Today started out as one of those positive days again as the investment climate appeared to be getting better. Then the unemployment data came out, and frankly it wasn't really as bad as one would expect. But shortly after 10:00 AM, we saw profit takers come into the market. In fact, even oil traders ran oil up after shorts covered after a good week of selling Texas Tea; oil closed up $3.82 at $116.34.

Below are the unofficial closing levels for major US index levels:

• DJIA 13,051.36 (+41.36; +0.32%)
• S&P500 1,413.96 (+4.62; +0.33%)
• NASDAQ 2,476.14 (-4.57; -0.18%)
• 10YR-TBond 3.845% (+0.096)

Agrium Inc. (NYSE: AGU) was a winner with shares up almost 5% at $82.25 in the last minutes of the day. The agricultural nutrients supplier beat earnings, and this gave some pause to the selling in the potash and fertilizer stock selling that had been seen this week.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• Although Delta Air Lines Inc (NYSE: DAL) would like to merge with either UAL Corporation's (NASDAQ: UAUA) United Airlines or Northwest Airlines Corporation (NYSE: NWA), the company is close to Air France-KLM (NYSE: AKH), and together the two may be able to better shape a deal, the Wall Street Journal's "Heard on the Street" reported.
• The Wall Street Journal also reported that recent acquisitions by Sun Microsystems Inc (NASDAQ: JAVA) and Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) have suggested factors like a slowing economy could kick the high-tech deals into a "higher gear".
• Following a risk/reward reassessment, UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) decided to wind down its Switzerland-based private banking business for rich U.S. clients; the decision was announced internally in late December, but confirmed publicly this week, the Financial Times reported.

OTHER PAPERS:

• According to the Economic Times, after the dissolution of a proposed joint venture with Rajesh Exports, Fossil Incorporated (NASDAQ: FOSL), the U.S. fashion accessories giant, is set to enter India on its own.

Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA) followed the announcement of its ticker symbol change with a plan for a 1-for-4 reverse stock split [subscription required]. That would put the stock in the $20 range at current prices.

It won't matter. Sun's shares are off about 10% over the last six months while larger rivals Hewlett-Packard (NASDAQ: HPQ) and IBM (NYSE: IBM) are up more than 20%.

Management at Sun believes that a low stock price, under $10, makes it appear as if the company was still "struggling to overcome its post-dot-com era slump." Perhaps a higher stock price could change that perception in the eyes of investors. As management said to The Wall Street Journal, competitors pointed to Sun's stock price to sway "naive customers who might not be able to look beneath the surface.''

Sun is underestimating the intelligence of enterprise server buyers. They do not buy Sun products not because of its stock price but because they can get a broader product range from companies like HP. Sun has had no success in getting robust demand for its products. In the last quarter, revenue was flat with the same quarter a year ago with only cost cuts improving the bottom line.

Sun has tried almost everything now from share buy-backs to ticker changes.

The company's problem is that it has no evidence of a real recovery to point to.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA) has been on a wild ride in recent years. The company has been battered in the corporate space as cheaper hardware and operating system alternatives (like Linux) cropped up and stole profitable market share from the Silicon Valley stalwart. When company founder Scott McNealy handed the reins over to then-CEO Jonathan Schwartz, many investors did not know what to think. By now, they probably do.

Sun has delivered profitability for three straight quarters after making its once-proprietary Solaris operating system an open-source product, and it's mirrored a good deal of IBM's move to a revenue model built on services instead of software and hardware. With computer server hardware still rapidly moving into the commodity stage (if it's not there already), this move could not have come any sooner for Sun. Schwartz knew it, and acted in time.

Schwartz presented Sun's plans for cost initiatives and growth plans for the new fiscal year early this morning in New York City while many investors and Sun pundits watched and listened with a careful and scrutinizing eye (and ear). With Sun shares up over 6.5% in just the last week, what was the chatter from today's announcement? The meeting began at 8am EST today, and transcripts and audio downloads are available here.

Before the bell: BAC investment in CFC gives market a boost

Reuters reports that Paris Match magazine was told by a leading executive at France Telecom several companies were in talks with Apple Inc. (NADSAQ: AAPL) over marketing Apple's iPhone in Europe. While a deal wasn't reached yet with France Telecom's mobile unit Orange, the Financial Times Deutschland reported earlier this week that Deutsche Telekom's mobile phone unit, T-Mobile, had agreed to a deal. The deal, according to the magazine, includes T-Mobile giving Apple 10% of the revenue it makes from calls and data transfers by customers over iPhones. O2 unit of Spain's Telefonica is also said to have agreed to a deal with Apple.

Meanwhile, Apple has a month left to achieve Jobs' stated goal of selling 1 million iPhone units by the end of the quarter (Sep. 30). Analysts are only slightly more bullish than that. Still, some expect sales to reach 1.5 million units by the end of the quarter.

As Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) CEO Alan Mulally about to enter the second year at his job, he said yesterday that volatility in global credit markets was a concern in its disposal of British luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover. Still, Mulally expects the process to continue at current pace of interest. Also referring to the automaker's plan to turn around the company, Mulally said current U.S. economic conditions were a "headwind."

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) handsets, Nokia S60 , will carry Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows Live suite of Web-based services in 11 countries, mostly in Europe. Initially a free trial, the services will then be asked to pay a monthly fee in some markets.

According to IDC, in the server computer market, Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) had the fastest revenue growth in the second quarter, outpacing International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM), Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) and Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNW). Dell's rrevenue from the sales of servers jumped 20.2% but it remained in fourth place in overall share of the market at 11.6%. IBM's server-revenue grew 6.4% to $4.07 billion as it kept the to top spot in market share with 31%. HP's server revenue rose 8% to $3.71 billion, keeping it in second place with 28.2% of the worldwide server market. Sun Microsystems also kept its third place with server revenue rising 5.6% to $1.71 billion and a 13% of the market.

Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: SUNW) has tried to get into several new businesses as its revenue growth has slowed. It recently said it would sell its new chipset to competing server companies.

But, the most promising Sun initiative has been offering is its Solaris operating system to run on the hardware of other companies. Yesterday IBM (NYSE: IBM) took the bait (subscription required) and said it would offer Solaris on its servers along with Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows and Linux.

IBM has its own operating systems, but they are not as popular as Solaris.

The announcement is an important step forward for Sun. It needs to sell its software on other company's hardware because its own hardware sales have slowed. In the last quarter, Sun's revenue was flat The company's shares traded near their 52-week low yesterday and closed at $4.72, well off their 52-week high of $6.78.

Sun has been able to swing to a small operating profit because it has cut so many people. But, it still has to compete with much larger rivals like Hewlett-Packard (NASDAQ: HPQ) and Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) for server sales. That may be a losing game.

But, licensing software is another matter.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Main market news: Further selling indicated

The Wall Street Journal gives a report card to iWork, Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Office equivalent. To summarize, Walter S. Mossberg says that while iWork '08 is "capable of turning out sophisticated and attractive word-processing, presentation and spreadsheet documents," but "isn't as powerful or versatile as Microsoft Office."

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) said yesterday it will cut up 12% to 14% of its work force and has lowered its profit guidance to between $4.13 a share and $4.23 from $4.28 previously as sales were less than expected on its amnesia drug. Amgen shares are down 1.36% in premarket trading (8:06 a.m.).

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) was upgraded by Credit Suisse from Underperform to Outperform with the analyst upping the target price from $22.5 to $35.

The Wall Street Journal speculates [subscription required] that Kraft (NYSE: KFT) may sell its Post cereals unit for as much as $3 billion. One potential buyer may be Pepsi (NYSE: PEP).

The Register speculates on what Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: SUNW) and IBM (NYSE: IBM) may announce as their operating system agreement in their joint press conference later today.

Thomas & Betts Corp. (NYSE: TNB) announced late yesterday it is buying Lamson & Sessions Co. (NYSE: LMS) for approximately $426.6 million. The two sides valued the transaction at $450 million.

It's August. The credit markets are tightening. The Dow is falling.

Yet, despite all this, VMware (NYSE: VMW) was able to launch a blockbuster IPO. Right now, the shares are up 82% to $53 per share. In fact, the market cap is at a nosebleed $20 billion.

The company is the clear leader in virtualization, which allows companies to improve the utilization of their servers. It's turned out to be a hyper-growth market.

Interestingly enough, EMC (NYSE: EMC) bought the company for a mere $635 million in late 2003.

To get some perspective on things, I talked to Chris Cabrera, who is a veteran of the enterprise software world. His new company -- Xactly Corporation – is also growing fast and has attracted several rounds of venture capital.

Q: Initial impressions of the IPO?

Chris: "How can you not be impressed? Any time your stock almost doubles in the first day of trading, raising almost $1 bilion, you've got to be happy."

VMware, the California-based server virtualization company, is due to come public the next few weeks as it wraps up its roadshow.

EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC), which owns VMware, sold a big stake to Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) and will allow us to participate in this industry's growth as well. However, as pointed out by Eric Savitz in Barron's over the weekend, server virtualization might hurt the big server companies such as Sun Microsystems Inc (NASDAQ: SUNW) and Dell Inc (NASDAQ: DELL), as it reduces the need for servers on a five-to-ratio. Virtualization allows numerous users to work off of one server.

Technology bull markets often take off on a disruptive product and maybe server virtualization will be it. The IPO market for hardware and software has been dead for quite a while. Rather than going public, technology companies have been going private. The VMware deal is important because it could set the stage for renewed investor interest in technology. I'd keep an eye on this IPO, this could be a high flier.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• With his company's stock near a 52-week low, Robert Willett, CEO of Best Buy Incorporated's (NYSE: BBY) international operations, bought nearly $500K in stock, reported Barron's Online's "Inside Scoop" section.
• In a rare instance of a foreign company being allowed into the Chinese onshore oil and gas industry, Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) will develop a natural gas filed owned by PetroChina Company Limited (NYSE: PTR), reported the Wall Street Journal.
• The Wall Street Journal reported that Sun Microsystems Inc (NASDAQ: SUNW) is today expected to introduce a new microprocessor called UltraSparc T2, will be able to process up to 64 threads at one time -- most chips can handle up to four threads at a time.
• According to the Financial Times, citing a source familiar with his pay package, Robert Nardelli will college a salary of $1 a year in his new role as CEO of Chrysler, which is 20% owned by DaimlerChrysler (NYSE: DCX).

OTHER PAPERS:

• The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYSE: NMX) is quietly selling its lower Manhattan headquarters, asking for between $600M and $700M, ahead of a deal to sell itself, reported the New York Post.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Apple (AAPL), large-cap semis, and CDC Corp (CHINA) were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) was initiated with a Buy rating and $160 target at Banc of America, as the firm still sees a significant amount of upside in the stock from Mac share gains, strong iPod unit growth, and the iPhone, which they believe is being underestimated.

• Caris believes investors should focus on companies with strong product cycles that are gaining market share. They resumed coverage of Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), Texas Instruments (NASDAQ: TXN) and National Semiconductor (NASDAQ: NSM) with Above Average ratings, and resumed Advanced Micro (NYSE: AMD) with a Sell rating; Caris started Intel with a $26 target, Texas Instruments with a $41 target, National Semi with a $29 target, and AMD with a $10 target.

• CDC Corp (NASDAQ: CHINA) was initiated at Piper Jaffray with an Outperform rating and $11.50 target.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Banc of America started shares of Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: SUNW) and Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) with Buy ratings and a $56 target, $6.25 target and $35 target, and shares of IBM Corp (NYSE: IBM) with a Neutral rating and $125 target.

• BMO Capital started shares of NuVasive (NASDAQ: NUVA) with an Outperform rating and $33 target.

• Raymond James initiated shares of Petro-Canada (NYSE: PCZ) with an Outperform rating.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

U.S. stock markets are poised for a solid higher start as indicated by stock futures ahead of several economic reports and while digesting earnings from General Motors.

Yesterday U.S. markets closed higher following some encouraging news from the financial sector. Following a week where stocks sold off sharply, they marked the beginning of this week with reasonable gains.

If we hadn't had any economic data to digest yesterday, today is the opposite starting at 8:30 a.m. EDT with June personal income, spending and core PCE inflation measure. Personal income is expected to rise 0.5% after rising 0.4% in May while spending is expected to edge up 0.1% after a 0.5% gain in May. Core PCE inflation should rise 0.2% after a 0.1% increase the month before but it is the year-over-year number that is important and ideally should come in the Fed's range of 1-2%.
Also at 8:30 the second-quarter employment cost index is due.
Just after the market opens, the Chicago PMI for July will be released. At 10:00 a.m., the Conference Board consumer confidence poll for July should be reported and construction spending for June.

Overseas, Asian markets closed mostly higher for a second day and European stocks rebounded from a five-day plunge.

Corporate news:

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) made it three quarterly profits in a row when it reported a second-quarter profit of $891 million this morning, a huge, but somewhat expected, reversal from the $3.4 billion loss it posted in the same period last year. The profit amounted to $1.56 per share and excluding the special items, was $1.4 billion, or $2.48 per share. According to Thomson Financial, analysts had predicted earnings of $1.13 per share, excluding special items. GM shares are up 7.3% in premarket trading (7:23 a.m.).

Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNW) reported a third profitable quarter in a row last night as it showed substantial progress. Sun said it earned $329 million, or 9 cents per share, for the quarter on revenues of $3.84 billion in-line with analysts estimates. Excluding one-time charges, Sun's net income was still 9 cents per share, nearly doubling the average estimate of 5 cents per share from analysts polled by Thomson Financial. SUNW shares are up 10.4% in premarket trading (7:33 a.m.).

More corporate news coming up.

Sun Microsystems Inc (NASDAQ: SUNW), the networking computing company, reported impressive cash generation metrics last night, while sales continued to be light.

For the June 2007 fiscal year, Sun generated $1.2 billion in operating income and cash flow from operations of $950 million -- a vast improvement. Gross margin also improved 200 basis points for the year and almost 400 basis points from last year's Q4.

The problem at Sun continues to be revenue growth, as there was little year-over-year growth in the current quarter and the company is guiding to low-to-mid single digit revenue growth for the year -- which is not a good sign for a technology company. Also, the company provided no guidance for the upcoming quarter, leaving much of the growth to the tail end of FY 2008, which typically is not good.

Sun announced that it will host its analyst day in New York on September 5 and mentioned that it will discuss its capital structure, which is not a subject that is typically highlighted, a sign something more dramatic might happen with the $5 billion in balance-sheet cash.

Overall, Sun has little downside risk and has a private equity investment via a convert priced in the $7 price range. The computer-is-the-network company appears it might be setting itself up for a private equity deal with its focus on higher margin businesses and better cost controls.

So far this morning, stock futures have indicated various direction, with futures around 7:15 indicating a flat to lower open for U.S. markets as the Street tried to today recover from last week, the worst in over four years.

Last week, the Dow Jones Industrial average dropped 4.2%, the S&P 500 5% and the Nasdaq Composite 4.6%. While no fundamentals have changed significantly, on the contrary, GDP and inflation numbers were surprised on the upside, it was the continued credit crunch problems that caused investors to worry about deal making going forward.

This morning, however, futures got a boost from international markets. Asian markets finished mostly higher and European shares at first made modest gains on Monday morning following several announced deals. European shares have changed direction and are now back in negative territory though.

While there are no economic reading today, this week will see several, including jobs report, inflation indicators and personal income and spending among others.

In corporate news, ABN Amro Holding NV (NYSE: ABN) dropped its support for a takeover offer by Barclays PLC (NYSE: BCS). The bank will also not the Royal Bank of Scotland PLC bid either, thus adopting a neutral position.

There is still a busy week of earnings ahead with Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: SUNW) reporting today.

Archer Daniels Midland Co.(NYSE: ADM) already reported quarterly profit that more than doubled due to one-time gains, though ethanol sales volume declined.

Shares sold short in Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) in June rose 23% to 100.1 million. The world's largest chip company's shares are up 30% this year, while those of its rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) are off over 40%.

Intel has clearly been taking back market share from AMD in both the server and PC markets. Mercury Research reported that Intel's piece of the market rose to over 80% in Q1 compared to 74% in the previous quarter. The analysis shows that some of the gain was because AMD had to dump chips in Q4 2006 to cut down inventories, making its numbers in that quarter unusually high.

Analysts believe that Intel's piece of the x86 customer base will stay above 80% after years of AMD chipping away at its numbers. AMD has had to drop prices to keep up as Intel has introduced its new Core 2 Duo products.

But Wall St. sense that momentum could swing the other way as AMD brings out its new Barcelona chip. Early figures on the performance of the chip put it ahead of Intel's comparable products in computing capacity and power consumption. Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNW) recently picked the new quad-core chip for its new supercomputer, passing over the competing Intel product.

If Barcelona is a hit, Intel's shares could move back down.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.