Quote of the Day

"The happiest time in a man's life is when he is in hot pursuit of a dollar, with a reasonable prospect of overtaking it." - Josh Billings


Morning news of note:

MGM HET WYNN LVS CZR: Casino Investors Pondering Whether To Hold or to Fold Casino companies are winning big these days. So why aren't their stocks paying off? The Nevada Gaming Control Board says casinos in the state won more than $1 billion from gamblers in March alone. Big casino operators like MGM Mirage and Harrah's Entertainment Inc. have posted strong profits, and Wynn Resorts Ltd. opened a glistening Vegas resort with publicity that helped the whole Strip. And there are new opportunities in Asia. (Full Story) WSJ

BKRA SPI: Berkshire Unit to Acquire PacifiCorp for $5.1 Billion Buffett's MidAmerican Energy Is Buying The Utility From Britain's Scottish Power Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. agreed to buy electric utility PacifiCorp from Britain's Scottish Power PLC for $5.1 billion in cash, plus debt assumption of $4.3 billion. MidAmerican said the purchase of PacifiCorp - the leading electricity provider in the U.S. Northwest - will create an energy holding company serving three million electric and natural-gas customers in 10 contiguous states and 6.6 million customers world-wide. (Full Story) WSJ

Gambling: Nevada May Allow Hand-Held Gaming Devices After a push by a large financial-services company, Nevada lawmakers are poised to allow gamblers to play video poker, blackjack and other games on hand-held devices while at a resort. The measure, which could be approved as soon as Wednesday, would make Nevada the first state to allow betting on casino games using personal digital assistants and other proprietary gadgets. Customers would be able to open accounts with casinos and rent the devices. To help ensure that only guests of legal gambling age make bets, the machines would be limited to public spaces such as pool lounges and restaurants (Full Story) WSJ

MSFT GOOG: Sky-High Search Wars Microsoft, Google Vie to Offer Best Aerial Views of Earth; Pinpointing a City's Pizzerias The battle over Internet search is moving to the skies. Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates yesterday showed off his company's latest bid to better compete with Google Inc. -- a Web service starting later this year that uses aerial photography and satellite images to pinpoint places on the earth. The project, dubbed Virtual Earth, will combine search results of a local area with mapping software and detailed aerial images that could allow Internet users to zoom into pictures of city streets and see shops, restaurants and other locations. (Full Story) WSJ

Inflation Threat: Fed Minutes May Not Show Big Split on Inflation The Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee probably wasn't as split on the threat of inflation at its May 3 meeting as bond traders may think, economists said. Minutes of the meeting, to be released today in Washington, may show that data signaling weakness in the economy had some members fretting about the impact of further interest-rate increases. The dominant view probably reflected that of Fed Governor Donald Kohn, who in an April 22 speech said rates remained below a level that would keep inflation in check. At the meeting, central bankers agreed to raise the benchmark rate a quarter point to 3 percent. (Full Story) Bloomberg


The futures are pointing to a down open in the market. Maybe today will be the elusive day that the market finally pauses to catch its breath. Remember, the market rarely moves (up or down) in a straight line.