Lackluster market open

"If you don't know where you're going, you'll end up somewhere else." - Yogi Berra

Morning News of Note:

• US Economy: Fed Gov Hoenig said US economy is in reasonably good shape; inflation high enough to get your attention; hurricanes could slowdown GDP 50bps; sees temporary drag on economy but rebound next yr; sees energy price reductions slower after storm; rising labor costs extremely important; need to be on alert to rising pressures
• GOOG YHOO: Search Wars II: Google Calls Self Most Useful Engine In the latest salvo in the Web search-engine wars, Google Inc. says a recent upgrade allows it to search roughly three times as many Web pages as any other rival. Despite the claim, the Mountain View, Calif., company declined to disclose how many Web pages it can search, saying industry disagreement about how to measure that led it to abandon its practice of disclosing the exact number. (Full Story) WSJ
• WMT: Digital-Photo Prices Hit a New Low Wal-Mart Sets Cost of Prints At 13 to 15 Cents per Shot; Comparing the Options In the latest round of price cutting in the digital-photo industry, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is lowering the price of prints to 15 cents each, and to 13 cents at its members-only Sam's Club stores. The new 48-hour service, which applies to 4- by 6-inch copies, represents a new low price for digital-photo prints. It began in some locations last month and will be rolled out in every Wal-Mart and Sam's Club store by the end of October. Customers are required to bring their digital camera cards into the store and pick up their prints two days later. (Full Story) WSJ
• SBUX: In a bid to boost sales in its largest international market, Starbucks Corp. is expanding its business in Japan beyond cafés and into convenience stores with a line of chilled coffee in plastic cups. The move gives the Seattle-based company a chance to grab a chunk of Japan's $10 billion market for coffee sold in cans, bottles or vending machines, rather than made-to-order at cafés.

Market Comments: Pretty much a lackluster open. Oil is still hovering a little above $65. Consumer confidence came in well below consensus (86.6 vs. 95.0 est.), which is not that surprising with all that has happened with the twin hurricanes. New homes sales were weaker than expected also.

Housing stocks and retailers are weak so far this morning, as the indexes just turned negative. It's still early, so let's see if some of that quarter-end buying pressure surfaces today.

long GOOG, SBUX, WMT