Pre-Market Report - Geopolitics to the Fore - May-18-09

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Our regular "Week Ahead" article will be published this evening. This article covers Monday's schedule from a pre-market perspective.

Pre-Market Report - Geopolitics Key

Two key international events should hog the limelight on Monday. A duo of hot button issues return to the fore, thanks to the high profile meetings of a handful of important government leaders and representatives today.

The newly elected Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, will arrive in the US for what appears to be an instrumental visit. Just about a week ago, Israeli President Peres was quoted calling the new American president the weakest on Middle Eastern policy since Jimmy Carter. Not long after that statement, Peres changed his tune to a much more hopeful chord. Despite whispers that the two will focus on Palestine and the two-state solution, Bibi very likely wants to talk about Iran; so we suggest you pay close heed to the after meeting press conference and statements for signals delineating in which direction the Iranian issue is heading.

In what should be an equally concerning get-together, officials of the US and Russia are scheduled to meet in Moscow to review and refresh a Cold War treaty covering nuclear arsenal reduction. The treaty in question is scheduled to expire this December. Russia is keen on cutting stockpiles of nuclear warheads, since its own are falling into disrepair anyhow. They'll find an amicable President Obama on the other end of the table though, but what will Barrack seek in return... perhaps Georgia's NATO entry, or the return of its sovereign territories, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Or might Barrack request the full restoration of safe passage supply routes into Afghanistan...

The economic slate is somewhat limited on Monday, which is typical for the first day of the week. Home Builders' sentiment gets its latest reading on Monday at 1:00 p.m. The National Association of Home Builders will publish its Housing Market Index. Home Builders have been about as deep in the dumps as any group of companies, save perhaps Wall Street, which has since recovered some. May's index reading will compare against April's result of 14 and March's dramatic mark of 9.

Markets in Canada and Germany will be closed for the day. The Electrical Products Spring Conference kicks off in Longboat Key, Florida. The day's earnings schedule highlights news from Lowe's (NYSE: LOW), Tsakos Energy Navigation Limited (NYSE: TNP), AirMedia Group (Nasdaq: AMCN), American Apparel (AMEX: APP), American Pacific (Nasdaq: APFC), BMP Sunstone (Nasdaq: BJGP), Dr. Reddy's Laboratories (NYSE: RDY), Hastings Entertainment (Nasdaq: HAST), Himax Technologies (Nasdaq: HIMX), Integrated Electrical Services (Nasdaq: IESC), Ituran Location & Control (Nasdaq: ITRN), LiveDeal (Nasdaq: LIVE), MCF Corp. (Nasdaq: MERR), Perfect World (Nasdaq: PWRD), Petro Resources Corp. (AMEX: PRC), Pomeroy IT Solutions (Nasdaq: PMRY), Procera Networks (AMEX: PKT), Simcere Pharmaceutical Group (NYSE: SCR), SMF Energy (Nasdaq: FUEL), Spectrum Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: SPPI), WidePoint (AMEX: WYY), Wuhan General Group (Nasdaq: WUHN) and a few more.


Please see our disclosures at the Wall Street Greek website and author bio pages found there. (Article interests: NOC, COL, RTN, TDY, ATK, DIA, SPY, QQQQ, NYX, DOG, SDS, QLD, XLF, IWM, TWM, IWD, SDK).