FirstAlert[tm] 6/24: Unchanged Melody

Jun 24, 2008 (financialwire.net via COMTEX) -- FUL | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- June 24, 2008 (FinancialWire) (By Philip Holmes) Higher oil prices and more lousy news on financials left the major indexes mixed at the end of the trading day on Monday. Financial stocks lost more ground on disturbing news that smaller banks drove the S&P Regional Banks index down 3.0%. Goldman Sachs downgraded its view of the financials sector, helping to send the S&P Other Diversified Financial Services index down 3.6%. Oil was again on everyone's mind as WTI crude oil futures for August delivery rose to $137.71 per barrel late in the session. But did we also hear some encouraging noises from the Saudis? OPEC ministers and oil company honchos, among other concerned citizens, met in Jeddah on June 22, at the invitation of Saudi King Abdullah. Their stark agenda: deal with the alarming rise in oil prices that threatens to strangle the world economy. According to a report by BusinessWeek's Stanley Reed, Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi said that his country would increase production to 9.7 million barrels per day in July, up by 255,000 barrels. The kingdom also pledged to increase production by more than 200,000 barrels a day in June. Naimi said that even more could be on tap if needed. And Naimi didn't stop there. Apparently Saudi Arabia is working on longer-term projects that could boost the country's total production capacity to 15 million barrels per day. The kingdom is working with French petroleum refiner Total on a new Saudi refinery complex that should ease refinery bottlenecks in future. Good news, to a point. As Reed reports, one oil exec at the meeting called the Saudi's plans "a drop in the ocean," with the proposed 200,000-barrels-per-day increase amounting to around one-quarter of 1% of total world oil output. This brings us, in a desperate search for relief, the Fed policy committee's upcoming meeting. Bernanke now faces criticism in some corners for reacting too slowly to the subprime meltdown. Some say that the Fed's series of rate cuts since last September have actually made the fallout worse, as rising inflation undercut any credit market benefits from the cuts. We can all see that the cuts did nothing to reinflate the housing bubble, and perhaps this is a good thing. At this point, few expect further cuts and the smart money is on the Fed leaving rates unchanged, with the Fed funds target set on 2%. We'll know the score when the meeting wraps on the 25th.

The Investrend Earnings Calendar features 3Com (NASDAQ: COMS), expected at $0.05 versus $0.02 a year ago; Apogee Enterpr. (NASDAQ: APOG), expected at $0.43 versus $0.34 a year ago; Darden Rest. (NYSE: DRI), expected at $0.75 versus $0.67 a year ago; HB Fuller. (NYSE: FUL), expected at $0.45 versus $0.44 a year ago.

The Investrend Economics Calendar lists Consumer Confidence Index for June (10 a.m.), Weekly Chain Store Sales (8:55 a.m.), Treasury auctions 2-year notes (1 p.m.), 2-day FOMC Meeting begins (2:15 p.m.).

The Investrend Events Calendar showcases ACN at Edison Electric Institute EEI-AGA Accounting Leadership Conference (Day 3 of 4); American Bankers Association CFO Exchange Conference (Day 3 of 3); American Bankers Association Forum for Fiduciaries (Day 2 of 3); BRLI, RHB, CERN, EMAG, PSYS at Jefferies & Co. Annual Healthcare Conference (Day 1 of 3); CNP, D, EIX, FE, MDU, PEG, SO, SUG, TEG at Bank of America Utilities Mini Conference; Consumer Electronics Association Connections Conference (Day 1 of 3); CUZ, PCP, QLGC, ACGL, ENH at Wachovia Nantucket Equity Conference; D at Bank of America Roundtable; Dow Jones Newswires Limited Partners Summit; ENER, SPIR, ESE, KDN, GE, STP, AMSC, ESLR, LDK, JASO, HXL, AMAT at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. 2008 Alternative Energy Conference; Financial Research Associates Investment Advisors' Exchange Traded Funds Summit; Financial Research Associates Valuation of Hard-To-Value Securities & Portfolios Conference; Forrester Research Financial Services Forum For Marketing & Strategy Professionals Conference; Information Management Network (IMN) Fifth Annual Non-Traded & Private REIT Industry Symposium; Information Management Network (IMN) Second Annual Southeast Public Employee Retirement Systems (SEPERS) Forum; Intertech Color Cosmetics Summit (Day 2 of 3); KNDL at Drug Information Association 44th Annual Meeting (Day 3 of 5); OSIR, ALTU, AUTN, LDK at Piper Jaffray Europe Conference; PHST at 2008 AAPS National Biotechnology Conference; Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP Deal Execution: Prospering in the Middle Market Conference; SIFMA Due Diligence Conference; SPSN Press Event; Terrapinn Real Estate Investment World Asia Conference (Day 2 of 4); Terrapinn Real Estate Investment World Asia Conference (Day 2 of 4); UBS Global Financial Markets & Technology Conference; UBS Taiwan Conference.

The Investrend Money Index is an indicator of the depth of market direction or indirection. While not always including the same stocks, the NYSE/NASDAQ 50 Most Actives indicate the direction in which the mass of money is flowing. Last session's trading showed eight advancers versus 42 decliners. There were no significant advancers. Decliners followed Ual Corp New (NASDAQ: UAUA) down 14.94%, M B I A Inc (NYSE: MBI) down 13.77%, Huntington Bcshs (NASDAQ: HBAN) down 13.04%, Ford Motor Co (NYSE: F) down 9.12%, Rf Micro Devices (NASDAQ: RFMD) down 8.63%, Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM) down 6.58%, Gen Motors (NYSE: GM) down 6.38%, Motorola Inc (NYSE: MOT) down 6.30%, Adv Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) down 6.29%, Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) down 6.17%.

Vote in the Investrend Poll Question of the Day at Investrend Information (http://www.investrendinformation.com).

Investrend Website of the Day: http://www.freetvonline.com/

Quote of the Day: "Space isn't remote at all. It's only an hour's drive away if your car could go straight upwards." Sir Fred Hoyle

Today is: St. Jean Baptiste Day (Quebec National Day), UFO Day.

Happy Birthday: Henry Ward Beecher, Ambrose Bierce, Jack Dempsey, Phil Harris, Fred Hoyle, Billy Casper, Colin Blunstone, George Pataki, Peter Weller, Mick Fleetwood, Patrick Moraz, Scott Oden.

Today in History: A sudden outbreak of St. John's Dance in 1374 causes people in the streets of Aachen, Germany, to experience hallucinations and begin to jump and twitch uncontrollably until they collapsed from exhaustion. Eton College was founded in 1441. Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon were crowned King and Queen of England in 1509. The colony of New Jersey was founded in 1664. Mary Pickford in 1916 became first female film star to get million dollar contract. The first documented UFO sighting was reported in 1947 near Washington's Cascade Mountains. The first television western, Hopalong Cassidy, was aired in 1949 on NBC starring William Boyd.

[FirstAlert" was created by Gayle Essary, founder of Investrend Communications, Inc., parent of Investrend Information (http://www.investrendinformation.com). The opinions expressed in FirstAlert" do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Investrend.]

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