Fannie & Freddie Debacle

 Good morning. Rising oil prices, elevated weekly jobless claims, more analyst downgrades of the financials, some relatively good earnings reports from some retailers, and speculation that the Treasury will soon take over Fannie & Freddie are in focus this morning. Overall, premarket trading suggests a negative bias for the day.

Premarket gainers: BYI, CTRN, LTD, PLCE, THRM, ROYL, PDO, FPP, GDP, HEV, STO, NOVN, CHMP, HL, GOLD, NCOC, SOLF, DKS, & JRCC.

Premarket losers: OVEN, SNPS, JDSU, CRM, FNM, FRE, ABK, FMD, UAUA, DAL, LCC, CAL, LEH, MER, FRO, ISSC, ASTI, YZC, JBLU, & NVTL.

At 10:AM both the Philly Fed Survey and Leading Indicators are due and the final catalyst of the week comes when Bernanke speaks at the Economic Policy Symposium in Jackson Hole tomorrow morning.

From what I can see (and hear from others), this market is testing the patience of both bulls and bears alike. When you combine that with low volume (especially ahead of Labor Day), it doesn't make for the easiest market to trade. Much like yesterday, we should expect more choppy action until we get some resolution to the Fannie & Freddie debacle.

Have a terrific Thursday!