MARKET PULSE

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US markets end slightly higher after reports on housing and manufacturing indicate the ecomony continues to slowly grow. Investors are expected to look to tomorrow's payrolls figures to set the tone for the rest of the month.

Economic Reports:

Initial Jobless Claims are at 472,000 claims for the week of 8/28, down from a revised 478,000 claims the prior week - Full story;

Productivity (Rev) shows a 1.8% decrease for the 2nd-qtr, down from the original estimate of a 0.9% decrease - Full story;

Factory Orders show a 0.1% increase for the month of July, up from a revised 0.6% decrease the previous month - Full story;

Pending Home Sales show a 5.2% increase for the month of July, up from a revised 2.8% decrease the prior month - Full story.

Layne Christensen Co. reports 2nd-qtr net income of $0.33/diluted share, up from a loss of $0.45/share in the same qtr last year - Full story.

Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc. reports a fiscal 3rd-qtr net loss of $0.92/share, improved from a loss of $2.16/share in the same period last year - Full story.

Borders Group, Inc. reports a 2nd-qtr loss of $0.74/share, slightly improved from a loss of $0.75/share in the year ago period - Full story.

Retail Reports were released today which detail major retailer's sales for the month of August - Full story.

Hewlett-Packard has increased its offer to acquire the outstanding shares of 3Par Inc. to $33/share, or approximately $2.07 billion - Full story.

Burger King Holdings Inc. has agreed to be acquired by private equity firm 3G Capital for approximately $3.26 billion - Full story.

Avis Budget Group has raised the cash portion of its acquisition offer for Dollar Thrifty from $39.25/share to $40.75/share - Full story.

Ferrari will recall 458 Italia supercars due to the potential of fires breaking out in the luxury vehicles - Full story.

Major world markets posted mostly higher results for Thursday. Frankfurt's DAX closed with no measurable change today and Paris' CAC finished up 0.21%, Japan's Nikkei 225 was up 1.52%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed up 1.19%, and Sydney's All Ordinaries Index finished up 0.80%.

Economic Calendar:

Fri: Nonfarm Payrolls, Unemployment Rate, Hourly Earnings, and ISM Services;
Mon: Markets Closed for Labor Day Holiday;
Tues: No Reports Today;
Wed: Fed's Beige Book and Consumer Credit;
Thurs: Initial Jobless Claims and Trade Balance;
Fri: Wholesale Inventories.

Gail Adams - News Editor
Macro*World Research
gail.adams@mworld.com

Market Overview (09/02/2010 04:02 PM ET)

	+50.63		+9.81		+55.27		+11.12		+23.17
	Dow 10320.10		S&P 500 1090.10		NYSE 6966.25		AMEX 1933.53		NASDAQ 2200.01

Trading Volume(mil):		NASDAQ: 1,689		NYSE: 961

Key Indicators

	+1.30	+3.40		+0.000
U.S. 3mo T-Bills 0.125%	Crude Oil 74.66	Gold 1252.40	LIBOR 0.26%	$/Euro 1.282
-0.005			no change
Thu	04:22	04:21	Thu	04:32

World Markets

Amsterdam EOE	327.43	+0.86	Fri 03:57
Brazil Bovespa	66,808.08	-264.45	Thu 16:15
Frankfurt DAX	6,100.00	+16.15	Fri 03:42
Hang Seng	20,963.72	+94.80	Fri 03:42
Madrid General	1,088.26	+0.80	Fri 03:35
Mexican IPC	32,417.33	+78.10	Thu 16:06
Nikkei Dow	9,114.13	+51.29	Fri 02:28
Paris CAC 40	3,642.72	+11.29	Fri 03:57
Seoul Composite	1,780.02	+4.29	Fri 02:02
Shanghai Composite	2,655.78	+32.90	Thu 08:01
Stockholm General	327.04	+1.03	Fri 03:58
Swiss Zurich	6,337.75	+4.10	Fri 03:41
Sydney All Ord	4,577.60	+14.60	Fri 02:40
Toronto Exchg	12,111.09	+107.31	Thu 16:26

U.S. Treasury Rates

U.S. - 5yr T-Notes	1.42%	+0.01	Thu 14:59
U.S. - 10yr T-Notes	2.63%	+0.05	Thu 14:59
U.S. - 30yr T-Notes	3.73%	+0.06	Thu 14:59

Securities In Bulletin

3Par Inc	32.88	+0.80	Thu close
Avis Budget Group	10.17	+0.42	Thu close
Borders Group	1.06	+0.02	Thu close
Burger King Holdings	23.59	+4.73	Thu close
Dollar Thrifty Automotive	48.05	+0.56	Thu close
Hewlett-Packard	39.68	+0.47	Thu close
Hovnanian Enterprise Inc.	3.88	+0.20	Thu close
Layne Christensen Co.	24.77	-0.65	Thu close