Retail Sales, Inflation, & Citigroup

Good morning. Stocks are expected to start the day in the red following a huge writedown and dividend cut at Citigroup (C). In addition, retail sales were down more than expected, and the December PPI which came in just below expectations though wholesale inflation was up +6.3% in 2007. Overseas markets are uniformly lower.

Premarket gainers: LNX, KWD, LCBM, DROOY, DEPO, DNDN, VIGN, HSVLY, TLAB, SUMT, KWD, TITN, CHKP, AMAT, FRX, AEO, and NOK.

Premarket losers: HIBB, CWTR, MGI, WSM, NBIX, COIN, PTR, VRTX, CSIQ, CSUN, FIC, CHA, EPG, AKNS, SOLF, NBIX, NOEC, DRYS, NVDA, STT, RYAAY, ZRAN, ACGY, ANAD, ACH, TBSI, EDU, HOKU, GOLD, SIGM, SEED, and AMZN.

At 10:AM we have a report on business inventories, but investors will turn their attention toward conference calls in the financials, as well as the Macworld around noon and earnings from Intel (INTC) after the closing bell. Go make it a great day!

* Both the Cream Of The Crop & Market Leaders screens received their updates this morning and there are some fairly large changes in both stock screens.