Hurry Up and Wait

Morning News of Note:

• MSFT AMZN GOOG: Tech-Firm Spending: Too Much? Leading Web and technology companies such as Microsoft Corp., Amazon.com Inc. and Google Inc. need to spend more money to stay ahead of the competition. Now, all that spending is fueling investor backlash against some of the stocks. Microsoft recently surprised Wall Street when it said it would spend about $2 billion more than analysts had estimated over the next fiscal year to improve areas such as online-advertising services. (Full Story) WSJ
• WFMI: Whole Foods Talks Dollars and Cents With its white-apron-clad chefs, who whip up almond crusted flounder for $14.99 a pound, and its rows of hard to pronounce cheeses (consider bleu D'Auvergne, best paired with a Rhône red wine), Whole Foods Market has always felt like the Saks Fifth Avenue of supermarkets. But the organic food emporium, all but synonymous with gastronomic indulgence, now wants to be known for something else: low prices. (Full Story) NY Times
• GM: GM Will Seek Higher Prices On Cars Sold to Rental Firms General Motors Corp. has signaled to rental-car companies that it intends to boost prices for 2007 vehicles, part of a potential shift in how Detroit's Big Three auto makers deal with rental-car companies and their steep loss of market share at home. Since the late 1980s, General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group have produced far more vehicles than they can sell to consumers and dumped the excess on rental fleets, often at bargain-basement prices. (Full Story) WSJ
• YHOO: Spanish Yahoo, Telemundo.com Plan Merger Internet company Yahoo Inc. and NBC Universal's Telemundo broadcast network plan to merge their Spanish-language U.S. Web sites, in a bid to better target the growing Hispanic audience on the Web. The move highlights how U.S. media companies and advertisers are increasingly focusing on the Hispanic audience online, just as they have done offline in recent years. (Full Story) WSJ
• Mad Money Summary: Cramer opened his show by recommending Amcol International (ACO), a company which makes absorbent clay from volcanic ash. the clay, called bentonite, is essential to oil-drilling. Cramer then recommended buying the French company Alstom, which trades in Paris under the symbol ALO. He said the infrastructure company will reap the rewards of our leaders upsetting nations around the world. Cramer then recommended Northrop Grumman (NOC) and Lockheed Martin (LMT), businesses which "are getting fat off of government deals" and are cheap stocks in a soaring sector. In the "Lightning Round," Cramer was bullish on Mobile Mini (MINI), JDS Uniphase (JDSU), Honda (HMC), Toyota (TM), RPC (RES), Ceradyne (CRDN), FPL Group (FPL), Nektar (NKTR), Energy Partners (EPL), RF Micro Devices (RFMD), Lifecell (LIFC), American Movil (AMK), Sygenta (SYT), Cenveo (CVO), Gehl (GEHL) and Knight Capital (NITE), and was bearish on Nuance (NUAN), Teco (TE) and Concur Technologies (CNQR).

Market Comments: The market is fairly flat in early trading, and you can pretty much expect it to stay that way until after the FOMC announcement. Everyone knows that a 25 basis point hike is coming, but the language they use and whether or not it alludes to the notion of a pause is what everyone will be looking for. Expect the usual volatility this afternoon.

Tech is under some pressure after CSCO released pretty solid earnings, but the stock is down. LM is down after reporting earnings also, which is weighing on the broker group a bit. And TEVA is getting hurt in the generic drug space.

The market is waiting on oil inventories, which should be out soon. And bond yields are down a touch at 5.11%

long GOOG