U.S. stocks are aiming higher after a late day rally gave stocks a lift yesterday, resulting in another record on the Dow but in a mixed market. Oil is firmer this morning, and energy shares were among those rebounding late yesterday after several losing sessions. Tokyo stocks were higher, and European markets were mostly higher with technology stocks among the winners.
Thailand's stock market recovered about 10 percent overnight after the steepest one day decline in 17 years. The Thai government reversed its surprise imposition of capital controls yesterday aimed at stopping speculation in its currency. Its Central Bank is now struggling with ways to stop speculative money from flowing into its short term bond market. The baht has had a double digit ride against the dollar this year and the government's shocking move to contain spooked investors in emerging markets around the world.
We have a new intraday high on the Dow we'll be watching closely this morning. the new level is 12491.91. the Dow's 30 point rise yesterday positions it for a two percent rise already this month and a 16 percent gain for the year.
HOLIDAY CENTRAL: It's a big shipping day as procrastinating shoppers await arrival of their final online purchases (or are still making last minute online purchases) Federal Express reports profits after the bell.
MERGER NEWS: NYSE votes on its merger with Euronext this morning and our Maria Bartiromo will interview Chairman John Thain (as we mentioned earlier). Another cross border deal, Swedish telephone equipment maker Ericsson agreed to buy Redback Networks for $2.1 billion, a Silicon Valley seller of routing equipment.
SUBPRIME: A story our Steve Liesman has been reporting is the pickup in casualties in the subprime mortgage market. The New York Times today quotes a new report which says about one in five subprime mortgages made in the last two years are likely to go into foreclosure. The report was written by the Center for Responsible Lending.
In corporate news, telephone companies could get some help from the FCC today in their battle against the cable industry. The FCC considers new rules that would give state and local governments less latitude to award cable franchises. And worth watching from late yesterday - Dell named board member and former AMR CEO Don Carty to the role of vice chairman and CFO. Carty replaces CFO James Schneider who is resigning. The move comes as Dell struggles with an SEC investigation into
