MARKET PULSE

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Stocks opened modestly higher in early trading, as investors react to some better-than-expected retail sales reports for the month of August.

Economic Reports:

Initial Jobless Claims are at 472,000 claims for the week of 8/28, down from a revised 478,000 claims the prior week - Full story;

Productivity (Rev) shows a 1.8% decrease for the 2nd-qtr, down from the original estimate of a 0.9% decrease - Full story;

Factory Orders show a 0.1% increase for the month of July, up from a revised 0.6% decrease the previous month - Full story;

Pending Home Sales show a 5.2% increase for the month of July, up from a revised 2.8% decrease the prior month - Full story.

Layne Christensen Co. reports 2nd-qtr net income of $0.33/diluted share, up from a loss of $0.45/share in the same qtr last year - Full story.

Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc. reports a fiscal 3rd-qtr net loss of $0.92/share, improved from a loss of $2.16/share in the same period last year - Full story.

Borders Group, Inc. reports a 2nd-qtr loss of $0.74/share, slightly improved from a loss of $0.75/share in the year ago period - Full story.

Retail Reports were released today which detail major retailer's sales for the month of August - Full story.

Hewlett-Packard has increased its offer to acquire the outstanding shares of 3Par Inc. to $33/share, or approximately $2.07 billion - Full story.

Burger King Holdings Inc. has agreed to be acquired by private equity firm 3G Capital for approximately $3.26 billion - Full story.

Avis Budget Group has raised the cash portion of its acquisition offer for Dollar Thrifty from $39.25/share to $40.75/share - Full story.

Ferrari will recall 458 Italia supercars due to the potential of fires breaking out in the luxury vehicles - Full story.

Major world markets are posting mostly higher results for Thursday. Frankfurt's DAX is down 0.16% and Paris' CAC is up 0.26%, Japan's Nikkei 225 was up 1.52%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed up 1.19%, and Sydney's All Ordinaries Index finished up 0.80%.

Economic Calendar:

Fri: Nonfarm Payrolls, Unemployment Rate, Hourly Earnings, and ISM Services;
Mon: Markets Closed for Labor Day Holiday;
Tues: No Reports Today;
Wed: Fed's Beige Book and Consumer Credit;
Thurs: Initial Jobless Claims and Trade Balance;
Fri: Wholesale Inventories.

Aaron Jacobs - News Editor
Macro*World Research
aaron.jacobs@mworld.com

Market Overview (09/02/2010 10:34 AM ET)

	+3.22		+4.25		+30.61		+8.88		+10.28
	Dow 10272.69		S&P 500 1084.54		NYSE 6941.59		AMEX 1931.29		NASDAQ 2187.12

Trading Volume(mil):		NASDAQ: 400		NYSE: 212

Key Indicators

		+4.30		+0.003
U.S. 3mo T-Bills 0.125%	Crude Oil 73.64	Gold 1251.10	LIBOR 0.26%	$/Euro 1.283
-0.005	-0.27		no change
10:49	10:40	10:39	Wed	10:50

World Markets

Amsterdam EOE	327.16	+1.64	Thu 10:42
Brazil Bovespa	66,848.20	-224.33	Thu 10:29
Frankfurt DAX	6,083.96	+0.06	Thu 10:28
Hang Seng	20,868.92	+245.09	Thu 04:01
Madrid General	1,086.60	-2.45	Thu 10:25
Mexican IPC	32,404.48	+65.25	Thu 10:22
Nikkei Dow	9,062.84	+135.82	Thu 02:28
Paris CAC 40	3,639.86	+16.02	Thu 10:42
Seoul Composite	1,775.73	+11.04	Thu 05:03
Shanghai Composite	2,655.78	+32.90	Thu 08:01
Stockholm General	326.49	-0.52	Thu 10:41
Swiss Zurich	6,324.86	-7.57	Thu 10:26
Sydney All Ord	4,563.00	+36.20	Thu 02:37
Toronto Exchg	12,060.16	+56.38	Thu 10:29

U.S. Treasury Rates

U.S. - 5yr T-Notes	1.43%	+0.02	Thu 10:42
U.S. - 10yr T-Notes	2.63%	+0.04	Thu 10:42
U.S. - 30yr T-Notes	3.72%	+0.06	Thu 10:42

Securities In Bulletin

3Par Inc	32.78	+0.70	10:34
Avis Budget Group	10.11	+0.36	10:34
Borders Group	1.07	+0.03	10:34
Burger King Holdings	23.44	+4.58	10:35
Dollar Thrifty Automotive	47.75	+0.26	10:34
Hewlett-Packard	39.44	+0.23	10:34
Hovnanian Enterprise Inc.	3.86	+0.18	10:35
Layne Christensen Co.	25.16	-0.26	10:33