S&P 500 indicated +.07%.
NASDAQ 100 indicated +.21%.

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/Estimate
- (IMDC)/.64
- (ORCL)/.18
- (SHFL)/.21
- (WSM)/1.09

Economic Releases
10:00 am EST
- Leading Indicators for February are estimated to fall .3% versus a 1.1% rise in January.

BOTTOM LINE: Asian Indices are higher, boosted by financial shares in the region after some better-than-expected earnings reports. I expect US stocks to open modestly higher and to maintain gains into the afternoon. The Portfolio is 75% net long heading into the week.

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