• Asian stock markets rose Friday on US gains, with resource and energy stocks leading.
• Bernanke says Fed ready to tighten monetary policy when economy improves.
• Dollar rises for first time in 5 days after Bernanke says Fed ready to 'tighten' policy.
• Initial Jobless claims in US decrease 33,000 to 10-month low of 521,000.
• Japan Machine Orders increased 0.5% in August, rebounding from record low.
• Treasuries decline, set for weekly drop, after Bernanke signals tightening.
• Trichet signals he won't raise ECB rates as Europe emerges from recession.
• Aeropostale reports September same store sales +19.0% vs. +12.3% cons est.
• Barnes & Noble plans to unveil its own brand of electronic-book reader.
• Chevron reports in interim update that earnings for Q3 2009 to be better than of Q2 '09.
• GM said to be near selling Hummer to Tengzhong for $150M.
• GM's Vauxhall seeks two-shift production guarantee from Magna.
• Gymboree raises Q3 EPS view; sees EPS at $1.05-1.10 (cons $1.08).
• Infineon: Increasing output capacity In Dresden by 10%.
• Levi Strauss' profit slumped 41% in Q3 due to a stronger dollar and slower sales.
• Liz Claiborne agreed to license its namesake brand exclusively to J.C. Penney.
• Marriott swings to Q3 loss of $466M on timeshare write-downs. Revs dip 17%.
• Neiman Marcus reports Sept same store sales declined 16.9% YoY.
• PepsiCo anticipates earnings per share growth of 11-13% in 2010.
• Target expects Q3 EPS to exceed the current median cons. est. of $.0.43/sh.
• UK antitrust regulator ruled against the proposed merger of Ticketmaster, Live Nation Inc.
• Vivendi SA likely to consider selling its 20% stake in NBC Universal this year.
• Volkswagen says car market won't recover before 2013.
• Wal-Mart de Mexico's Q3 net rises 18% as the company cut operating expenses.
• Wynn tests Hong Kong stock betting appetite as Adelson's Sands plans IPO.
• Wynn Macau shares jump 13% in HK debut

Economic Calendar: Data on Trade Balance to be released today.

Earnings Calendar: CMP, INFY, TTO.

Companies to watch: Aeropostale, Chevron, Gymboree, Liz Claiborne, PepsiCo, Vivendi SA,
Wynn Resorts.

Recent Egan-Jones Rating Actions:
SPEEDWAY MOTORSPORTS INC (TRK)
INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY CORP (ISCA)
JACK IN THE BOX INC (JACK)
AMERICAN FINANCIAL GROUP INC/OH (AFG)
WELLPOINT INC (WLP)
MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL INC/DE (MAR)
USG CORP (USG)
ALCOA INC (AA)
NATIONAL OILWELL VARCO INC (NOV)
PEPSI BOTTLING GROUP INC (PBG)
ANHEUSER-BUSCH INBEV NV (ABI BB)
AIRTRAN HOLDINGS INC (AAI)
MONSANTO CO (MON)

Data provided by Egan-Jones Ratings and Analytics