Thursday Morning Coffee with TradingMarkets

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Lilly's Earnings Due Before the Bell ... Amazon, Baidu Report Strong Earnings for Q2 ... Minutes Reveal a Hawkish Bank of England ... House Passes Fannie, Freddie Relief, Senate Expected to Get Bill by Weekend

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TradingMarkets 5 Business Stories You Need to Know

Eli Lilly's ED-based Earnings - Seeking Alpha
Just how well Eli Lilly's Cialis is doing in the never-ending Erectile dysfunction or "ED" wars with Pfizer's Viagra will be revealed in Eli Lilly's earnings announcement Thursday morning. Eli Lilly is the Featured Stock in our TradingMarkets Up or Down Stock Contest. You have until 4 p.m. EST today to tell us whether Eli Lilly will be Up or Down on Friday. Click here to register for free for your chance to win $1,000 by correctly guessing the direction of a stock!

Profits, Sales Up at Amazon - MarketWatch
Quarterly earnings doubled with strong sales in video games the online retailer reported on Wednesday. Amazon's cautious forecast for future quarters, however, raised the concerns of some critics.

BoE Inflation Hawks Lift Pound - Financial Times
Reports of a Bank of England divided on the topic of inflation helped convince traders that the pound would likely remain strong against the U.S. dollar

Baidu.com Profits Climb 87% - Bloomberg
Increased market share thanks in part to new online games and anti-virus software led to earnings outperformance from China's most widely used search engine, Baidu.com Inc.

House Passes Fannie, Freddie Plan - Wall Street Journal
The U.S. Hosue of Representatives on Wednesday approved a bailout package for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The bill is expected to move to the Senate before the end of the week.

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:

• Analysts are expecting earnings per share of $1.35 from 3M (MMM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) when it reports earnings Thursday morning before the market opens.
  

• The House of Representatives voted yesterday to approve a "rescue package" for troubled mortgage lending giants Fannie Mae (FNM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) and Freddie Mac (FRE | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating).
  
  
• Reporting earnings this morning before the open, Dow Chemical (DOW | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) is expected to announce earnings per share of $0.85.
  
  
• Medco Health Solutions (MHS | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) is expected to announce earnings per share of $0.54 when it reports today before the bell.
  
  
• EMC Corporation (EMC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) beat analyst's earnings estimates and raised its 2008 sales forecast due to gains in revenue from software and computer services.
  
  
• Eli Lilly (LLY | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) reports earnings this morning before the bell. Analysts are expecting EPS of $1.00.
  

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

TradingMarkets 5 PowerRatings Stocks for Today

TradingMarkets Making Great Traders

Ari Kiev Live Today at 4:30 p.m EST - TradingMarkets
Hosted by TradingMarkets CEO and co-founder Larry Connors and TradingMarkets Editor David Penn, our Special Live Interview with Ari Kiev will explore the work that Kiev has done in helping goal-oriented achievers perform at their best when under pressure. Free registration required. Click the headline above to learn more and to save your spot today!

Kevin Haggerty Explains It All - TradingMarkets
Come join Kevin Haggerty, professional trader and former head of the Fidelity Capital Markets trading desk, as he breaks down the current market and shows where traders can find opportunity amid the volatility. You can catch Kevin live at TradingMarkets at 12:30 p.m. EST today by clicking the headline above to reserve your spot now.

How to Use Backspreads in Options Trading - TradingMarkets
TradingMarkets Select Contributor Len Yates shares his options expertise with TradingMarkets readers and subscribers in this primer on one of professional options traders' favorite strategies that most retail traders know little about.

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