morning fun seekers and the rest of the gang!

so true!

TGIF loungers!

Oil futures fall more than 3% after grim jobs data

By Polya Lesova, MarketWatch
Last update: 8:46 a.m. EST Feb. 6, 2009NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Oil futures posted steep losses Friday after the government reported that nonfarm payrolls plunged in January by the largest amount in 34 years, rekindling concerns about the severity of the U.S. recession.
Crude oil for March delivery fell $1.52, or 3.6%, to $39.65 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex.
Earlier, the contract hit an intraday low of $39.31 a barrel.
"The weakening global economy is pulling down oil prices, despite OPEC's threat of production cuts," said analysts at Action Economics.
Nonfarm payrolls fell by a seasonally adjusted 598,000 in January after a revised loss of 577,000 in December, the Labor Department reported Friday. It's the largest payroll loss since December 1974. The unemployment rate jumped to 7.6%.
"Job losses were large and widespread across the major industry sectors," said Keith Hall, head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. About 3.6 million jobs have been lost since the recession began just over a year ago. See Economic Report.
"Previous OPEC cuts and potential for more cuts have provided a floor in crude prices despite a continuous array of negative data over the last few weeks," said Nimit Khamar, an analyst at Sucden Financial Research.
"However, today's U.S. employment data could provide a real test for the markets' resilience to negative data," Khamar said in a note.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which controls about a third of the world's oil production, agreed at a December meeting to reduce production by a record amount of 2.2 million barrels a day starting from Jan. 1, adding to previous cuts of 2 million. Overall, the reduction is equal to about 5% of the world's oil production.
Chakib Khelil, Algeria's energy minister, said this week that there was a 50% chance of another supply cut during OPEC's next meeting on March 15.
Also on Globex Friday, March reformulated gasoline fell 3 cents, or 2.5%, to $1.24 a gallon and March heating oil fell 2 cents to $1.35 a gallon.
March natural gas futures fell 3 cents to $4.61 per million British thermal units.
Polya Lesova is a New York-based reporter for MarketWatch.

TGIF GAS peeps! PNP picks this friday THRA BWNR EESO

eyes still on EESO CBAI SGLS

TGIF steettrader!

Matthews Japan Fund manager looks for Asia plays
Don't forget that Japan is part of a dynamic region, he says
By Lisa Twaronite, MarketWatch

Last update: 10:14 p.m. EST Feb. 5, 2009Comments: 1SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Taizo Ishida, who took over two years ago as manager of Matthews Japan, eschews labels.
Make no mistake about it - Matthews Japan is a Japanese stock fund, with $123.7 million in assets as of the end of December. The fund's (MJFOX:Matthews Asian:Japan
MJFOX 9.38, -0.03, -0.3%) stated aim is to invest at least 80% of its total net assets in the common and preferred stocks of companies located in Japan. But in order to pick winners in the Japanese market, he says, one needs to look beyond the island nation's borders, and think of Japan as the gateway to the rest of the region.
"The integration of Japan into Asia is really happening. Some people make the mistake of thinking of Japan as outside Asia, because it is a developed market, but 'Asia Ex-Japan' doesn't really make sense," Ishida said.
One of his fund's top holdings is Pigeon Corp. (JP:7956: news , chart , profile ) , the Japanese maker of high-end baby-care products. As of Dec. 31, Pigeon was his fund's third-largest holding, at 3.2%.
The company makes almost every infant care item except for diapers and powdered milk, and gets about a third of its revenue from China. Pigeon's products are made in Japan, and therefore perceived to be safer than those made in countries with less stringent manufacturing regulations, he said -- and their relatively expensive prices mean a higher sales margin.
"Are they a consumer staples company? An exporter? An Asian play? It's certainly a company that benefits from Asian growth, but I don't want to give them one label," Ishida said. "When they got into China, they hit the jackpot. They were a success story in China, and are now going to India, where there are more babies."
For the nine months ended October 31, 2008, Pigeon's net profit rose 33.1% to 2.2 billion yen ($24 million), and revenue was up 9.3% to 40 billion yen. The company reaffirmed its outlook for its fiscal year ending January 31, 2009, for full-year net profit of 2.6 billion yen.
Dark days
To be sure, these are dark days for any stock fund to shine. Matthew Japan lost 10% in January, and 28% for 2008. That was comparable to the MSCI Japan Index, which lost 8.1% in January and lost 29% last year.
In 2008, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 Average (JP:1804610: news , chart , profile ) lost more than 40%, turning in its worst performance in the index's 58-year history. The Topix index of all Tokyo Stock Exchange First Section stocks was down 26%.
Japan's economy has certainly caught the global chill. Factories are cutting production and consumers are tightening their purse strings, meaning investors need to look beyond domestic demand. Japanese industrial output fell by a record 9.6% in December from the previous month, and household spending dropped 4.6% on year.
With the grim economic backdrop in mind, it's more important then ever to take a longer-term view, Ishida said.
Another issue that his fund holds is Fanuc Ltd. (JP:6954: news , chart , profile ) (FANUF:fanuc ltd ord
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FANUF 59.05, -2.40, -3.9%) , the maker of factory automation systems and robots.
"This company is a premier blue chip, with China exposure," he said, with nearly a third of its revenue from China. Although it does have exposure to both the U.S. and Europe, he said it is not as exposed as some auto makers or consumer electronics companies.
Fanuc is "a beneficiary of a big trend of factory automation in Asia, especially in China for the long term," he said.
In the short term, though, Fanuc is feeling the pain of the global downturn. Last week, it posted a group net profit of 23.75 billion yen in the fiscal third quarter which ended in December, down 35% from 36.38 billion yen in the same period a year earlier. For the full fiscal year ending in March, the company cut its net profit outlook to 90.6 billion yen from 103.3 billion yen.
Not all of Ishida's picks are Asian plays. His fund's top holding as of December, with 4.4% of net assets, was videogame maker Nintendo Co. (JP:7974: news , chart , profile ) (NTDO.Y:nintendo ltd adr NTDO.Y 38.00, -0.11, -0.3%) , which generates about 90% of its sales overseas.
Last week, Nintendo cut its full-year earnings estimate by 33% due in part to currency losses, as a surging yen bit into the value of overseas sales. The said its net profit fell 18% to 212.5 billion yen in the first nine months of its fiscal year ending March 31.
Ishida has watched Nintendo transform from a value stock to a super growth stock, with the runaway success of its Wii game console. While that super-growth phase is over, Ishida said it is still a decent growth stock.
"If you look at their 1995 through 2005 earnings, their top line was consistently around $5 billion, and their operating profit was around 1 billion. It was the same every year," he said. "It's still got lots of cash, and a great balance sheet."
Lisa Twaronite reports for MarketWatch from San Francisco.

rise and shine breakout board!

THRA news out! closed at $1

Therma-Med Inc. Announces Strategic Locations for Screening Clinics
Thursday February 5, 8:30 am ET


BEVERLY HILLS, CA--(MARKET WIRE)--Feb 5, 2009 -- Therma-Med Inc. (Other OTC:THRA.PK - News), specializing in preventative healthcare and offering the latest technology in Digital Infrared Thermal imaging (DITI), has engaged in actively researching opportunities to establish centralized locations for clinical screening operations.
ADVERTISEMENT


Therma-Med Inc.'s efforts gear towards high population density cities, where growing awareness of preventative measures and treatment for early detection of breast cancer and various illnesses is in higher demand.

Complementary and alternative approaches to health and medicine are among the fastest growing aspects of health care.

Statistics indicate that by the year 2010, two-thirds of the US population will have used some form of alternative approach to health care. (IAF, Institute for Alternative Futures, June 2006)

In the USA in 2008, of 692,000 women diagnosed with various types of cancer, 26% of these women were diagnosed with breast cancer making it the highest form of cancer amongst women (American Cancer Society, 2008). Based on these alarming numbers, Digital Infrared Thermal Imaging is certainly an important part of adjunctive screening for prevention and early detection of breast cancer and other ailments.

Therma-Med Inc. is currently investigating locations in New York, California, and due to the diverse population and relative economic stability, Toronto, Canada has also come to the forefront as a city of interest in establishing operations.

To complement our specialized Thermal imaging and alternative procedure clinical operations, professionals at Therma-Med Inc. have a primary focus. That focus is to make world class thermal imaging and its essential medical applications and alternative medical support services, readily available to all patients who are interested in taking preventative measures to maintain a healthy lifestyle. It is our goal to provide the highest level of clinical operations excellence and to continue to drive the exposure of this breakthrough screening procedure as an accepted standard for early detection and as an adjunctive form of diagnosis within the medical community.

About Therma-Med Inc.

Therma-Med inc., through our highly specialized Thermal Imaging and breakthrough alternative procedure clinics, is poised to become a healthcare industry leading company providing the alternative medicine approach to good health, as well as providing patients with an adjunctive diagnostic procedure that effectively pursues and exposes the benefits of early detection and prevention of various medical conditions.

Therma-med Inc. provides alternative medicinal procedures, current medical support services and utilizes thermal imaging systems that incorporate state-of-the-art infrared technologies and proprietary software to accurately and cost-effectively measure physiological changes in the human body allowing patients of all walks of life access to a proactive form of maintaining good health and quality of life through early detection and prevention.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information: Except for statements of historical fact relating to the Corporation, certain information contained herein constitutes forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "potential," "estimate," "plan," "expect," "project," "intend," "believe," "anticipate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The Corporation undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.



Contact:
For further information, contact:
Corporate Relations
Group Phone: 1-888-323-0929
Website: http://www.therma-medinc.com

looking forward to hit NY, California and TO!

THRA ready to rock! news out today

Therma-Med Inc. Announces Strategic Locations for Screening Clinics
Thursday February 5, 8:30 am ET


BEVERLY HILLS, CA--(MARKET WIRE)--Feb 5, 2009 -- Therma-Med Inc. (Other OTC:THRA.PK - News), specializing in preventative healthcare and offering the latest technology in Digital Infrared Thermal imaging (DITI), has engaged in actively researching opportunities to establish centralized locations for clinical screening operations.
ADVERTISEMENT


Therma-Med Inc.'s efforts gear towards high population density cities, where growing awareness of preventative measures and treatment for early detection of breast cancer and various illnesses is in higher demand.

Complementary and alternative approaches to health and medicine are among the fastest growing aspects of health care.

Statistics indicate that by the year 2010, two-thirds of the US population will have used some form of alternative approach to health care. (IAF, Institute for Alternative Futures, June 2006)

In the USA in 2008, of 692,000 women diagnosed with various types of cancer, 26% of these women were diagnosed with breast cancer making it the highest form of cancer amongst women (American Cancer Society, 2008). Based on these alarming numbers, Digital Infrared Thermal Imaging is certainly an important part of adjunctive screening for prevention and early detection of breast cancer and other ailments.

Therma-Med Inc. is currently investigating locations in New York, California, and due to the diverse population and relative economic stability, Toronto, Canada has also come to the forefront as a city of interest in establishing operations.

To complement our specialized Thermal imaging and alternative procedure clinical operations, professionals at Therma-Med Inc. have a primary focus. That focus is to make world class thermal imaging and its essential medical applications and alternative medical support services, readily available to all patients who are interested in taking preventative measures to maintain a healthy lifestyle. It is our goal to provide the highest level of clinical operations excellence and to continue to drive the exposure of this breakthrough screening procedure as an accepted standard for early detection and as an adjunctive form of diagnosis within the medical community.

About Therma-Med Inc.

Therma-Med inc., through our highly specialized Thermal Imaging and breakthrough alternative procedure clinics, is poised to become a healthcare industry leading company providing the alternative medicine approach to good health, as well as providing patients with an adjunctive diagnostic procedure that effectively pursues and exposes the benefits of early detection and prevention of various medical conditions.

Therma-med Inc. provides alternative medicinal procedures, current medical support services and utilizes thermal imaging systems that incorporate state-of-the-art infrared technologies and proprietary software to accurately and cost-effectively measure physiological changes in the human body allowing patients of all walks of life access to a proactive form of maintaining good health and quality of life through early detection and prevention.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information: Except for statements of historical fact relating to the Corporation, certain information contained herein constitutes forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "potential," "estimate," "plan," "expect," "project," "intend," "believe," "anticipate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The Corporation undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.



Contact:
For further information, contact:
Corporate Relations
Group Phone: 1-888-323-0929
Website: http://www.therma-medinc.com

THRA news out

Therma-Med Inc. Announces Strategic Locations for Screening Clinics
Thursday February 5, 8:30 am ET


BEVERLY HILLS, CA--(MARKET WIRE)--Feb 5, 2009 -- Therma-Med Inc. (Other OTC:THRA.PK - News), specializing in preventative healthcare and offering the latest technology in Digital Infrared Thermal imaging (DITI), has engaged in actively researching opportunities to establish centralized locations for clinical screening operations.
ADVERTISEMENT


Therma-Med Inc.'s efforts gear towards high population density cities, where growing awareness of preventative measures and treatment for early detection of breast cancer and various illnesses is in higher demand.

Complementary and alternative approaches to health and medicine are among the fastest growing aspects of health care.

Statistics indicate that by the year 2010, two-thirds of the US population will have used some form of alternative approach to health care. (IAF, Institute for Alternative Futures, June 2006)

In the USA in 2008, of 692,000 women diagnosed with various types of cancer, 26% of these women were diagnosed with breast cancer making it the highest form of cancer amongst women (American Cancer Society, 2008). Based on these alarming numbers, Digital Infrared Thermal Imaging is certainly an important part of adjunctive screening for prevention and early detection of breast cancer and other ailments.

Therma-Med Inc. is currently investigating locations in New York, California, and due to the diverse population and relative economic stability, Toronto, Canada has also come to the forefront as a city of interest in establishing operations.

To complement our specialized Thermal imaging and alternative procedure clinical operations, professionals at Therma-Med Inc. have a primary focus. That focus is to make world class thermal imaging and its essential medical applications and alternative medical support services, readily available to all patients who are interested in taking preventative measures to maintain a healthy lifestyle. It is our goal to provide the highest level of clinical operations excellence and to continue to drive the exposure of this breakthrough screening procedure as an accepted standard for early detection and as an adjunctive form of diagnosis within the medical community.

About Therma-Med Inc.

Therma-Med inc., through our highly specialized Thermal Imaging and breakthrough alternative procedure clinics, is poised to become a healthcare industry leading company providing the alternative medicine approach to good health, as well as providing patients with an adjunctive diagnostic procedure that effectively pursues and exposes the benefits of early detection and prevention of various medical conditions.

Therma-med Inc. provides alternative medicinal procedures, current medical support services and utilizes thermal imaging systems that incorporate state-of-the-art infrared technologies and proprietary software to accurately and cost-effectively measure physiological changes in the human body allowing patients of all walks of life access to a proactive form of maintaining good health and quality of life through early detection and prevention.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information: Except for statements of historical fact relating to the Corporation, certain information contained herein constitutes forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "potential," "estimate," "plan," "expect," "project," "intend," "believe," "anticipate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The Corporation undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.



Contact:
For further information, contact:
Corporate Relations
Group Phone: 1-888-323-0929
Website: http://www.therma-medinc.com

UBS predicts gold to hit $1,000
UBS has increased its 2009 average gold price forecast to $1,000 an ounce from $700 as investors seek a safe haven from the financial turmoil.

By Garry White
Last Updated: 10:02AM GMT 05 Feb 2009

The precious metal was one of last year's best performing asset classes, and many analysts expect it to fare equally well this year.

The Swiss bank said it expected investment demand to double over the course of the year when compared to 2007, despite the recent trend of a strengthening dollar, weak oil price and sliding inflation, which are usually bearish for the gold price.

UBS also raised its 2010 estimate to $900 an ounce from $700, although it saw safe-haven demand easing over the year. Gold was trading at $906.88 an ounce on Wednesday night.

It also increased its forecast for the average silver price to $14.75 an ounce from $8.40 in 2009. UBS also hiked its 2010 forecast to $12.80 an ounce from $8.95, compared with the current price of $12.54.

"Purchases of physical gold have jumped over the past six months as investors' fears about the financial crisis and the possible outcomes from government efforts to support banks and economies have intensified," said UBS strategist John Reade.

morning breakout!

Oil futures trade flat near $40 a barrel

By Polya Lesova
Last update: 7:58 a.m. EST Feb. 5, 2009
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Oil futures were little changed near $40 a barrel Thursday, as investors weighed persistent worries about the global economy against the likelihood of the OPEC oil cartel cutting its production further. Crude oil for March delivery fell 15 cents to $40.18 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex. On Wednesday, oil prices ended lower after government reports showed crude inventories in the U.S. rose much more than expected, hitting the highest level in 18 months, and as data indicated another hefty month of U.S. job losses.

rise and shine GAS peeps!

Who wants to be a half-millionaire?
Commentary: More of the best and brightest than you'd think
By David Callaway, MarketWatch

Last update: 12:37 a.m. EST Feb. 5, 2009Comments: 147SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Let's see a show of hands from anyone who would take $500,000 a year to run a troubled bank.
Now, if any of you don't think that would be worth the long hours, constant travel away from family, boardroom politics, or second-guessing from activist shareholders, politicians and the financial media, go ahead and lower your hand.
All still up? I thought so.
Fact is, President Obama's plan to limit executive compensation for financial institutions taking big bailout money is more a threat than a promise. The requirement that senior management limits itself to $500,000 in annual salary doesn't apply to most of the banks that have already gotten Treasury infusions, and it won't cover the vast majority of the nation's tens of thousands of banking executives who don't make anywhere near that much.
As for the big three institutions directly affected -- Citigroup Inc. (C:Citigroup Inc
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C 3.49, +0.03, +0.9%) , Bank of America (BAC:bank of america corporation com
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BAC 4.70, -0.60, -11.3%) and American International Group Inc. (AIG:American International Group Inc
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AIG 1.03, -0.05, -4.6%) , I can't wait to see how they try to get around the new rules.
After years of childish squabbling, an adult has finally entered the room and made a decision.
What Obama's plan does mean is that after years of childish squabbling about executive compensation in the industry, as it soared beyond all expectations through the eras of Enron, WorldCom, and now Madoff, an adult has finally entered the room and made a decision. And, boy, did he get Wall Street's attention. See full story on the plan.
Parties and junkets, er, conferences are being cancelled left and right by financial-services companies. Vegas is reeling. Pebble Beach is an empty, wind-swept moor. Bermuda is calling in "Girls Gone Wild" to drum up business. No public relations department in the land wants to step in front of this train.
Where's the talent hiding?
There are scores of arguments why any sort of government action against high salaries, bonuses, stock options or other forms of compensation could be unfair, or detrimental to business. Most of them hark back to the free-market philosophy that the "best and the brightest" need to be paid whatever the market will bear or they will go do something else, like run for political office and help people.
Yet there's been little sign recently of these "best and brightest" at the helms of any of the banks and investment firms, as tens of billions of dollars in shareholder value has been wiped away from the financial sector.
Maybe they're just hiding.
Or maybe, just maybe, they were just bright enough to realize that if they kept their mouths shut during the bull market they could ride the gravy train of greed and excess just far enough to get off at an early retirement, and practice golf.
Many did. Others rode the train just one or two stops too far, and are now paying for it; their paychecks slashed or withdrawn and their profession reviled across the land, like so many lawyers, tax collectors -- or journalists.
The Obama plan has many problems. Like his Cabinet ethics requirements, it is excessively complicated, with sliding tiers and changing numbers of who it affects and how. It reflects considerable thinking on the part of the Obama team. But it will be difficult to implement and open to all sorts of workarounds.
It is incredibly popular, however, among the people out there who aren't in the financial industry, who can't tell a CFO from a UFO, who are convinced that we wouldn't be in this mess if it wasn't for Wall Street. Those are the people Obama is playing to, and rightly so. The lack of transparency on Wall Street has been appalling, and someone needs to throw a grenade into the tent.
These are the types of societal divides, between the very rich and the rest of the populace, that have led to uprisings in the past. Even somebody making $500,000 is doing better than 99% of the rest of the working masses. When the divide grows too large, and the greed is so thoroughly exposed, as it has been in recent weeks, somebody needs to do something before the anger becomes too great. Obama seems to understand that.
The next play
Of course, the potential for the best and the brightest to abandon the banks or other restricted places does grow now. They could go to hedge funds, if they were hiring. They could go to foreign financial institutions, though those have more realistic pay scales already. They could go to other parts of the industry, like asset management, though the slow pace of activity might kill them.
But even if they do go, who cares? As any corporate boss will tell you after too many highballs, or whatever they drink these days, it's their teams that make them look good by doing all the work. Those teams are stacked with people just looking for a chance to move up, to be recognized, to get a shot at $500,000 a year.
The best and the brightest do indeed still exist on Wall Street. They're just not the ones making the big bucks.
Now that the private planes have been grounded and the corporate retreats redirected to the dive bar across the street, it's time to take direct aim at the Wall Street compensation system that has been at the heart of every major financial scandal of the last generation. If there is anything good that can be said about this global crisis, it's that it's finally opened this scar on capitalism far enough to force our political leaders to act.
And if that means you can make $500,000 but you can't go to Vegas until the taxpayers are paid back, then you'll just jolly well have to live with it.
David Callaway is editor-in-chief of MarketWatch.

morning breakout!

THRA getting better. now at 1.70 L2 for all

THRA all greens L2

PRECIOUS-Gold holds at $900/oz, rate decisions awaited

http://www.reuters.com/article/goldMktRpt/idUSL443104320090204?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

THRA looking hot now at 1.63

nice moves yesterday! today will be even better for sure!

hi streettrader! THRA moving up at 13 points, EESO early volumes coming in!

THRA on the move today!

U.S. stock futures edge slightly higher

By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch
Last update: 8:22 a.m. EST Feb. 4, 2009Comments: 205LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures on Wednesday were steady to higher, with glum results out of media giants Walt Disney and Time Warner and a profit warning from Costco Wholesale limiting carry-over from the previous session's rise.
S&P 500 futures (SPY:SPDR S&P 500 ETF
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4:00pm 02/03/2009

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SPY 83.74, +1.16, +1.4%) rose 3.3 points to 834.30 while Nasdaq 100 futures (QQQQ:QQQQ
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QQQQ, , ) added 2.5 points to 1,210.20. Dow industrial futures (DIA:Dow Diamonds ETF
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DIA 80.63, +1.31, +1.7%) rose 6 points.
"It is still all about treading water this week, surviving the news and making it to Friday. Today should lean back toward the bears," said Marc Pado, a strategist for Cantor Fitzgerald.
ADP on Wednesday estimated that 522,000 private-sector jobs were lost in January. The report comes two days ahead of the government report.
Services sentiment data for January is due at 10 a.m.
Despite the strength in equities, other assets pointed to diminishing risk appetite.
The Japanese yen beat up on rivals on Wednesday, notably the Australian dollar but also the U.S. dollar. Australian opposition lawmakers opposed a stimulus package there. Meanwhile, the dollar climbed against the euro after Russia's credit rating was downgraded by Fitch.
Oil futures held over $41 a barrel ahead of weekly energy inventories, and gold futures traded around the $900 an ounce mark.
"The big risk to the highly interventionalist world we live in is that the market takes fright at the eventual sums needed to keep us from the edge of depression and we see a huge sell-off in government bond markets," said credit analysts from Deutsche Bank. "Even if this risk is small, the probabilities edge higher with every week of new fiscal and monetary promises."
Earnings were mostly of the gloomy variety.
Dow industrials component Kraft Foods (KFT:kraft foods inc cl a
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KFT 28.74, +0.50, +1.8%) fell 9% as the food maker reported a 72% profit fall and cut its 2009 earnings outlook.
Fellow Dow component Walt Disney (DIS:Walt Disney Company
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4:02pm 02/03/2009

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DIS 20.62, +0.42, +2.1%) fell 8% in pre-open trade after the company reported a 32% profit fall on lower DVD sales and a drop in advertising sales at its broadcast and cable television networks.
Time Warner (TWX:time warner inc com
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4:00pm 02/03/2009

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TWX 9.78, +0.35, +3.7%) reported a $16 billion loss for the fourth quarter after write-offs and said this year's earnings would be around flat compared to 2008 levels. Time Warner shares fell 1.6% in pre-market trade.
Costco Wholesale (COST:costco whsl corp new com
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COST 46.12, +0.81, +1.8%) fell 7% as it warned its fiscal second-quarter earnings would be substantially below analyst estimates and said it won't provide new estimates for the rest of the year.
Alcatel-Lucent (ALU:alcatel-lucent sponsored adr
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4:01pm 02/03/2009

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ALU 1.88, -0.06, -3.1%) reported a $5 billion fourth-quarter loss as the French-American telecom equipment maker continued its ignominious trend of never being profitable. Still, the stock rose in Paris as operating profit was better than forecast.
Panasonic (PC:panasonic corp adr
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PC 12.21, +0.37, +3.1%) warned of an annual loss of $4.2 billion and said it would cut 15,000 jobs.
After the close, tech bellwether Cisco Systems (CSCO:Cisco Systems Inc
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4:00pm 02/03/2009

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CSCO 15.62, +0.31, +2.0%) is due to report quarterly results.
Outside of earnings, Ticketmaster (TKTM:ticketmaster entmt inc com
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4:00pm 02/03/2009

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TKTM 6.14, +0.29, +5.0%) and Live Nation (LYV:live nation inc com
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4:08pm 02/03/2009

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LYV 4.99, -0.26, -4.9%) will be in the spotlight on a report in The Wall Street Journal that the ticketing firms are weighing a merger.
Overseas, the Nikkei 225 climbed 2.7% in Tokyo, helped by automakers, and the FTSE 100 rose 0.5% in London, led by mining stocks.
Solid results from Merck and Schering-Plough and an unexpected rise in pending home sales lifted stocks on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 141 points, the S&P 500 added 13 points and the Nasdaq Composite added 21 points.
Steve Goldstein is MarketWatch's London bureau chief

morning merci and the rest of the birdies!

Oil futures rise ahead of inventory data

By Polya Lesova
Last update: 8:38 a.m. EST Feb. 4, 2009
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Oil futures rose early Wednesday ahead of data that's expected to show a build in U.S. crude inventories. Crude oil for March delivery rose 54 cents, or 1.3%, to $41.32 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex. The Energy Information Administration will release data on oil inventories at 10:30 a.m. Eastern. Analysts expect a build of 2.9 million barrels in U.S. commercial crude-oil stocks in the week ended Jan. 30, a survey by energy information provider Platts showed.

rise and shine streettrader!

U.S. stock futures edge slightly higher

By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch
Last update: 8:22 a.m. EST Feb. 4, 2009Comments: 141LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures on Wednesday were steady to higher, with glum results out of media giants Walt Disney and Time Warner and a profit warning from Costco Wholesale limiting carry-over from the previous session's rise.
S&P 500 futures (SPY:SPDR S&P 500 ETF
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4:00pm 02/03/2009

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SPY 83.74, +1.16, +1.4%) rose 3.3 points to 834.30 while Nasdaq 100 futures (QQQQ:PowerShares QQQ
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4:00pm 02/03/2009

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QQQQ 29.87, +0.46, +1.6%) added 2.5 points to 1,210.20. Dow industrial futures (DIA:Dow Diamonds ETF
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4:00pm 02/03/2009

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DIA 80.63, +1.31, +1.7%) rose 6 points.
"It is still all about treading water this week, surviving the news and making it to Friday. Today should lean back toward the bears," said Marc Pado, a strategist for Cantor Fitzgerald.
ADP on Wednesday estimated that 522,000 private-sector jobs were lost in January. The report comes two days ahead of the government report.
Services sentiment data for January is due at 10 a.m.
Despite the strength in equities, other assets pointed to diminishing risk appetite.
The Japanese yen beat up on rivals on Wednesday, notably the Australian dollar but also the U.S. dollar. Australian opposition lawmakers opposed a stimulus package there. Meanwhile, the dollar climbed against the euro after Russia's credit rating was downgraded by Fitch.
Oil futures held over $41 a barrel ahead of weekly energy inventories, and gold futures traded around the $900 an ounce mark.
"The big risk to the highly interventionalist world we live in is that the market takes fright at the eventual sums needed to keep us from the edge of depression and we see a huge sell-off in government bond markets," said credit analysts from Deutsche Bank. "Even if this risk is small, the probabilities edge higher with every week of new fiscal and monetary promises."
Earnings were mostly of the gloomy variety.
Dow industrials component Kraft Foods (KFT:kraft foods inc cl a
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Last: 28.74+0.50+1.77%

4:01pm 02/03/2009

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KFT 28.74, +0.50, +1.8%) fell 9% as the food maker reported a 72% profit fall and cut its 2009 earnings outlook.
Fellow Dow component Walt Disney (DIS:Walt Disney Company
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Last: 20.62+0.42+2.08%

4:02pm 02/03/2009

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DIS 20.62, +0.42, +2.1%) fell 8% in pre-open trade after the company reported a 32% profit fall on lower DVD sales and a drop in advertising sales at its broadcast and cable television networks.
Time Warner (TWX:time warner inc com
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TWX 9.78, +0.35, +3.7%) reported a $16 billion loss for the fourth quarter after write-offs and said this year's earnings would be around flat compared to 2008 levels. Time Warner shares fell 1.6% in pre-market trade.
Costco Wholesale (COST:costco whsl corp new com
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4:00pm 02/03/2009

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COST 46.12, +0.81, +1.8%) fell 7% as it warned its fiscal second-quarter earnings would be substantially below analyst estimates and said it won't provide new estimates for the rest of the year.
Alcatel-Lucent (ALU:alcatel-lucent sponsored adr
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ALU 1.88, -0.06, -3.1%) reported a $5 billion fourth-quarter loss as the French-American telecom equipment maker continued its ignominious trend of never being profitable. Still, the stock rose in Paris as operating profit was better than forecast.
Panasonic (PC:panasonic corp adr
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PC 12.21, +0.37, +3.1%) warned of an annual loss of $4.2 billion and said it would cut 15,000 jobs.
After the close, tech bellwether Cisco Systems (CSCO:Cisco Systems Inc
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CSCO 15.62, +0.31, +2.0%) is due to report quarterly results.
Outside of earnings, Ticketmaster (TKTM:ticketmaster entmt inc com
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TKTM 6.14, +0.29, +5.0%) and Live Nation (LYV:live nation inc com
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4:08pm 02/03/2009

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LYV 4.99, -0.26, -4.9%) will be in the spotlight on a report in The Wall Street Journal that the ticketing firms are weighing a merger.
Overseas, the Nikkei 225 climbed 2.7% in Tokyo, helped by automakers, and the FTSE 100 rose 0.5% in London, led by mining stocks.
Solid results from Merck and Schering-Plough and an unexpected rise in pending home sales lifted stocks on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 141 points, the S&P 500 added 13 points and the Nasdaq Composite added 21 points.
Steve Goldstein is MarketWatch's London bureau

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morning breakout!

Is Obama too popular?
Commentary: Stocks typically don't thrive when approval ratings are high

By Mark Hulbert, MarketWatch
Last update: 9:41 p.m. EST Feb. 3, 2009Comments: 143ANNANDALE, Va. (MarketWatch) -- Is Barack Obama too popular?
That certainly would seem to be an odd question to be asking, especially by investors. After all, how can a president be too popular? And what's that have to do with the stock market?
Plenty, as it turns out. Historically, the stock market has not tended to do very well when presidential approval ratings are as high as Obama's is these days.
That at least is the conclusion of a study released Tuesday morning by Ned Davis Research, the institutional research firm.
It found that, on average over the last five decades, the stock market produced a well-below-average return when the President's approval rating was very high.
When Gallup Poll presidential approval rating was... Dow's annualized gain % of the time
Above 65% 2.5% 17.8%
Between 50% and 65% 5.4% 41.6%
Between 35% and 50% 12.3% 32.0%
35% and below -13.8% 8.6%


The latest reading for Obama is 69%.
Though it might initially strike you as odd that the stock market would perform poorly when a president's rating is very high, it actually makes sense. That's because, at such times, there often are unrealistically high expectations of what the president can accomplish.
Even when the President is doing a good job, it's still unlikely for him to live up to all of those hopes. And the stock market typically doesn't do well when political reality sets in.
The news Tuesday provides a good illustration of this phenomenon: Two of Obama's appointments withdrew their names from consideration because of irregularities in some of their previous years' tax filings. Though Obama appears to have escaped largely unscathed from the ensuing uproar, it's a good illustration that it won't be totally smooth sailing.
To be sure, as you can see from the table, the correlation between presidential popularity and the stock market is not perfectly inverse. When presidential approval ratings get low enough, then the stock market does very poorly indeed.
Ned Davis refers to such periods as beyond "excessive pessimism," calling them instead "so bad it's bad." Examples of such periods include the last months of Richard Nixon's presidency, just before he resigned to avoid impeachment in the Watergate scandal; much of the latter half of Jimmy Carter's term; and the last year or so of George W. Bush's presidency.
Davis, who has indicated in the past that he has Libertarian leanings, stresses that he does not intend his analysis "to point fingers at Obama." He says that he hopes Obama will help the deteriorating economy.
Nonetheless, he adds, when widespread optimism "is related to the president rather than the stock market or economy, ...it has not been a great sentiment picture for the near-term stock market."
Davis' argument is a classic illustration of contrarian analysis at work. It shows, once again, that investing over the shorter term is less a function of objective reality than it is of perceptions.
It might be, for example, that presidents have done an objectively better job when their approval ratings are very high than when they are low. But if we have unrealistically high expectations of popular presidents and unrealistically low expectations of unpopular leaders, then it is the latter that are more likely to do better than expected. And, in the markets, it is the beating of expectations that lead to the best short-term returns.
Of course, for where the stock market and the economy will be many years from now, the objective truth of how good a job a president does will have far more impact than his week-to-week popularity. But even when we correctly assess the long-term impact of a president's actions, we know little about the path the stock market will take to get there.
As is often the case, John Maynard Keynes said it best: "In the short term the market is a voting machine, in the long-term it is a weighing machine."
Mark Hulbert is the founder of Hulbert Financial Digest in Annandale, Va. He has been tracking the advice of more than 160 financial newsletters since 1980.

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PNP picks for today THRA EESO SKYF

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THRA EESO and SKYF on my watch list today!

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