Thursday, July 12, 2007

Friday Watch

Late-Night Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Federal Realty Investment Trust(FRT) shares had the biggest rise in more than 13 years on a report the developer and manager of shopping centers may be a takeover target.
- Shares of Samsung Electronics, Asia’s largest maker of chips, mobile phones and flat screens, rose after a newspaper reported billionaire investor Carl Icahn may be planning a hostile bid.
- Amaranth Advisors LLC, the hedge fund that collapsed in September after losing $6.6 billion on energy trades, and JPMorgan Chase(JPM) were sued by a natural gas trader who accused the fund of market manipulation.
- Third Point LLC, the activist hedge fund firm run by Daniel Loeb that oversees more than $5 billion, bought a 7.2% stake in Atmel Corp.(ATML).
- Energizer Holdings(ENR) agreed to acquire Playtex Products for about $1.2 billion in cash, adding consumer products such as the Banana Boat sunscreen line.
- Democratic presidential candidate Barrack Obama supports legislation to raise the tax rate for publicly traded private-equity and hedge funds, an aide said today.
- Issuance of subprime mortgage securities fell 41% last quarter from a year earlier to $74 billion, while sales of so-called Alt A home-loans bonds fell 2.7% to $100.9 billion, newsletter Inside MBS & ABS said.
- General Electric(GE) plans to sell its three-year-old US subprime mortgage unit, the company said in an e-mail to employees.
- Roche Holding AG signaled it may raise its $3 billion hostile takeover bid for US diagnostics maker Ventana Medical Systems(VMSI) after the offer was rejected yesterday.
- The House of Representatives voted to require the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, defying President Bush’s veto threat and his request today for time to allow the new war strategy to succeed.

Wall Street Journal:
- Nordstrom Inc.(JWN) is close to selling its Faconnable line to M! Group for more than $200 million.

Reuters:
- Intercontinental Exchange(ICE), an electronic energy market which lost a bidding war this week to buy the Chicago Board of Trade(BOT), is open to acquiring another exchange or becoming a takeover target itself, citing Chairman Jeffrey Sprecher.

Late Buy/Sell Recommendations
Citigroup:
- Reiterated Buy on (BKD), target raised to $65.
- Reiterated Buy on (PAYX), target raised to $50.

Business Week:
- Zoltek Companies’(ZOLT) profit will rise because of demand for the carbon-fiber components it makes for wind turbines. Michael Carboy of Signal Hill Capital Group expects profit to reach .72 a share in 2007 and $1.60 in 2008, up from 13 cents in 2006.
- Ziopharm Oncology(ZIOP) is trying to get approval to treat cancer with organic arsenic, and its shares could rise fourfold in the process. Griffin Securities’ Chrystyna Bedrij rates the stock a “buy” and said the stock could rise to $20 a share within a year based on the company’s trials on its arsenic drug.
- Arbitron Inc.(ARB) shares could rise 40% if the NY-based provider of radio and audience ratings uses its free cash flow to buy back shares, citing Mark Boyar, president of Boyar Asset Management.

Night Trading
Asian Indices are +.75% to +1.50% on average.
S&P 500 indicated +.03%.
NASDAQ 100 indicated +.07%.

Morning Preview
US AM Market Call
NASDAQ 100 Pre-Market Indicator/Heat Map
Pre-market Commentary
Pre-market Stock Quote/Chart
Before the Bell CNBC Video(bottom right)
Global Commentary
WSJ Intl Markets Performance
Commodity Movers
Top 25 Stories

Top 20 Business Stories
Today in IBD
In Play
Bond Ticker
Economic Preview/Calendar
Daily Stock Events
Macro Calls
Upgrades/Downgrades
Rasmussen Business/Economy Polling
CNBC Guest Schedule

Earnings of Note
Company/EPS Estimate
- (GE)/.52

Upcoming Splits
- None of note

Economic Releases
8:30 am EST

- The Import Price Index for June is estimated to rise .7% versus a .9% gain in May.
- Advance Retail Sales for June are estimated to fall .1% versus a 1.4% increase in May.
- Retail Sales Less Autos for June are estimated to rise .2% versus a 1.3% gain in May.

10:00 am EST
- The Preliminary Univ. of Mich. Consumer Confidence reading for July is estimated to rise to 86.0 versus a reading of 85.3 in June.
- Business Inventories for May are estimated to rise .3% versus a .4% gain in April.

Other Potential Market Movers
- The BMO Capital Markets Media/Comm./Tech Conference could also impact trading today.

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are higher, boosted by technology and mining stocks in the region. I expect US equities to open modestly lower and to rally into the afternoon, finishing mixed. The Portfolio is 100% net long heading into the day.

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