Monday Morning Musings

Morning News of Note:

• Email Postage: Postage Is Due for Companies Sending E-Mail Companies will soon have to buy the electronic equivalent of a postage stamp if they want to be certain that their e-mail will be delivered to many of their customers. America Online and Yahoo, two of the world's largest providers of e-mail accounts, are about to start using a system that gives preferential treatment to messages from companies that pay from 1/4 of a cent to a penny each to have them delivered. (Full Story) NY Times
• GOOG: GOOGLE'S WEB OF SPECULATION Concerns that cable and phone companies want to charge Google and other new media companies for use of their networks are fueling continued speculation that the search giant is looking to build its own Internet. A report in The Times of London this past Friday cites unnamed sources who claim Google is developing a network of its own that would allow the company to bypass the existing Internet. (Full Story) NY Post
• GM: GM Board to Meet Under Pressure for Dividend Cut General Motors Corp., the world's largest carmaker, may cut its dividend for the first time in 13 years as billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian demands cash savings and unions seek sacrifices from shareholders. Decreasing GM's annual $1.1 billion dividend, worth $2 a share, would give Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner leverage to ask workers to accept cuts in addition to the $1 billion in annual health-care and wage reductions they agreed to last year. (Full Story) Bloomberg
• BOT ICE CME: Heard on the Street... Taking Stock of Futures Markets Shares of Major U.S. Exchanges Have Leapt Amid Business Boom, But Some Analysts Temper Views America's major futures exchanges are all doing gangbuster business. Wall Street's outlook regarding their stocks is decidedly more mixed. One trend emerging among those trading venues that are already public companies will help determine the winners and losers in the months ahead. Public companies -- including the Chicago Board of Trade -- are increasingly taking on the member-run New York Mercantile Exchange, whose list of competitive headaches grew last week. (Full Story) WSJ
• Mad Money Summary: Cramer believes that investors should buy shares of Electronic Arts (ERTS) as he believes it will "have a simply abysmal 2006." Cramer said to block out the "inane prattle" from the media as they can only say what has happened to Electronic Arts, not what is going to happen. Cramer sees now as the time to get in and that the worst is over for the company. Responding to a callers question if there were any handheld plays in the video game cycle; Cramer said viewers should take a look at Marvell (MRVL). Cramer believes that Legg Mason (LM) is the best positioned to profit from the recently passed college tuition rule that Congress just passed, that now treats prepaid tuition plans like regular 529 college savings plans. Cramer believes that the state will likely hire an asset manager and that Legg Mason is the best positioned to take the project. Cramer also recommended shares of Palm (PALM) as he believes that shares will go higher as it is the best handheld play on the market. Responding to some viewer mail, Cramer recommended Matsushita (MC), Kubota (KUB), Kyocera (KYO) and Toyota (TM) as some good plays on Japan. In the lightning round, Cramer was bullish on HOT, CEPH, FST, BBY, CHRW, ACO, SIRI, DO, MIK, HSIC, WAG and VAR; he was bearish on PFE, SWKS, IMAX and USG

Market Comments: The market opens slightly higher this morning, despite renewed saber-rattling out of Iran. The country resumed uranium enrichment, ended U.N. checks of its nuclear sites, and sparked fears it might withold oil exports if it is faced with sanctions. This could get ugly in a hurry.

Bond yields are flat, but energy stocks are higher across the board. Retail stocks are weak again, while tech looks pretty strong. GOOG is up on speculation it might finally get added to the S&P 500 Index.

As for the market, the SPX closed below its 50-day for the first time in months. For now, it looks like 1270/75 should offer resistance. That means this correction still has more time to work itself out, and until 1275 is recaptured I would not get sucked in by rallies.