Friday Morning Coffee with TradingMarkets

Good Morning!

April Payrolls Fall 20K, Called "Better than Expected" ... Futures Soar on Jobs Data, Dollar Gains Against Euro, Yen ... Technicians Celebrate Thursday Market Breakout ... Toyota, Honda Sales Remain Strong ... Clinton, McCain Continue to Push Gas Tax Holiday Scheme ... Bank of America Uncertain on Countrywide Debt Support ... Berkshire Hathaway Meeting Begins Today ...

Asian stocks up ... European stocks up ... The dollar is moving higher against the Euro, Japanese yen ... And the futures are trending higher in the hour before the bell.

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TradingMarkets 5 Business Stories You Need to Know

Sun Micro's Downside Surprise - Globe and Mail
Surprisingly slow sales in the U.S. market led to a third quarter loss for Sun Microsystems.  The company's stock sold off by 16% in afterhours trading on Thursday on the news.

Nortel Losses Continue in Q1 - Daily FX
DailyFX senior strategiest Kathy Lien looks at how the upcoming nonfarm payrolls report may affect the nascent rally in the U.S. dollar.

Nonfarm Payroll and the Dollar - Wall Street Journal
Nortel reported a loss for the first quarter that was larger than the year ago period.  Costs related to restructing were blamed for shortfall.

Profits Down, Revenues Up at Comcast - New York Times
Pressure rose Friday on Britain's Serious Fraud Office to reopen an investigation into BAE Systems after a court ruled that the regulator's decision to drop a corruption enquiry into contracts with Saudi Arabia was unlawful.

Ballmer Balks at Higher Yahoo Bid - Bloomberg
Is a Microsoft hostile takeover of Yahoo in the works?

For more stories as they happen, go to our Breaking News section.

TradingMarkets 7 Stocks You Need to Know for Today

Here are 7 stocks for traders for today from TradingMarkets.com:

• Exxon Mobil (XOM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) announced first quarter profits of $10.9 billion but still fell short of analyst expectations causing a pull back in the stock.
  
  
• General Motors (GM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) reported U.S. auto sales of -16.3% and truck sales of -26.5%.
  
  
• Shares of Las Vegas Sands (LVS | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) fell nearly 6% after the casino operator reported disappointing earnings results.
  
  
• After the close, competitor Wynn Resorts (WYNN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) missed estimates by $0.01.
  
  
• Sun Microsystems (JAVA | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) reported revenue of $3.27 billion, a 0.5% decline from the year ago quarter.
  
  
• Before the market opened, Chevron (CVX | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) reported earnings of $2.48 per share, which narrowly topped expectations.
  

For a list of today's highest PowerRating stocks, click here.

TradingMarkets 5 PowerRatings Stocks for Today

TradingMarkets Tracking the Wizards

Haggerty: Key Price Zone Short Bias - TradingMarkets
Yesterday's strength notwithstanding, traders should realize that the broader markets remain under pressure.

Call Options at Work: A Trader's Guide - TradingMarkets
Liking the upside to the current market? Call options are a popular way to bet on the potential for higher prices.

Has Oil Peaked? - TradingMarkets
TradingMarkets contributor Dave Goodboy finds answers to the question that everyone--from traders to CNBC talking heads--are asking about oil.

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