Pre-Fed

Good morning. Ahead of what is expected to be a big week for the Federal Reserve, comments by Greenspan about the economy and inflation have taken center stage. That along with some more overseas credit concerns, falling oil prices, and a slower than expected manufacturing report have not given the optimists much to work ahead of Super Tuesday.

Premarket gainers: CTDC, INSP, BOBJ, CSUN, NFLX, BRCD, RMBS, CHINA, NOK, MACE, CRNT, TASR, CTSH, NAII, GIGM, CMED, CWTR, BIDU, F, NVDA, and XMSR.

Premarket losers: IRBT, JRJC, SHPGY, JAVA, BRLC, MSFT, ADRE, and MT.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is expected to speak to reporters this afternoon (around 2:50 PM) and, like most pre-Fed days, the noise level is going to be at an excruciating high. It makes some sense to me that they'll try to bring the market in a little today and tomorrow morning given last week's gains. At this point, most are resigned to waiting until tomorrow afternoon than trying to make aggressive trades now.

As a heads up, I won't be posting very much today in order to devote ample time to this week's stocks' only Q&A. Remember, today is the last day to submit your question. My goal is to have most of that done over the next day or so in order to free up more time after the meeting. Let's make it a great week!