Morning Note (Tyler)...

Futures -30bps on the back of weaker overseas markets.  Commodities companies are weaker this morning after a couple strong sessions.   Marc Faber, the editor of the Boom, Gloom & Doom report, is on CNBC this morning saying capital preservation will be more important in 2010 and he expects more volatility in equity markets because of that.  He reiterated that there will probably be a stronger USD paired with stronger US equities in the first six months of 2010 because of the flight of capital from emerging markets who may be in worse shape that previously thought.  Expect another slow day; even the ‘talking heads’ on television are running out of things to say today.  Tomorrow could be interesting as it is the last trading day of the year for 2009.    

Bank of America Merrill Lynch ups CNW, Kaufman Bros ups MRVL & NVDA.  Chicago PMI out at 9:45 am this morning.  FDIC wants to share in upside from selling off bank assets according to the WSJ. $32B of 7 year Treasuries auctioned off today.

Asia down overnight.  Europe -50bps on average.  USD +17bps.  Gold -36 bps.  Oil -.14bps. 

Brightpoint News:  ‘Heard on the Street’ says MSFT’s Windows Mobile has seen its global smartphone market share decline from 11.1% earlier this year to 7.9%,

Brightpoint PreMarket (yest close/premkt/% change/volume):

S          3.81      3.7300  51792   -2.10%

MSFT    31.39    31.35    21248   -.13%

MO       19.85    19.93    2450     +.4 %

BTM      29.30    29.58    2300     +.96%

WEN     4.75      4.72      1000     -.63%

S&P 500 PreMarket (last/% change prior close/volume): 

H&R BLOCK INC              22.5000 21.54    -4.27%

TITANIUM METALS         12.3800 11.95    -3.47%

METROPCS COMMUNI     7.7100  7.50      -2.72%

SPRINT NEXTEL CO        3.8100  3.73      -2.1 %

L-3 COMM HLDGS           87.1800 89.00    +2.09%

AETNA INC                    32.8600 32.22    -1.95%

UNITEDHEALTH GRP       30.8500 30.26    -1.91%

REPUBLIC SVCS             28.6500 29.00    +1.9 %

NVIDIA CORP                 18.0200 18.32    +1.66%

AK STEEL HLDG              21.8600 21.50    -1.65%

WELLPOINT INC             58.5700 57.61    -1.64%

US STEEL CORP             54.7100 53.86    -1.55%

DEAN FOODS CO            18.2200 17.95    -1.48%

UNITED PARCEL-B          58.5500 57.7000 -1.45%

MASSEY ENERGY CO       43.0400 42.43    -1.42%

DOW CHEMICAL             28.6400 28.24    -1.4 %

JOHNSON CONTROLS     27.8200 28.17    +1.26%

Today’s Trivia:  According to InCharge Institute, the country's biggest non-profit credit card counseling service, American credit card debt recently reached an all-time high of how much per average household: $2,000, $5,000, or $8,000?

Yesterday's Answer:  CH stands for Confoederatio Helvetica, the Latin version of "Swiss Confederation" derived from the Helvetians, the name of the people inhabiting the land before it became Switzerland (hence the CH-sticker on Swiss cars and Switzerland's top level internet domain .ch)

Best Quotes:   “There are a bunch of sovereign risk stories this morning – the WSJ has an article in its European edition discussing how Eurozone states are “grappling w/sovereign debt risks” while the London Telegraph notes that “Britain’s debt is now a riskier proposition than Italy’s paper”.  The yen dropped to a two-month low versus the dollar as Reuters reported that Standard & Poor’s said Japan’s AA credit rating could be threatened if policies fail to stabilize and gradually reduce the nation’s huge debt burden.  India’s stocks fell, snapping a four-day rally, after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the nation’s budget deficit, forecast at 6.8 percent of gross domestic product in the year to March 31, can’t be sustained for a long time.” - JPM