Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Thursday Watch

Late-Night Headlines
Bloomberg:
- BP Plc may keep pumping oil from half of the Prudhoe Bay field, BP America President Robert Malone said.
- Pfizer’s best-selling cholesterol medicine Lipitor cuts the risk of stroke recurrence in patients without heart disease, doctors say.
- David Einhorn, founder of $3 billion hedge fund Greenlight Capital LLC, was knocked out of the World Series of Poker last night, taking 18th place and winning $659,730, which he plans to donate to charity.
- Google(GOOG) will give AOL as much as $400 million over five years under an Internet ad agreement.
- Toyota Motor(TM) is setting US sales records and building North American factories faster than any other automaker.
- South Korea’s central bank unexpectedly raised its key interest rate a quarter percentage point to a five-year high to quell inflation in Asia’s third-largest economy.
- Israeli soldiers and Hezbollah fighters clashed in southern Lebanese villages, as the UN Security Council failed to agree on a revised resolution to end the month-long conflict.

Financial Times:
- France may propose its own cease-fire plan to the UN Security Council if terms are not reached with the US on an agreement to end the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah fighters, citing President Jacques Chirac.

Economic Daily News:
- AU Optronics(AUO) won orders from Samsung Electronics and four others to make LCDs for televisions.

Digitimes:
- Samsung Electronics has begun shifting manufacturing capacity to make more flash memory chips in anticipation of orders from Apple Computer(AAPL).

China Securities Journal:
- China’s banking regulator told the nation’s 16 major banks to slow their loan growth in the second half and rein in their overall lending increase to below 15% this year.
- China may raise lending rates for the second time this year to control loans growth.

China Business News:
- China’s government may stop issuing bonds to finance infrastructure projects early next year, citing Li Quan, an academic at the finance ministry.

Late Buy/Sell Recommendations
- None of note

Night Trading
Asian Indices are -.25% to unch. on average.
S&P 500 indicated +.06%.
NASDAQ 100 indicated -.03%.

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
- (ADI)/.44
- (BGG)/.29
- (EAT)/.65
- (CREE)/.14
- (DISH)/.44
- (ELX)/.22
- (EXPE)/.24
- (GG)/.35
- (JCP/.73
- (KSS)/.65
- (NVDA)/.27
- (PSUN)/.14
- (PGN)/.41
- (RRGB)/.39
- (TGT)/.69
- (URBN)/.15

Upcoming Splits
- (PCAR) 3-for-2
- (WFC) 2-for-1

Economic Releases
8:30 am EST
- The Trade Deficit for June is estimated to widen to -$64.5 billion versus -$63.8 billion in May.
- Initial Jobless Claims for last week are estimated at 315K versus 315K the prior week.
- Continuing Claims are estimated to fall to 2475K versus 2480K prior.

2:00 pm EST
- The Monthly Budget Deficit for July is estimated to shrink to -$40.0 billion versus -$53.4 billion in June.

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly lower, pressured by exporting stocks in the region. I expect US equities to open mixed and to weaken into the afternoon, finishing modestly lower. The Portfolio is 75% net long heading into the day.

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