Solid Job Growth

Morning News of Note:

• PEP: QUEENS WATER CO. WADES INTO SURF WAR WITH PEPSI A Queens-based maker of vitamin-enhanced bottled water is accusing PepsiCo of producing a copycat drink to lure away its customers. Energy Brands filed a lawsuit yesterday in New York, claiming that its popular Glaceau Vitaminwater brand is being ripped off by Pepsi's recently introduced SoBe Life Water. (Full Story) NY Post
• INTC: Intel Turning Into a True Value INTEL BULLS ARE BRACING for a brutal second round in the chip giant's war with rival Advanced Micro Devices. But after the 16% decline in Intel stock in the last 12 months, the value argument for Intel's shares may win back investors. The stock is near its 52-week low of $19.25 at a time when the Nasdaq is trading at its five-year high. (Full Story) BARRONS
• C: Banking on Citigroup's Shares When it comes to its share price, Citi is looking decidedly small town these days. After sliding about 7% over the past two years -- compared with a 15% gain for the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index and 7% for the Dow Jones Industrial Average -- shares of Citigroup Inc. are cheaper, meaning they trade at a lower multiple of their expected per-share earnings, than the stocks of smaller peers in banking, capital markets and consumer lending, which are the company's biggest businesses globally. (Full Story) WSJ
• Energy Prices: IMF warns high energy prices risk global crisis-FT.com: High energy prices are "exacerbating" global economic imbalances, increasing the risks of a crisis, the International Monetary Fund will warn next week. The IMF will say in its World Economic Outlook report that "global current account imbalances are likely to remain at elevated levels for longer than would otherwise have been the case, heightening the risk of sudden disorderly adjustment." A draft of the second chapter of the report was obtained by Expansion, the Financial Times’ Spanish partner paper.
• GLW: Corning turns a corner-BusinessWeek: Corning (GLW) has turned the corner. Liquid-crystal sales, now 38% of total revenues, should expand at rates of 40% and 50% in 2006 and 2007, analysts figure, based on the growing demand for larger TV and computer screens. The recovery is impressive as are Corning's new wares, including enhanced fiber optics and cable, says Lee Schultheis, CEO of Alpha Hedged Strategies Fund, which owns shares. By more than doubling in a year, the stock has outrun its peers, notes Schultheis. John Harmon of investment bank Needham, who rates the stock a Buy, recently upped his 2006 sales estimate from $5.6B to $5.7B and his earnings forecast from $1.10 a share to $1.11. For 2007, he raised his numbers from $6.8B to $7.1B and from $1.28 to $1.32
• Mad Money Summary: A recap of Jim Cramer's "Mad Money" show broadcast on Thursday, April 6, 2006: In the "Feature Round," Cramer recommend Zealy (ZZ), the No. 1 maker of mattresses in the world. Cramer recommended buying ZZ' IPO beow $18 and selling it at $20. Cramer also recommend Unicredit (UC.IM), a growing Europe-based lender. In the "Lightning Round," Cramer was bullish on: Toyota (TM), Tata Motors (TTM), ZymoGenetics (ZGEN), International Gaming Technology (IGT), Brocade (BRCD), Fortune Brands (FO), Illinois Tool Works (ITW), Schering-Plough (SGP), Penwest (PPCO), Denbury (DNR), and Costco (COST). In the "Lightning Round," Cramer was bearish on: NitroMed (NTMD), Novavax (NVAX), and Parlux (PARL). In the "Discussion Round," Cramer recommend Federated (FD) and Arrow Electronics (ARW).

Market Comments: The payrolls figure was solid this morning, showing the economy added +211k jobs vs. expectations of +190k. This shows the economy is humming along nicely.

Of course, it doesn't help the "Fed pause" case. Bond yields are higher again this morning, with the 10-yr. yield up to 4.93%. And the fed funds futures market are now pricing in roughly a 44% chance that the Fed goes to 5.25% by this summer.

Big cap tech looks like it is seeing some selling so far this morning (see AAPL, SNDK, FFIV, GOOG). Energy names also look weak, while the broker group keeps powering ahead.

I expect stocks to finish relatively flat to down today, but it was another solid week for the market. Earnings season will start to heat up more next week.

long C, GOOG, INTC, PEP