Monday Watch

Weekend Headlines
Bloomberg:
- Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told CBS’s “60 Minutes” program that he expects the US economy to withstand declining home values.
- China will need to follow the fifth interest rate increase this year with further tightening to curb the fastest inflation since 1996 and damp speculation in stocks and real estate, economists and analysts said.
- European finance ministers and central bankers said they would resist overreacting to turbulence in financial markets by rushing to impose unwieldy regulations.
- Treasury two-year note yields posted their biggest gain in five months as speculation eased that the Fed will lower its target rate by as much as half a percentage point.
- RWE AG, Germany’s second-largest utility, plans to invest “massively” to develop wind-generated electricity in France.
- Leap Wireless Intl.(LEAP), the provider of Cricket and Jump mobile-phone service, rejected a $4.7 billion takeover offer from larger rival MetroPCS Communications, calling the price too low.

Wall Street Journal:
- Blue Chips Record Best Week Since April Despite Oil’s Rise.
- Thirteen years after Hillary Rodham Clinton’s plan for heal care went down to disastrous defeat, she is back with a new proposal that again seeks to cover all Americans but reflects some lessons learned.
- Contract negotiations resumed Sunday between General Motors(GM) and the UAW union following widespread reports of progress over the weekend but with several tough issues remaining.
- The Dept. of Justice has launched an antitrust investigation of the market for flash memory, the chips used to store data in digital cameras, music players and other gadgets.

NY Times:
- Two surgeons who developed prosthetic heart valves that have prolonged the lives of millions of people are among the winners of this year’s Lasker awards, widely considered the nation’s most prestigious medical prizes.
- Many young people of the fast track to fat paydays in the financial industry are choosing to forgo MBA programs.
- Dream kitchens may soon include a computer along with the latest refrigerator or oven.
- REITs, Down Sharply, May Be a Good Buy.
- The future of XM, With or Without a Sirius Merger.

Barron’s:
- Michael Rothman, an analyst at International Strategy & Investment in NY, expects the price of oil will decline to as low as $45/bbl. on slowing demand, citing an interview.

MarketWatch.com:
- When Microsoft(MSFT) releases Halo 3 to video-game zealots later this month, the newest generation of the company’s popular action game is widely expected to shatter sales records.
- ABN Amro’s board declined to endorse either of two takeover offers the Amsterdam banking giant has received.
- Sina(SINA) aims at Baidu(BIDU) with blogger ads.
- Home Depot(HD), Enterprise Products(EPD) and Brookdale(BKD) make dividend fund’s ‘buy’ list.

Boston Globe:
- Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick plans to propose as early as tomorrow that the state sell licenses for three resort casinos.

BusinessWeek.com:
- Homebuilders: Hitting Bottom at Last?

CNNMoney.com:
- Don’t believe the Yahoo(YHOO) takeover hype.
- Mortgage rates tumble.

LA Times:
- Tribune(TRB) may consider selling its Chicago Cubs baseball team in separate pieces to get more money and limit the influence of Major League Baseball’s authority over the sale.

Rocky Mountain News:
- Crocs Inc.(CROX), the maker of colorful casual footwear, plans to introduce new high-fashion style to expand beyond its popular clogs.

CNN:
- Former NFL star OJ Simpson and a second man were arrested in the alleged armed robbery of sports memorabilia at a Las Vegas hotel.

Washington Post:
- The number of foreign fighters traveling to Iraq from Syria has fallen to “half or two-thirds” the 80 to 90 monthly average of two or three months ago, Army General David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq said.

Reuters:
- Business Objects(BOBJ), a French-American business intelligence software maker, is looking for a buyer and has appointed Goldman Sachs(GS) to find an investor.
- Next week’s IPOs: Just what the doctor ordered?

AP:
- The leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq offered $100,000 to kill Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks for making images deemed insulting to Islam.

Financial Times:
- The $80 record crude oil prices are not sustainable as they are not supported by market fundamentals, OPEC said.
- Lehman(LEH) earnings first real signal of credit hit.
- Only three strategies adopted by hedge funds appear to have survived unscathed the rout of the sector last month, as the “absolute return” industry again mostly failed to protect investors against the market turmoil.
- France calls for Iran investment boycott.
- Chinese companies listed on the NYSE such as PetroChina Co. and China Mobile Ltd. have poor quality earnings, quoting an independent research firm.

Financial Times Deutschland:
- Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile unit will have the exclusive rights to sell Apple’s(AAPL) iPhone in five European countries.

WirtschaftsWoche:
- SAP AG(SAP) will unveil a new package of software for mid-sized businesses as it seeks to expand its product portfolio, citing CEO Kagermann.

Le Monde:
- A quick withdrawal of US troops from Iraq would have “devastating consequences,” Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said. Such a withdrawal could “blow up into a genuine civil war” and allow terrorist group al-Qaeda to establish a base in Iraq, Zebari said.

Australian:
- National Australia Bank Ltd., the nation’s largest, may be a potential buyer for the UK’s Northern Rock Plc, citing analysts.

Kyodo News:
- Eighty percent of 100 major Japanese companies expect the country’s economy to expand “moderately,” according to a survey by Kyodo.

Notimex:
- Mexican industrial companies are losing $150 million a day from factory shutdowns after six bomb blasts damaged government-owned natural-gas pipelines, cutting supply of the fuel.

Etemaad:
- Iran has “finalized” oil and gas projects with China and is seeking annual two-way trade of $20 billion by the end of 2007, citing Interior Minister Mostafa Pour Mohammadi.

Arab News:
- A group of Saudi Arabian women will send a petition to the government asking for the legal right to drive cars in the kingdom, citing a copy of the petition.

Weekend Recommendations
Barron's:
- Made positive comments on (NOK) and (PNCL).
- Made negative comments on (RDN).

Night Trading
Asian indices are -.25% to unch. on average.
S&P 500 futures -.26%.
NASDAQ 100 futures unch.

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/Estimate
- (ADBE)/.40
- (FNM)/.70

Upcoming Splits
- None of note

Economic Releases
8:30 am EST
- Empire Manufacturing for September is estimated to fall to 18.0 versus 25.1 in August.

Other Potential Market Movers
- The (KCI) analyst meeting, (ADVS) Investor Day, Former Fed head Greenspan on NBC, Merriman Curhan Ford Investor Summit, Merrill Lynch Media Fall Preview, ThinkEquity Growth Conference, CSFB Homebuilders Conference, Raymond James Paper/Forest Products Conference and Bank of America Investor Conference could also impact trading today.

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are slightly lower, weighed down by commodity and financial shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open modestly lower and to rally into the afternoon, finishing mixed. The Portfolio is 100% net long heading into the week.