Morning Look

Morning News of Note:

• YHOO TWX GOOG MSFT: Yahoo Quits Race For AOL Stake Talks With Time Warner Did Not Bear Fruit; Google, Microsoft Remain Yahoo Inc. says it has dropped out of the running to buy a stake in Time Warner Inc.'s America Online Web portal and content activities. Yahoo Chief Executive Terry Semel met with Time Warner chairman Richard Parsons in New York to discuss a possible deal in late October, according to people familiar with the matter. (Full Story) WSJ
• Homebuilders: Home Builders Sweeten Incentives As Demand Slows, Developers Offer Free Heat, Golf Passes, Extra Help With Closing Costs As the housing market's red-hot sales pace shifts to a slow burn, some home builders and developers are beginning to offer buyers a richer array of incentives. Faced with rising inventories of unsold homes and reluctant buyers in many markets, a number of builders and developers are ratcheting up their promotional efforts (Full Story) WSJ
• Hedge Funds: Hedge Funds Avoid SEC Registration Rule Some Big Firms Change Lockups, Stop Accepting New Investments To Take Advantage of Loopholes A large number of major hedge-fund firms won't be registering with the Securities and Exchange Commission despite new rules aimed at forcing most hedge-fund advisers to sign up by early next year. These firms have adopted measures to take advantage of a loophole provided by the agency -- potentially undercutting the SEC's efforts to uncover fraud and get a better understanding of the growing business. (Full Story) WSJ
• Energy: IEA lowered 2006 global oil demand est by 140k bbl/day to 85.01m bbls/day; fourth consecutive month IEA loewred 2006 demand ests // CEO GM Chen Weijie said co sees global crude prices $60-$65 through winter and next spring // REP studying posisble €10bln acquisition of a specific US co; REP also looking at potential tgts in EU and Asia -- Bolsacinco

Market Comments: The market is under some pressure in the first hour of trading, even though bond yields are lower and so is oil. WFMI reported earnings that were a little light, and the stocks is being sold hard. Energy stocks are also selling off again, with many stocks now looking like their recent uptrends are in jeopardy. I am underweight this group.

TGT and URBN reported solid results this morning, but the stocks are both down. KSS reports after the close today.

long GOOG, KSS, GOOG, TWX