6 gut checks pre open

Need to Know AUGUST 09, 2013 6 gut checks before the stock market opens By Barbara Kollmeyer   Flickr/Arran ET Good morning. As 'Shark Week' comes to a bloody close, it's only appropriate to start talking about another predatory species: the wolf. Noted doomster Marc Faber is once again predicting a 1987-style crash . He sees parallels between stock gains in 2013 and that dicey year, adding that this year's market gains are too dependent on a few companies. While ZeroHedge thinks he may be on to something, others see a crying wolf, given that Faber has made this prediction before. Schaeffer's Ryan Detrick  says that was 1987, this is now, when everyone is protected from a wipeout. Just in case of taper pullback-inspired jitters later this year, though, dumping some sleepy dividend stocks wouldn't be a bad idea, says Jeff Reeves . Taper is better explained by Merle Hazard in soon-to-be runaway hit, 'The Great Unwind.'  And good ideas? How about chaos and innovation that's about to hit the marketplace and shake up stocks. Among other predators, Berkshire Hathaway's   Warren Buffett told The Wall Street Journal that he expects to do more bite-size deals, after acquiring more than a dozen small companies in the first half of this year. But his first and true love doesn't change:  "A big deal still is what causes my heart to beat faster," says the Sage. Awwwwww. Key market gauges: Data from China gave stocks there a lift, but most major indexes finished the week deep in the red, led by a 5.9% loss for the Nikkei . Europe stocks  were up for a second day as miners applauded Chinese data. Futures for the S&P 500 , Dow industrials and Nasdaq 100  are pointing south. Analysts say it's looking like a sideways summer Friday. The economy: Almost nada from the U.S. on Friday, except for June wholesale inventories, and it's hard to wax lyrical about that. Instead, the big news is out of China. Industrial production there grew at the fastest pace since February -- beating forecasts -- although retail sales grew a bit slower. Miners, at least were happy about it in London. Read more The buzz: Dell  redux? Blackberry   shares are up over 10% on talk it may consider going private . Reuters cites sources close to the company that say the board is having a change of heart and thinks maybe that would be a way to sort out some of handset maker's problems out of the public eye. Priceline.com  shares are up over 5% in premarket trade after earnings and revenue  beat Street forecasts a day prior. Please, Captain , not in front of the Klingons. Oh and as shares get close to $1,000, Slope of Hope  says short Priceline at your peril. Mexican telecom firm America Movil  is bidding 2.40 euros a share ($3.21) a share for Dutch phone group Royal KPN . KPN shares jumped 18% on the news. Rackspace Hosting  shares could get a premarket boost. The cloud-computing provider also beat Street forecasts for earnings and sales. Monster Beverage  may get dinged in premarket trading after the energy drink  posted a profit fall on higher costs. Troubled retailer J.C. Penney  just can't stay out of the news. Shares are off close to 4% after J.C. Penney's chairman ripped hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman after markets closed for making public  a letter about a CEO search. Chart of the day: Some good news as far as economic growth is concerned. Pragmatic Investor's Cullen Roche notes that rail traffic looks to have stabilized, with July a record month for carloads and a 4.8% year-over-year jump. The 12-week average is now up to 2.5%, off the lows of 1.6% from early June. The chart below tells the story. Movement above zero indicates expansion, below zero shows contraction. Call of the day: From Bank of America Merrill Lynch comes '12 Long Charts.' That is where chief investment strategist Michael Hartnett and his team are placing their bets on the view that the fate of asset prices lies with the ability of policy makers to finally deliver above-trend growth in the U.S., U.K., Europe and Japan. Hartnett and co. e say they expect growth will pick up to the benefit of equities versus bonds and they like bank stocks, Europe and Japan to play the ongoing Great Rotation: Zeroing in on the bet over the financial sector, which hasn't been flying high -- around 45% below its all-time high set in February 2007 -- Hartnett has this to say: "We continue to view the bank stocks as the best barometer of the Great Rotation. Rising bank stocks and rising rates is bullish; rising rates and falling bank stocks is bearish. With the former more in evidence in recent quarters, we are willing to give stocks the benefit of doubt." On that note, David Weidner says  'Goldman Sachs , we hardly know you.' Random reads: U.S. diplomats evacuated in Pakistan . Picture this: Buffett in an Elvis costume. Uh, oh: NSA 'whistleblower' Snowden's email provider is down, leaving this ominous note . Celebrity perfumes. We prefer to smell anonymous now it seems. Tumblr founder David Karp will get $81 million  as long as he doesn't quit in the next four years. How often do you see remorseful thieves. Heartwarming. A Pakistani businessman kidnapped over his 'stash'. Clocking in as usual. NJ workers  win a share of the $448 million Powerball and show up for work the next morning. (Note, an earlier version of this blog misspelled Warren Buffett's name.) Need to Know starts early and is updated as needed until the opening bell, but sign up here  to get it delivered once to your e-mail box. Be sure to check the Need to Know item. The e-mailed version will be sent out at approximately 8:45 a.m. Eastern. Follow @bkollmeyer  on Twitter. Get the latest news on our mobile site: http://www.marketwatch.com/m MarketWatch has sent you this newsletter because you signed up to receive it. To ensure you receive this newsletter in the future, please add marketwatchmail.com to your list of approved senders. Sent to: alanrussell@princetoncap.com Unsubscribe | Subscribe Copyright 2013 MarketWatch, Inc. All rights reserved. MarketWatch, the MarketWatch logo, and BigCharts are registered trademarks of MarketWatch, Inc. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy (updated 6/26/07). MarketWatch - Attn: Customer Service, 201 California St., San Francisco, CA 94111