Good morning. Happy Friday.
Today of course is a half-day which should be just long enough to allow the market to relieve some pressure. We don’t expect much volume, but a little movement would not be out of the question. There isn’t much news out.
30 minutes before the open, Nas 100 futures are down 16 to trade at 1178.50, and SPX futures are down 6.25 to trade at 880. .
The Asian/Pacific markets ended the week on high notes. Australia rallied better than 4%, Indonesia more than 3%, Hong Kong more than 2%, and Japan, Singapore and Seoul more than 1%. China fell 2.4%.
Europe is mostly down. Austria is down 2.6% while France, Germany, Amsterdam, Norway, Italy and Stockholm are down more than 1%. London is down 0.3%.
The October Euro-Zone unemployment rate rose to a 20-month high of 7.7%.
The November Euro-Zone confidence fell to a 15-year low.
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) says the British Government will buy a majority stake in the bank.
Fujitsu Siemens plans 700 German job cuts.
The Russian central bank hiked rates 100 basis points to help support the ruble.
STMicroelectronics (STM) said sales will drop 13-18% in the next quarter down from its previous guidance for sales to be unchanged to down 8%.
Standard & Poor’s announced Republic Services (RSG) will replace Allied Waste (AW) in the S&P500 and that Dun & Bradstreet (DNB) will replace Liz Claiborne (LIZ).
Carl Icahn has bought close to 7 million additional shares of YHOO for just under 10 bucks per share.
Malls and hotels are thought to be the next victim from the mortgage crisis. Malls from Michigan to Georgia are entering foreclosure, commercial victims of the same events poisoning the housing market. Hotels in Tucson, Ariz., and Hilton Head, S.C., also are about to default on their mortgages.
Gold is up 0.78% and silver is down 1.07%.
Crude oil is down 76 cents to trade at 53.68.
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| UPGRADES | FRO, STD, THC |
| DOWNGRADES | OVTI, CPE, EBAY, CHU, BCE |
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| EARNINGS | |
| before the open | CMRG, FRO |
| during trading | none |
| after the close | CENT |
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ECONOMIC RELEASES
none
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