Its Dividend Day (DIVY)

[shortsinthesand]

Man GM taking a hit today. Now that was a surprise.. Sure am glad we are in the money with our Canroys.... I will be adding a few more to the IBOX that look real good. AAV seems to be busting a move here. PGH looking strong. PWI what a home run!

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Welcome to the Reuters Before the Bell news mail.

On Wall Street, it's a rule of thumb that you win some and lose some. Look for the latter today after a record quarterly loss from General Motors helped drive stock futures down.

Not that the backdrop was all that bright before news of GM's eye-popping $39 billion charge hit. Investors, sick of the same old refrain of high energy prices and a weak dollar, are following the siren song of safe assets.

Like U.S. Treasuries and gold, which are both rallying.

And of course, oil. U.S. crude is up past $98 a barrel on an anticipated drop in U.S. inventories - the report's coming later today - and the weak dollar.

So what's up with the greenback anyway? Apparently expectations of further interest-rate cuts are playing a big part. And a senior Chinese politician has said the nation should balance its forex reserves so that stronger currencies like the euro offset the weaker dollar.

A bevy of Fed officials are speaking today. Also on tap are data on productivity and wholesale inventories.

Mortgage applications fell last week as the recent jump in refinancings ground to a halt, according to industry data.

A little magic would be nice right now - kind of like what Time Warner experienced with its latest "Harry Potter" movie, which gave a boost to quarterly profit.

Until tomorrow,

Lisa Von Ahn
News Mail Editor