Good Morning!

RIMM Rocks the Earnings...Bear Stearns Posts First Ever Quarterly Loss...MBIA Shares Move Lower Still...Merrill Seeks Singapore Cash Infusion...Oracle's Good News Boosts Nasdaq...Apple Looks to New Mac, IPhone...Asian stocks soar; European stocks up...Dollar trending lower against the Euro, pound. And the futures are trending strongly higher in the hour before the bell.

A week that came in like a lion is now threatening to go out like a lamb. The quadruple witching expiration of a whole host of derivatives was expected to provide much volatility as the week unfolded. But short of a follow-through day to the downside on Monday, the market has been noticeably devoid of conviction on the part of buyers and sellers alike. Maybe the market was saving up all that conviction for today, with the futures pointing to a very strong opening and what could be the beginning of a resumed march higher.

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TradingMarkets 5 Business Stories You Need to Know

Research in Motion Blows Away Earnings - Bloomberg
Sales of Blackberry mobile device lead to doubling of earnings. Stocks ramp higher after hours.

Morgan Stanley's Mack Goes to China -New York Times
Morgan Stanley becomes the latest investment bank to turn its lonely eyes to China in search of capital.

China Raises Interest Rates to Highest Level in Nine Years - Bloomberg
As part of the Chinese government's continuing effort to tamp down an overheating economy, the nation's central bank raised their benchmark one-year lending rate for the sixth time in 2007.

Winners and Losers of 2007 - Marketwatch
Marketwatch plays the year-end game of who ended up and who ended down as 2007 gives way to 2008.

Breaking Down Bear Stearns' Subprime Mess - BusinessWeek
A new way for looking at financing turned into a nightmare for Bear Stearns hedge funds trading subprime mortgage debt.

» For more stories as they happen, go to our Breaking News section.

TradingMarkets 7 Stocks You Need to Know for Today

Here are 7 stocks for traders for today from TradingMarkets.com:

• Research In Motion (RIMM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) reported Q3 net income more than doubled, and raised its Q4 guidance above estimates.
  

• Jabil Circuit (JBL | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) reported a 50% rise in Q1 profit, and provided guidance for Q2 and FY08.
  

• Cisco Systems (CSCO | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) announced that Chief Development Officer, Charles Giancarlo, is leaving the company to join Silver Lake Partners. Giancarlo was seen by many as a possible successor to John Chambers, the company's CEO.
  

• Newmont Mining (NEM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating)) sold its royalty assets and certain other non-core investments to Franco-Nevada Corporation in a transaction valued at $1.3 billion.
  

• Sun Bancorp (SNBC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) announced a $1.1 billion share buyback.
  

• Tibco Software (TIBX | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) Q4 profit declined, but on a non-GAAP basis, earnings rose from the year-ago.
  
  
• KeyCorp (KEY | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) announced a Q4 charge, but increased its dividend for the 43rd consecutive year.
  

» For a list of today’s highest PowerRating stocks, click here.

TradingMarkets 5 Top PowerRatings Stocks for Today

TradingMarkets Tracking the Wizards

Up 60%, Heebner Wins Investment Guru of 2007 - GuruFocus.com
Readers of GuruFocus vote Ken Heebner, co-founder of Capital Growth Management, as Investment Guru of the Year. Heebner manages the CGM Focus Fundm which has produced average annual returns of 25% for the past ten years.

Q&A with Hedge Fund Manager Deepak Gurnani - FINalternatives
FINalternatives sits down for a chat with Investcorp's co-founder Gurnani to talk growth in hedge fund of funds business as well as the rise of the single manager platform.

From Hedge Fund Analyst to Charity Case - International Herald Tribune
Young analysts met at Bridgewater Associates, formed "charity club" in 2006 to research and compare charitable organizations. Absence of information on charities led to organization that rates non-profit organizations.

» View Portfolios of Prominent Investors

TradingMarkets Playbook

As we discussed yesterday, the mid- and small-cap stocks continue to lead by way of the Russell 2000 (or IWM) and the Nasdaq. This type of speculative flow tends to precede money flow in to the larger, big cap stocks. And given the behavior of the futures in the hour before the open, it looks like this is beginning to take place.

As long as the mid- and small-cap stocks are getting bids and showing strength, the rest of the market is likely to follow them higher through the end of the year.

David Penn is Senior Editor at TradingMarkets.com.

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