Quote of the Day

"Spurts don't count. The final score makes no mention of a splendid start if the finish proves that you were an also ran." - Herbert Kaufman

Morning News of Note:

• Housing Market: Housing Market Sizzles, But the Stocks Are Less Forgiving The housing market is red-hot. And so are the earnings and stock prices of the firms that build them. But some valuation measures suggest investors remain wary of the sector. Last month, Toll Brothers Inc., of the Philadelphia suburb of Horsham, said net income during its fiscal second quarter ended April 30 more than doubled, thanks to rising prices and strong demand. D.R. Horton Inc., of Fort Worth, Texas, the largest home builder in the U.S. based on market value, recently said net income rose 56% in its fiscal second quarter. Miami-based Lennar Corp., the third-biggest builder, reported a 39% rise in its fiscal first-quarter profit. (Full Story) WSJ
• SBUX: Starbucks to Lift Stake to 51% In Southern-China Venture Starbucks Corp. said Thursday it agreed to increase its stake in its southern-China operations to 51% from 5%. Under the deal, Starbucks will increase its ownership in Coffee Concepts (Southern China) Ltd., a joint venture between Maxim's Caterers Ltd. and the Seattle-based coffee company. Hong Kong conglomerate Jardine Mathieson Holdings Ltd. has a substantial stake in Maxim's Caterers. No financial details were available. (Full Story) WSJ
• TIVO: TiVo Is Extending Its Mobile Service To More Devices TiVo Inc. said it expanded its mobile service to include pocket personal computers and mobile phones running on Microsoft Corp.'s Windows software. The digital-video-recording pioneer rolled out the mobile service, TiVoToGo, earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show, allowing customers to transfer video content from their TiVo boxes onto their laptops. Expanding the capability to additional mobile devices is "a natural progression," said Jim Denney, TiVo's director of product marketing. (Full Story) WSJ
• INTC: Intel 2nd-Quarter Revenue May Meet Highest Forecast Intel Corp., the world's biggest computer-chip maker, may say today that second-quarter revenue will reach the company's most-optimistic forecast because of a surge in sales of laptop chips. At least nine analysts including UBS AG's Thomas Thornhill and Credit Suisse First Boston's Michael Masdea boosted their revenue predictions in the past month, to an average of $9.1 billion. Santa Clara, California-based Intel in April predicted sales of $8.6 billion to $9.2 billion. (Full Story) Bloomberg
• TIF: Tiffany & Co-TIF will not get bid from Richemont-FT Today, luxury goods group Richemont ruled out selling its stake in British American Tobacco, ending the rumors that it would make a bid for the jewelry retailer TIF. Johann Rupert, Richemont's CEO said on the matter, "We have no intention of selling BAT shares, [and] if we are not going to sell BAT it will follow that we will not borrow $5B to buy a company."

Market Comments: The market is set to open flat to down this am. Investors will be listening closesly to Greenspan's testimony this morning for hints about further interest rate hike as well as comments about the "froth" in the housing market. This is becoming a hotly debated topic, and I plan on devoting some attention to it soon.