Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Tuesday Watch

Late-Night Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Celgene(CELG), the maker of Revlimid and Thalomid blood cancer drugs, will replace AmSouth Bancorp in the S&P 500.
- Rupert Murdoch’s NY Post scored a victory in the NY tabloid wars as circulation surpassed rival Mort Zuckerman’s NY Daily News for the first time.
- SEC Chairman Cox said a company’s level of cooperation in stock-option backdating investigations will be a factor in whether the agency files lawsuits in such cases.
- Japan’s unemployment rate unexpectedly rose, while the number of jobs available held near a 14-year high.
- Daisaku Ueno, named best foreign-exchange analyst in the 10th annual analyst rankings by Japan’s “Weekly Economist” magazine, says the yen will weaken to 120 a dollar due to the interest-rate gap between Japan and the US.
- Microsoft(MSFT) filed more than 50 lawsuits against individuals and companies worldwide, claiming they sold counterfeit copies of its programs using online auction sites including EBay(EBAY).
- Creative Technology reported a wider loss than analysts expected after its music players were outsold 23 to 1 by Apple Computer’s(AAPL) iPods in the US.
- Iron ore prices may decline next year as supplies improve, Luo Bingsheng, vice chairman of the China Iron and Steel Assoc., said before the start of annual talks between miners and China’s steel mills.
- Japan’s household spending fell the most in almost five years and wage growth stalled in September, undermining the Bank of Japan’s case for raising the lowest interest-rates among major economies.
- Japan, the world’s largest consumer of oil after the US and China, said crude oil imports fell 2% in September, marking the fifth straight month of decline.

Financial Times:
- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which overseas US futures markets, will tomorrow say it has no plans to extend its supervision to Intercontinental Exchange’s London-based ICE Futures unit. Critics of the current policy said ICE Futures has an advantage over the NY Merc by trading a crude oil contract that uses Nymex prices but isn’t burdened by US regulations.

Late Buy/Sell Recommendations
- None of note

Night Trading
Asian Indices are -.25% to +.50% on average.
S&P 500 indicated +.07%.
NASDAQ 100 indicated +.04%.

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
- (AGR)/.23
- (ADM)/.55
- (ADP)/.43
- (BIDU)/.26
- (BIIB)/.49
- (BJS)/.75
- (CKP)/.32
- (CMG)/.27
- (CNA)/.98
- (CMI)/3.67
- (DWA)/-.01
- (EK)/.19
- (ETR)/1.82
- (EOP)/.15
- (IT)/.07
- (HLT)/.28
- (IACI)/.33
- (KKD)/-.03
- (LTR)/.85
- (MRO)/3.63
- (MSO)/-.18
- (MCK)/.58
- (PG)/.78
- (RDC)/.88
- (RCL)/1.59
- (SAFC)/1.52
- (SGR)/.18
- (JOE)/.11
- (UARM)/.25
- (VLO)/2.30
- (VNO)/.73

Upcoming Splits
- (ACAP) 3-for-2

Economic Releases
8:30 am EST
- The 3Q Employment Cost Index is estimated to rise .9% versus a .9% gain in 2Q.

10:00 am EST
- Consumer Confidence for October is estimated to rise to 108.0 versus a reading of 104.5 in September.
- The Chicago Purchasing Manager for October is estimated to fall to 58.0 versus a reading of 62.1 in September.

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

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