Good Morning!

Jobless Claims, GDP Reports Due Today... Sprint Nextel Posts Massive Loss... Home Prices Down, Mortgage Rates Up Nationally... William F. Buckley Jr. Dies at 82... Bernanke Continues Congressional Testimony Today... Treasuries Rally... Gold, Silver Up... Sears Earnings Down Big for Quarter... Treasury's Paulson Rejects Bailout Talk... Freddie Mac Reports Worse than Expected Losses... Swiss Franc Hits Record High Against Dollar.

Asian stocks down... European stocks down... Greenbacks moving lower against the Canadian dollar... And the futures are trending lower in the hour before the bell.

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TradingMarkets 5 Business Stories You Need to Know

Dell Counting on Corporate Consumers - ZDNet

The company's earnings should tell whether or not the current strategy of trying to attract enterprise buyers, as well as new investments in software, have started to bear fruit for the computer maker.

American International Group Earnings - Bloomberg

Will AIG reports its first quarterly loss in five years? Weakness in the share price for American International Group ever since the departure of long-time CEO "Hank" Greenberg has led to a loss in confidence for current CEO Martin Sullivan.

The Fed Drives the Dollar Down - DailyFX

DailyFX chief strategist Kathy Lien suggests that continued monetary accommodation from the Federal Reserve means continued weakness for the U.S. dollar against a host of major currencies.

Sprint Suffers Setbacks - Bloomberg

Claims of dropped calls and poor service have sent Sprint customers headed for other wireless carriers, contributing to the company's quarterly loss of more than $29 billion and a decision to eliminate the dividend.

Bernanke Frets Over "Sagging Growth" - New York Times

In testimony yesterday before House committee, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke admits concern over the combination of slowing economic growth and rising inflation. But Bernanke insists the Fed stands ready to continue cutting the Fed funds rate as needed to bolster confidence.

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:

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  The EU fined Microsoft ( MSFT | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) $1.35 billion on Wednesday for antitrust violations.
  
  

  
  


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  Fannie Mae ( FNM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) reported a $3.6 billion fourth quarter loss.
  
  

  
  


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  After the close, Limited Brands ( LTD | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) beat estimates by $0.03, reporting Q4 2007 earnings of $0.94.
  
  

  
  


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  Tenaris S.A. ( TS | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) beat estimates by $0.21, reporting $0.93 for the fourth quarter.
  
  

  
  


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  Hot on the heels of Fannie Mae's huge fourth quarter loss comes Freddie Mac ( FRE | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating). FRE reported a Q4 2007 loss of -$3.97 before the market open.
  
  

  
  


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  Before the market open, Sprint Nextel ( S | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) reported fourth quarter earnings of $0.21, beating analyst estimates.
  
  

  
  


• Citigroup ( C | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) named Brian Leach as chief risk officer. Mr. Leach co-founded the hedge fund Old Lane Partners with Vikram Pandit, Citi's new CEO.
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For a list of today's highest PowerRating stocks, click here.

TradingMarkets 5 Top PowerRatings Stocks for Today

TradingMarkets Tracking the Wizards

Hedge Funds Heart Obama - FINalternatives

Having tilted toward Hillary Clinton for much of the Democratic presidential campaign, hedge funds have dramatically shifted their donations toward her rival, Barack Obama this year by nearly 3 to 1.

Sears Earnings Down 47% - Reuters

Markdowns and lower sales led to major profit declines in hedge fund manager Eddie Lampert's signature investment, Sears Holding. The company is still searching for a CEO in the face of executive depatures.

Market Testing Wizards to the Rescue! - TradingMarkets

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TradingMarkets Playbook

The markets remain overbought. Combined with the bearish tone of the futures and a slew of disappointing earnings announcements, weakness early in the session seems almost assured. In this context, the high number of low Short Term PowerRating stocks should suggest exactly where traders should be focusing their attentions. However you measure it--by lofty RSI values, consecutive higher highs or simply being up big in a short period of time--there are a wealth of targets for traders looking to take advantage of weak stocks displaying what is likely to be fleeting strength.

David Penn is Senior Editor at TradingMarkets.com.

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