Morning News Bulletin

Thursday ,July 3rd, 2008

Early Edition

8am

Economic Numbers

Date	ET	Release	For	Actual	Range	Consensus	Prior
Jul 03	08:30	Change in non farm payroll	Jun		-130Kto-20K	-60K	49K-
Jul 03	08:30	Change in Manufacturing Payrolls	Jun		-50o-15K	-30K	-26K
Jul 03	08:30	Initial jobless	06/28		370Kto395K	385K	384K
Jul 03	08:30	Average Hourly Earnings MoM	Jun		0.1%to0.4%	0.3%	0.3%
Jul 03	08:30	Average Hourly Earnings YoY			3.3%to3.4%	3.4%	3.5%
Jul 03	08:30	Average Weekly Hours			33.6to33.7	33.7	33.7
Jul 03	08:30	Continuing Claims			3082Kto3142K	3125K	3139K
Jul 03	08:30	Unemployment Rate	Jun		5.2%to5.6%	5.4%	5.5%
Jul 03	10:00	ISM Non-Manufacturing Composite	Jun		48.5to53.6	51.0	51.7
Jul 03	10:30	EIA Natural Gas Storage Change			73to93	88	90

Technical Moving Averages

50-Day 200-Day

S&P                           1370 1410           

Dow                           12437 12841

NASDAQ                 2444 2496

Futures

S&P futures vs fair value: +0.6. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -8.0..

Pre-Market Movers

Thursday July 3rd, 2008

Top News Stories

CC NY Post reports a deal to rescue CC looks more difficult each day, but still isn't out of the question. BBI dropped its bid for the co this week, and insiders confirmed to The Post the troubled credit markets and its dismal quarterly results were the big obstacles. That's contrary to speculation that due diligence on Circuit City's nonpublic financials scared away Blockbuster and its high-profile shareholder Carl Icahn, or that Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes shied away amid pressure from skeptical investors. Blockbuster has "verified the long-term benefits of a deal," said one source, noting a "real opportunity" to cut costs in combining the two chains' operations. "Management didn't really put its case in front of shareholders yet," the source added. That suggests Blockbuster could be back, gunning for a deal. Meanwhile, BBY, citing antitrust concerns, isn't interested, sources said. It's also possible that one or more buyout cos will take control of the co, or at least give it an equity infusion. The co has been hemorrhaging cash, but it has little debt and its inventory could be used to finance a takeover.

Thursday July 3rd, 2008

Earnings/Guidance

CREL Corel Reports Q2 (May) earnings of $0.36 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the First Call consensus of $0.35; revenues rose 3.1% year/year to $67 mln vs the $66.9 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.30-0.36, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.32 consensus; sees Q3 revs of $63-65 mln vs. $63.03 mln consensus. Co reaffirms guidance for FY08, sees EPS of $1.50-1.70, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.54 consensus; sees FY08 revs of $263-275 mln vs. $269.08 mln consensus.

APKT Acme Packet Co issues downside guidance, sees Q2 EPS of $0.02-0.04, excluding non-recurring items, vs $0.09 consensus; sees revs of $24.5-25.5 mln vs $33.6 mln consensus.

Other Stock News

RTP Rio Tinto DJ reports BHP's bid for rival RTP moved a step closer to getting regulatory approval with U.S. authorities closing their review of the deal without raising any competition issues. BHP said the U.S. Department of Justice has "concluded its review without further action" and, together with the Federal Trade Commission, has granted early termination of the so-called Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period for the proposed deal.

VOD Vodafone DJ reports Vodafone said that it has agreed to acquire a 70% stake in Ghana Telecommunications from the Government of Ghana for $900 million. The transaction is on a debt-free, cash-free basis, implying a total enterprise value for Ghana Telecom of $1.3 bln. The Government of Ghana will retain a 30% stake in the company.

FRE Freddie Mac The Wall Street Journal reports Freddie's (FRE) delay of its $5.5 bln capital raise is causing concern among investors that the co is having trouble raising fresh money to strengthen its balance sheet, which lacks a strong cushion. And the longer Freddie waits, the more shares it might have to issue, causing even more pain for existing shareholders.

WMT Wal-Mart Citigroup believes WMT's U.S. business is regaining momentum, particularly in the current economic environment, driven by the co's strong value proposition, improved merchandising, and better in-store execution. Internationally, the co has streamlined its operations to create a more focused portfolio poised for higher growth. As International becomes a greater driver of overall earnings vs. the U.S., firm believes that investors will assign a higher valuation to WMT shares.

Wednesday July 2nd, 2008

Earnings/Guidance:

WDFC WD-40 Company Reports Q3 (May) earnings of $0.49 per share, $0.02 better than the First Call consensus of $0.47; revenues rose 5.8% year/year to $82.1 mln vs the $83.1 mln consensus. Co issues  guidance for FY08, sees EPS of $1.78-1.85, compared to previous guidance of $1.80-1.90, vs. $1.86 consensus; sees FY08 revs of $320-332 mln vs. $325.09 mln consensus.

SPEC Spectrum Control Co reported Q2 EPS of $0.16 vs $0.18 single analyst estimate; revs $32.6 mln vs $33.00 mln single analyst estimate. Co sees Q3 EPS of $0.16-0.19 vs $0.24 single analyst estimate; expect shipments of $32.5-34 mln vs $36.00 mln single analyst estimate.

NVDA NVIDIA lowers Co sees Q2 revs $875-950 mln vs $1.10 bln First Call consensus. Second quarter revenue and gross margin are expected to be lower than guidance provided during its first quarter financial conference call held May 8, 2008. The estimated decrease in revenue and gross margin is due to several reasons: end-market weakness around the world, the delayed ramp of a next generation MCP, and price adjustments of our GPU products to respond to competitive products

TSON Trans1 pre-announces Co pre-announces Q2 revs of $5.9-$6.0 mln vs. $6.45 consensus and vs. previous guidance of $6.3-$6.5 mln.

DMAN Demandtec reports Q1 EPS of $0.03, excluding non-recurring items, vs $0.02 consensus; reports revs up 36% yr/yr to $18.1 mln vs $17.6 mln consensus

Other Stock News.

ABT Abbott Labs Co announces that the U.S. FDA approved the XIENCE V Everolimus Eluting Coronary Stent System for the treatment of coronary artery disease. XIENCE V is the only drug eluting stent to have demonstrated superiority over Boston Scientific's TAXUS paclitaxel-eluting coronary stent system in two randomized head-to-head clinical trials.

FTI FMC Tech receives $38 mln order from StatoilHydro for Troll B gas injection project

SNBC Sun Bancorp reports $6.5 mln loan loss provision in second quarter

Economic

As expected, the European Central Bank raises interest rates 25 bps to 4.25%

Secondary Offerings/IPO’s

. Filings: ICO Global Comm (ICOG) files for a $400 mln mixed shelf offering; concurrently files for a 7.57 mln share common stock offering by selling shareholders... LML Payment Systems (LMLP) files for a 4.4 mln share common stock offering by selling shareholders... OneBeacon (OB) files for a $1 bln mixed shelf offering; concurrently files for a 71.75 mln share class B common stock offering by selling shareholders.

S&P Index Changes

Cramer’s “Mad Money” Recap

On Wednesday's edition, Jim recommends Pediatrix Medical (PDX), manager of the largest network of neonatal specialists, along with 22% of the 1078 Neonatal Intensive Care Units in the country. While Pediatrix itself will not receive any money from Medicare, Cramer noted it does rely on the Medicare pay rate set for physicians to determine the benchmark it will use to charge for theirs. With a 1.1% physician pay increase already in this year's Medicare bill, it only stands to reason that Pediatrix will earn more as well. His target is $62. Next, he suggests Spectra Energy (SE), a natural gas transmission co with over $3 bln worth of projects, and has a target of $32.84

Upgrades

Company	Ticker	Brokerage Firm	Ratings Change	Price Target
Arch Coal	ACI	Citigroup	Hold » Buy
Peabody Energy	BTU	Citigroup	Hold » Buy
SBA Comm	SBAC	RBC Capital Mkts	Sector Perform » Outperform
Crown Castle	CCI	RBC Capital Mkts	Sector Perform » Outperform
American Tower	AMT	RBC Capital Mkts	Sector Perform » Outperform
Alcoa	AA	Soleil	Sell » Hold	$40

Downgrades

Company	Ticker	Brokerage Firm	Ratings Change	Price Target
NVIDIA	NVDA	JP Morgan	Overweight » Neutral
UnitedHealth	UNH	UBS	Buy » Neutral
Dice Holdings	DHX	Wachovia	Outperform » Mkt Perform

8am

*The information contained herein has been compiled from various public news sources and from the public domain. Hold Brothers On-Line Investment Services LLC provides this information solely as a convenience to its traders. Neither Hold Brothers On-Line Investment Services LLC nor its data or content providers make any representation or recommendation as to the stocks identified herein, nor shall they shall be liable for any errors in the content, or for any damages as a result of actions taken in reliance on this information. This material does not constitute nor should be considered stock research on the part of Hold Brothers On-Line Investment Services LLC. Trade at your own risk.

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