U.S. stock futures turned positive recently, despite being lower earlier this morning. With the recent advances on Wall Street the past two sessions, some investors feel it may be prudent to be more cautious and wait for some more data to be released before rejoining the activity.


Today, two main economic releases are due. The S&P/Case-Shiller index on home prices in January is due before the market open and March consumer confidence is due out at 10 a.m. EDT. Judging from yesterday's existing home sales report, housing prices haven't recovered yet and will likely show yet another decline. Similarly, consumer confidence is expected to be lower than the previous month as well, as consumers haven't regained confidence in the economy.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK), Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics have said no to buying Motorola Inc's (NYSE: MOT) handset business, and potential Chinese interest is not there. The perception now, according to the Wall Street Journal's "Heard on the Street," is that Motorola's problems may be to difficult to fix.
• The Financial Times reported that the Los Angeles city attorney launched a wide-ranging legal action on Thursday against Health Net Inc (NYSE: HNT), one of California's biggest health insurance providers, accusing the company of defrauding customers by setting illegal policy cancellation targets for its sales agents.

OTHER PAPERS:

• According to sources, the Economic Times reported that Tata Motors Limited (NYSE: TTM) may be looking to spin off Jaguar into a separate entity once the acquisition of the brand from Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) is complete.
• The U.S. government has approved the first virtual fence, built by The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA), along the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona, the Associated Press reported. Along the 28 mile stretch of border, radar and surveillance cameras will be used to try to catch people entering the country illegally.

Stocks to Love
Forget flowers and chocolate this Valentines. Make money instead with these five stocks. They include Garmin, Lab Corp. of America, Nike, Precision Castparts and Tata Motors.
Stocks we love - CNNMoney.com


Who Will & Won't Be Getting a Tax Rebate
Excited about the economic stimulus package? Here are FAQs on who will get Treasury checks in their mailboxes.
Tax rebate FAQs-Bankrate.com


Most Outrageously Prices Items
Would you pay $40 for a bottle of water, $11,300 for a pair of jeans, $750 for a facial or nearly $6,000 for a toilet? These are just few of the highest priced items for a number of products.
The Most Outrageously Priced Items - Forbes.com

Toyota's (NYSE: TM) net grew 7.5% in the last quarter, but it indicated that it may not be quite so fortunate in the current period.

According to Reuters, the improvement was due to "speedy sales growth in China, Russia and other emerging markets." The big car company said it was still worried about the US economy.

The figures from the Japanese company show the difficulties that all of the global automotive firms face now. They are seeing double-digit sales increases in emerging markets, but in their largest market, the US, sales could be extremely poor this year.

Even that analysis masks the real long-term threat to Toyota's growth. In most emerging markets, there are already large automotive firms. Those include Shanghai Automotive in China and Tata Motors (NYSE: TTM) in India. These companies are not going to let big overseas operators simply come into their countries and take large pieces of the market.

The US economy may be the short-term enemy to Toyota, but competition in emerging markets is likely to be its challenge for the next decade.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

GM (NYSE: GM) does not like to be trumped. Last week, India's Tata Motors (NYSE: TTM) launched a car that costs about $2,500. It is geared to consumers who only have money to drive motorcycles now. The vehicle may sell well in India, but Tata understands that it could be exported to other emerging markets like Russia and China.

GM does not need any more competition in emerging countries. With its sales flat to down in the U.S. market, the company says its goal is to have 75% of its sales from outside America in just a few years. To do that, GM will need cars to fit the markets, not just versions of GM cars that it can build and sell abroad.

According to The Wall Street Journal, "GM's Asia-Pacific chief is working on developing a car for emerging markets that could play in the sub-$4,000 price range, as the company looks to compete with auto makers that are already building cheaper cars."

The plan may look good, but only if GM can find facilities and a workforce that is cheap enough to build a super-low-cost vehicle at a profit. With wages rising in China and India due to increased demand for products from these countries, the job may be difficult.

GM may want to be in the $4,000 car business, but it is not clear that it is a business which GM can afford.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Toyota (NYSE: TM) sees a bright future for itself in India. Since the country is building a number of new roads and drivers are moving from motorcycles to cars, that would make sense. But the Japanese car company has to get busy. According to The Wall Street Journal, "In all, GM (NYSE: GM) remains ahead of its Japanese rival in 15 of the world's 20 largest car markets." And China, India, and Russia are going to be critical to the global growth of any car company.

To enter India, Toyota will have to produce very cheap cars, but it wants to maintain its reputation for quality. That could keep margins low.

The largest car company in Japan also must face the fact that many car companies already have footholds in India, so Toyota is not moving into the market at its earliest stages. Local companies like Tata Motors (NYSE: TTM) are likely to put up a spirited defense of their sales.

Toyota may have found moving into the U.S. market relatively easy. When the economy is good, American car sales can run close to 17 million units a year. People buy new cars every two or three years. Quality is important to consumers.

India may be very, very different. And plenty of rivals are waiting to keep Toyota out.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

As if Detroit didn't have enough to worry about, Tata Motors (NYSE: TTM) has unveiled its long-awaited super-cheap car at the Auto Expo in New Delhi. Called the Nano, it's tiny and kind of cute, in a smooshed jelly bean kind of way. Its most attractive feature, though, is its price. For a mere 100,000 rupees, the equivalent of roughly $2,500, you can drive home in the world's least expensive car (assuming you live in India, of course).

According to AutoBlog, here's what you get for your 100,000 rupees: a two cylinder gasoline engine producing a whopping 30 horsepower, a four-speed manual transmission, room for five (very small) people, brakes of some kind, and, best of all, 54 miles per gallon of gas. You don't get a radio or power steering or a second windshield wiper, but did you really expect to? Even so, the car is reasonably safe and efficient by Indian standards, and Tata claims that it meets all environmental and safety regulations in India.

It's hard not to be impressed by the Nano, and by the potential of Tata Motors. Tata is already the largest auto manufacturer in India. Millions of Tata vehicles are already on the roads, and with the Nano, we can expect to see millions more. Tata also sells cars and trucks all over Asia and has a growing presence in the Middle East and Latin America. If you want to place a bet on the future of the global auto industry, you could do worse than buying some Tata stock. Just as General Motors (NYSE: GM) and Ford (NYSE: F) provided basic transport in the world's fastest growing economy early 20th century, Tata is poised to sell millions of basic cars in the fastest growing part of the world in the 21st century.

Before the bell: Futures lower, ahead of retail sales, Bernanke speech

Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) said Wednesday that President Gregg Steinhafel would take over for retiring CEO Bob Ulrich, who would step down as CEO on May 1. He will remain as chairman through Jan. 31, 2009.

As CES winds down, all eyes turn their attention to next week's Macworld and speculation on what Apple will showcase and introduce this year -- after last year's iPhone debut -- are abundant, but mostly Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) is expected to introduce an ultra-slim laptop computer and online movie rentals at its biggest annual show next week.
Meanwhile, for interesting reading, Wired has a four-page piece on how the iPhone changed the wireless industry, turning the table around on carriers and giving power to manufacturers.

India's Tata Motors Ltd (NYSE: TTM), which is negotiating the purchase of Ford's (NYSE: F) luxury brands -- Jaguar and Land Rover -- unveiled the Nano, a 4-seater world's cheapest car with an engine around 625cc. The price tag will be about $2,500 and it will go on sale later this year.

Ford (NYSE: F) will probably sell its Jaguar and Rover units to India's Tata Motors (NYSE: TTM). But the U.S. car company wants to go beyond that and build its own presence in the huge country. Ford will put up $500 million to increase its manufacturing operations in India between now and 2010. It will also develop a small car for sale in the country.

"This new investment highlights the significance of India's role in our continued expansion and overall strategy for the Asia-Pacific and Africa region," John Parker, executive vice president of Ford for Asia-Pacific and Africa, told Reuters.

While India's car market is growing fast, Ford may find that it is a little late to a very competitive game. Large rivals from Europe, GM (NYSE: GM), and Toyota (NYSE: TM) all want a piece of the same market, and India has its own car companies protective of their turf.

GM announced that it hopes to have 75% of its sales overseas in 10 years. Ford probably has similar goals because the U.S. car market is both competitive and slow-growing. But that means that a number of companies are all trying to get share in the same markets -- India, China, Russia, and South America. Ford would not seem to have any big advantage in this race, and its fairly weak balance sheet is not likely to help it expand.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Seems the world economy is growing and changing so fast that staying on top for very long will become harder. Carlos Slim of Mexico did not retain the title very long, as CNBC is reporting Meet the World's New 'Richest Person' -- For Now, a story about Mukesh Ambani. It has been reported that he is just completing a ONE BILLION DOLLAR HOME! Here's how the Indian press reports rank the world's top five richest people as of today, based on known public stock holdings:

• Mukesh Ambani - $63.2 billion
• Carlos Slim Helu - $62.2993 billion
• William (Bill) Gates - $62.29 billion
• Warren Buffett - $55.9 billion
• Lakshmi Mittal - $50.9 billion

To me, this all amounts to creating headlines, since the slight difference between one, two, and three could be altered with a single day's stock movement. Given that Ambani is on the other side of the world with great fortunes in Europe and Asia it could change back and forth depending on which stock exchanges are open at the time. In a rising market you could go to sleep as the richest person in the world and wake up to find you were overtaken, only to find by the close of the market you were on top again.

What's more important is who is taking what actions. What are these supernova rich guys doing with their wealth? In the case of Gates and Buffett, they have become the world's biggest philanthropists. Carlos Slim has expressed a desire to share his wealth as well by setting up a $10 billion foundation -- I'm not sure how far he has gone with that idea. Mittal is still busy buying up all the steel production on the planet, and is now the largest player in the market. That will increase his wealth for now. On the other hand, the Hunt Brothers of Texas thought that way in the 1970s about silver, and found out rather quickly that was not their brightest idea. Steel is likely a much better bet.

This is the fourth update on the stock price status of the first seventeen Chasing Value companies. Closing prices are from September 14, 2007.

The first quarter produced amazing results but the second quarter was downright sad. No one will be surprised to see that anything touching constuction or finance took a bath. I own most of these stocks, so if you do too, I feel your pain. Anyone considering my commentary should "do their homework" too, as James Cramer says on his Mad Money TV show. These recommendations are from the first and second quarter 2007 and I have linked to the original stories.

February 16, 2007: Chasing value: Wells Fargo: Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) closed at $35.66 down from $35.76: a loss of -0.02%, even money.

February 23, 2007: Chasing value: Anadarko Petroleum - got it! Anadarko Petroleum Company (NYSE: APC) closed at $50.58 up from $40.84: A gain of 23.85%.

March 3, 2007: Chasing value: Aluminum Corporation of China ADS: Aluminum Corp. of China (ADS) (NYSE: ACH) closed at $60.95 up from $22.98: A gain of 165%

March 20, 2007: Chasing Value: Anglo American - Inflation hedge & more: Anglo American plc (NASDAQ: AAUK) closed at $28.90 up from $24.65: A gain of 17.24%

March 23, 2007 Chasing Value: Cemex and LaFarge look solid: CEMEX S.A. B de C.V. (ADR) (NYSE: CX) closed at $29.17 down from $34.92: A loss of -16.47%. LaFarge (ADS) (NYSE: LR) closed at $37.80 from $39.02: A loss of -3%.

Cemex sank with the continuous reports of the deteriorating housing market in the United States. In the meantime it continues to move forward with the integration of Rinker, the largest supplier of construction materials in Australia. This makes Cemex the largest in the world and sets the stage for continued growth in Southeast Asia. It also is continuing to focus on reducing debt.

Of all the stocks I have written about in the Chasing Value section, I feel that this one suffered the most from guilt by association. I believe it was fairly valued before and it is on sale now. This company, with it's PEG ratio at .83 and lowered, P/E, P/S, P/B (SEE: AOL Money & Finance) has a ROE over 22 and pays about a 2% dividend yield.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• Countrywide Financial Corporation (NYSE: CFC) announced another 900 job cuts as the company slashes costs in the face of a drop in lending volumes and rising defaults, The Wall Street Journal reported.
• Barron's Online's "Inside Scoop" section reported that CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE: CVS) chairman Edwin Crawford sold 120K shares worth $45.4M Friday and Tuesday after exercising the same number of options for $2.8M.

OTHER PAPERS:

• Italian carmaker Fiat (OTC: FIATY) is negotiating with India's Tata Motors Limited (NYSE: TTM) on a joint bid for Ford Motor Company's (NYSE: F) Jaguar and Land Rover divisions, reported the Telegraph.
• British mobile telecom company Vodafone Group (NYSE: VOD) has received a $2B tax bill from the Indian government, reported the U.K. Times.
• The Economic Times reported, citing a source close to the development, that Ranbaxy has joined the bidding on Bradley Pharmaceuticals Inc (NYSE: BDY) by placing a preliminary non-binding bid on the company.

Ford Motor Co (NYSE: F) signed an agreement with the UGT Union in Spain today, according to the Associated Press. The agreement will allow Ford to build three new small- and mid-sized cars in its Almussafes plant in Spain, with an annual production target of 350,000 cars. The union has agreed to keep labor costs low in effort to keep the plant competitive with its European rivals.

The announcement comes at a time when automakers are doing everything they can to expand their global operations outside of the United States.

Africa is too poor to be a major market for the world's major automobile companies, but the industry has started noticing a new trend: China's young car companies are aggressively moving into the continent.

The majority of people in Africa, especially in the smaller economies like Senegal in West Africa, lack the means to purchase a new Toyota (NYSE: TM), Ford (NYSE: F) or Volkswagen (OTC: VLKAY), according to a story in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required).For years, many Africans purchased used vehicles from developed nations in Europe. Now, Chinese automakers like Great Wall, Chery Automobile and Geely Group are challenging European, Korean, Japanese and American automakers by offering cheaper alternatives in the price-sensitive market.

Honda Motor Co (NYSE: HMC) is increasing its capacity by 15% in North America to keep up with the growing demand for its fuel-efficient cars. According to the Associated Press, President Takeo Fukui told reporters that annual production will hit 1.62 million vehicles by 2008, up from 1.4 million. A new auto plant will be built in Indiana, Honda's seventh in North America, and is slated to begin production in late 2008, Fukui said.

Overall, demand has been healthy for Honda's cars in America. Honda has a reputation for good mileage at a time when gas prices are reaching record levels. In comparison, American carmakers are fighting a losing battle against Honda and other foreign carmakers to regain its once-superior positioning. As a group, the market share of Detroit's Big Three slid in June to 50.2% from 56.1% a year earlier.

The Big Three are suffering from a problem they chose nearly a decade ago: focus on inefficient sport-utility vehicles and pickup trucks, instead of fuel-efficient cars.