Jan 12, 2010

Daily Markets - Financial News & Opinions

Daily Markets - Financial News & Opinions

IBM Launching Chinese Financing

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 11:11 AM PST

International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) announced that its lending and leasing business segment – Global Financing – has entered into a financing deal with Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) and its distributor network to provide necessary credit and financial assistance to China’s Tianjin region.
 
IBM clinched a deal with AMD to launch its first financing business in China. Under the agreement, IBM will factor AMD sales receivables in China and offer the latter upfront … [visit site to read more]


Utility ETFs May Be Hugely Attractive To Conservative Investors Looking For High Yields

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 11:01 AM PST

While utility exchange traded funds (ETFs) didn’t exactly light the markets on fire last year, they still have serious appeal in the form of high dividend yields.

In 2009, utility ETFs were the weakest performers among the 21 U.S.-stock categories that Morningstar tracks, says Dale Buss for The Wall Street Journal. The average return was 18%, while the S&P gained more than 26%.

While the sector may underperform for some time, if analysts are correct, utility ETFs are hugely attractive … [visit site to read more]

Reckoning With A Delusional Stock Market

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 11:00 AM PST

Poor Obama. The man is in way over his head. And what can he do? Few people understand what is going on in the economy…and none of them work for the Obama administration, as near as we can tell. The only one who seemed to be on the ball was his advisor, Paul Volcker. But Volcker got edged out by Larry Summers, a man with a long history of bad ideas on economic matters.
Summers is a stalwart member of that very special club – modern economists. Never has an unarmed professional group done … [visit site to read more]

Put This Commodity At The Top Of Your Wish List

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 10:58 AM PST

Capital shortfalls are always met with cost-cutting measures. Period.
And when the credit markets froze up last year, cash became harder to come by than a popsicle stand in the desert.
On the personal level, plans for upscale amenities like country club memberships, Jacuzzis and granite countertops were quickly tabled…
Manufacturing and industry saw the cuts come mostly in the form of layoffs. (The unemployment rate is expected to stay near 10% throughout most of the year.)
Exploration … [visit site to read more]

Northrop Wins Army Contract

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 10:54 AM PST

Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC) has won a $577 million U.S. Army contract to develop the Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System (IBCS). The five-year contract is a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for system design and development.
 
IBCS is an integrated air and missile-defense command and control capability. Enabled by a battlefield fire control network, the system will provide the technology, tools and information needed to make better decisions on the battlefield. … [visit site to read more]

Video: Crude Prices Slide On Demand Weakness

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 10:49 AM PST

Front month crude prices slipped this session as the recent cold weather has eased and therefore led to a weakness in energy demand. … [visit site to read more]

Video: Holiday Sales Give Tiffany A Much Needed Boost

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 10:39 AM PST

Tiffany & Company boosted its annual profit forecast tuesday on strong worldwide holiday sales. … [visit site to read more]

CMS Energy Issues Notes

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 10:37 AM PST

CMS Energy (CMS) sold $300 million of senior unsecured notes, due 2020 at a coupon rate of 6.25%. The company plans to use the proceeds to retire existing long-term debt.
 
CMS Energy has a strong balance sheet among its peers with a low debt-to-capitalization of 70.4% (Zacks industry average was 79.3%) for the first nine months of fiscal 2009. The company continues to be a strong cash generator with annual operating cash flow of approximately $559 million during fiscal 2008. CMS Energy … [visit site to read more]

FTR-VZ Deal Remains Under Fire

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 10:22 AM PST

Frontier Communications' (FTR) impending acquisition of the rural fixed-line business of Verizon (VZ) continues to face resistance as the deal has been strongly opposed by the workers unions of West Virginia.
 
Members and leaders of Communications Workers of America ("CWA”) reportedly protested against the asset sale in West Virginia, fearing that the deal may put Frontier in a severe financial crisis and is detrimental to the state's interest. Moreover, the International … [visit site to read more]

The Best Ways To Play Oil, Gold And Frozen Florida Oranges

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 10:21 AM PST

Tuesday, January 12, 2010: Issue #1173
"So what do you expect from the commodity markets in 2010?"
If I had a dollar for every time I've been asked this question over the past few weeks, I'd be able to buy myself an ounce of gold!
I'll tell you what I've told my friends and colleagues: More of the same. Just because it's a New Year doesn't mean we should expect commodities to behave much differently than they did in 2009.
In my final Investment U column of 2009, I highlighted … [visit site to read more]

Tax Hike Inevitability

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 10:17 AM PST

When France and the UK announced super-sized taxes on bank profits and employee bonuses last month, we warned, "Interested parties in the US should keep an eye on this, too…lest you think Mr. Peace Prize and his Pay czar aren't tempted to do the same." Well, here we go:
"Obama Weighs Tax on Banks to Cut Deficit," headlines today's New York Times. Details are still very vague, but word on the Hill is that next month's 2011 budget will include a tax that is, as the Times puts it, … [visit site to read more]

Video: Market Movers: AA, CVX, KBH, GAP, MGM, BWS, DPZ

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 10:14 AM PST

The latest news and information on U.S. stocks that are moving the market. … [visit site to read more]

New Business Win For Callidus

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 10:06 AM PST

Callidus Software Inc. (CALD) announced that Philips Healthcare selected Callidus Monaco’s Objective Management solution to develop and manage its salesforce. The agreement was signed in the fourth quarter of 2009. Under the agreement, Philips Healthcare will use this application to deploy and manage strategic sales objectives for its sales representatives in the United States.
Companies use objective management to broaden sales incentive plans for stronger alignment of corporate objectives … [visit site to read more]

The Failure Of The Lisbon Strategy

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 10:01 AM PST

The Lisbon strategy for making the EU the world’s most competitive economy is a failure, yet an extension of the failed approach is in the works. This column argues that EU governments should let the strategy die a peaceful death. A new model is needed.
The Union has today set itself a new strategic goal for the next decade: to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social … [visit site to read more]

Forex Trading: USDCAD Stalls At The Topside Resistance Level

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 10:00 AM PST

The USDCAD has moved up to the resistance area outlined in earlier post from this morning (click here). The 1.0405 to 1.0415 level remains a key level to watch as it represents an old floor, and is also Fibonacci resistance at 1.0413 (50% of the move down from the end of December high of 1.0575 to the low of 1.0251 reached yesterday). The last move higher was spurred by the sharp fall in gold which has paused at support (see prior post).  So traders are likely to continue to be … [visit site to read more]

Video: Risk Aversion Continues To Strengthen

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 09:54 AM PST

Investors continued to favor lower-yielding, safer-haven currencies this session as a lack of economic data kept investors away from higher-yielding currencies. … [visit site to read more]

Varian Initiated As Neutral

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 09:50 AM PST

We recently initiated coverage on Varian Medical Systems, Inc. (VAR) with a Neutral recommendation. We rate the stock as Neutral with a target price of $50 based on a P/E of roughly 18.6x our fiscal 2010 EPS estimate.
 
Varian reported fourth-quarter earnings per share of 78 cents, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 75 cents and the year-ago earnings of 68 cents. Total revenues in the fourth quarter increased 8% year over year to $642 million, with growth witnessed across all the … [visit site to read more]

Video: Ford To Invest On Building More Electric Cars

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 09:47 AM PST

The Ford Motor Company (F) announced that it will invest a handsome amount of money in order to build electric cars in Michigan. … [visit site to read more]

CVX’s Bearish Downstream Update

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 09:32 AM PST

U.S. energy behemoth Chevron Corp. (CVX) released its fourth-quarter interim update, covering the first 2 months of the quarter. On the whole, the update is on the bearish side, with earnings expected to be lower than the previous quarter.
 
The company expects the upstream segment to benefit from higher commodity prices and growing production. However, the results will not include any non-recurring gains that boosted third-quarter earnings. Chevron's downstream results are likely to … [visit site to read more]

St. Jude Reaffirms Outlook

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 09:17 AM PST

St. Jude Medical, Inc. (STJ) recently reaffirmed its fourth-quarter earnings outlook between 61 cents and 63 cents per share. The company expects total revenues of approximately $1.2 billion in the fourth quarter and $4.68 billion for full fiscal 2009. St. Jude Medical will report final fourth quarter and full fiscal 2009 results on Jan 27 before the market opens.
 
In terms of business segments: St. Jude Medical expects Cardiac Rhythm Management to generate sales of $698 million. … [visit site to read more]

Televisa Eyeing Mobile Opportunity

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 09:01 AM PST

Grupo Televisa SA (TV), the largest media company in the Spanish-speaking world, is likely to enter into the lucrative wireless communications market in Mexico. The company is in negotiation with Vivendi SA of France to form a joint venture. The Mexican government has decided to auction mobile-phone airwaves in the first half of 2010. The joint venture will be a 50-50 partnership between Televisa and Vivendi and will bid for a wireless spectrum in the auction.
 
Industry sources … [visit site to read more]

The New Oil Index Is About To Create Even More Opportunity For Investors

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 09:01 AM PST

Speculators in New York won’t be calling the shots anymore. Not in oil, anyway.

The way we price it. The places we trade it. The companies that stand to profit most.

It’s all about to change.

This was confirmed at a meeting I just attended in The City, London’s financial district. I arrived from Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport for an unusual Saturday morning gathering of bankers, traders and analysts called only days before.

The subject? A new oil-pricing index.

This is huge.

More … [visit site to read more]

Preliminary Results From Celgene

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 08:49 AM PST

Yesterday, Celgene Corporation (CELG) announced preliminary (unaudited) results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 (ended December 31). The company earned 62 cents per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5 cents. Celgene earned 43 cents in the year-ago quarter. The preliminary results indicate that the company earned $2.08 in fiscal 2009, up 33%. This is above the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 23 cents. The company will report full year results on January 28, 2010.
 
The … [visit site to read more]

France Against US Dollar Dominance

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 08:39 AM PST

Well, the euphoria around the risk assets of currencies and commodities got watered down as the day went on yesterday, and that continued throughout the overnight and morning sessions in Asia and Europe. The currencies and commodities haven't turned on a dime; they just stopped moving higher versus the dollar… Although, now that I've said that, the euro (EUR) has dipped below 1.45…
I guess stocks still hold some sort of stranglehold on the risk asset classes of currencies and … [visit site to read more]

Navigant Purchases Summit Blue

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 08:32 AM PST

Further enhancing its Clean Energy Advisor position in the energy market, on Monday, Navigant Consulting Inc. (NCI) announced the purchase of Summit Blue Consulting LLC, a leading energy industry consulting firm. However, the terms and details of the transaction remain undisclosed.
 
Navigant's purchase decision appears appreciative as Summit Blue, since its inception in 2000, focuses in helping organizations to take viable energy investments and operation decisions. For this, the … [visit site to read more]

Windstream Unveils New VoIP

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 08:15 AM PST

Windstream Corp (WIN), a leading rural telecom carrier in the US, has reportedly launched a next-generation IP (Internet Protocol) solution that bundles voice, data and broadband Internet over a single IP connection.
 
The new service, "Dynamic Office − Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)”, leverages the Voice-over-IP (VoIP) technology and has been designed to offer businesses a cost-effective communication solution. It offers high quality voice and data communications to businesses … [visit site to read more]

Trade Deficit Deteriorates

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 08:14 AM PST

The trade deficit for November widened to $36.4 billion from $33.2 billion in October. The October number was revised from $32.9 billion.
However, we are still doing better on the trade deficit front than a year ago, when the gap was $43.2 billion. Last year, though, the trade deficit was collapsing as both imports and exports were tumbling in response to the financial crisis. The trade imbalance had hit a peak of $64.9 billion in July of 2008, and it was on its way to a low of $25.8 billion in … [visit site to read more]

AOL To Lay Off 1,200 Workers

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 07:58 AM PST

As part of its restructuring program, AOL Inc. (AOL), the struggling Internet company, had earlier announced plans to trim a third of its staff or approximately 2,300 employees through a voluntary retirement program. However, only 1,100 employees have accepted the package so far.
 
Consequently, AOL needs to shed 1,200 more to reach its staff lay-off target. The company hinted at plans to shutter down many offices in Europe, starting with Spain and Sweden. After these buyouts and … [visit site to read more]

Video: NYSE Opening Bell Market Monitor: AA, GAP, KBH

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 07:57 AM PST

The latest in news, commentary, and information on what’s moving the US equities markets. Watch this broadcast LIVE at 9:30 am EST daily @ “http://www.nyx.com/marketmonitor” … [visit site to read more]

Forex Trading: USDJPY Moves Toward The 100 Day MA Support

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 07:51 AM PST

The USDJPY is moving lower toward the 100 day moving average.  The 100 day MA level comes in at the 90.56 level.  The low today reached 90.82 so far. I would expect to see profit taking buyers against the level - at least on the first test.
Topside resistance comes in at the 91.43 level which is the 38.2% retracement of the days high to low range. It is also where the 100 bar MA is moving toward (and going … [visit site to read more]

Forget Dubai: Two Timely Opportunities To Invest In The Middle East

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 07:46 AM PST

Investors hold to a myriad of catchphrases, proverbs and beliefs about everything from the traditional Santa Claus Rally to buying when there's blood in the street… or passing up on immediate investments into any country that builds the world's tallest building.
Admittedly, there is some truth in that last one – at least in the short term – but it doesn't necessarily hold for the long haul. If it did, the United States stock market would have peaked decades ago.
Of course, the … [visit site to read more]

Fox To Launch 2nd Soccer Channel

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 07:45 AM PST

Fox Broadcasting Company, one of the leading divisions of the television segment of News Corp. (NWSA), is all set to launch its second all-soccer channel in the U.S. from March 1, 2010. The new network is named Fox Soccer Plus and will televise matches of the European Champions League, English Premier League, the English Football Association Cup and the Italian Serie A. 

The other soccer channel was introduced way back in 1997 and was initially known as Fox Soccer Channel. Later, the … [visit site to read more]

Video: Most Asian Markets Drop On Weak Commodity Performance

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 07:42 AM PST

The majority of the major Asian/Pacific markets were on the downside this session following a slide in commodity prices affecting commodity-related stocks. … [visit site to read more]

Goldman To Sell Shanghai Property?

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 07:30 AM PST

In a bid to contract the size of its property holdings in China, on Monday, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) was reported by unnamed sources at Reuters to be in final stages of making a sale agreement of its Shanghai property with Shanghai Forte Land Co. Ltd. (Forte), a Chinese property developer, for more than $200 million.
 
Post the exit of a rival bidder, Poly Real Estate Group Co., Forte had offered its interest in buying the Shanghai Garden Plaza, a residential complex of villas and … [visit site to read more]

Goldman To Sell Shanghai Property

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 07:30 AM PST

In a bid to contract the size of its property holdings in China, on Monday, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) was reported to be in final stages of making a sale agreement of its Shanghai property with Shanghai Forte Land Co. Ltd. (Forte), a Chinese property developer, for more than $200 million.
 
Post the exit of a rival bidder, Poly Real Estate Group Co., Forte had offered its interest in buying the Shanghai Garden Plaza, a residential complex of villas and serviced apartments, from … [visit site to read more]

Heineken To Own FEMSA Beer

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 07:15 AM PST

Heineken N.V., the largest brewery in Europe, recently announced its plans to acquire the beer operations of FEMSA, formally known as Fomento Económico Mexicano, S.A.B de C.V (FMX), one of the largest brewers in Mexico. The deal involving an all-share transaction is valued at $7.6 billion.
 
Heineken will acquire FEMSA Cerveza, comprising 100% of its Mexican beer operations (including its U.S. and other export business) and the remaining 83% of its Brazilian beer business that Heineken … [visit site to read more]

Forex Trading: EURUSD Breaks Through Resistance

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 06:57 AM PST

The EURUSD breaks through the 100 and 200 bar MAat the 1.4491 level, confirmed the move via a move through the trendline resistance and is now looking to test the 1.4556 high from yesterday.   Looking at the hourly chart, the price is also back above the trendline off the hourly chart, which comes in at the 1.4523 level currently.  If this level can hold, the upside should be tested. If it can't the longs may look to take some … [visit site to read more]

Forex Trading: EURCHF Stalling At The Lows But Still Struggles

Posted: 12 Jan 2010 06:11 AM PST

Yesterday SNBs Hildebrand commented on the value of the EURCHF suggesting the central bank would not support a sharply lower level for the pair. The EURCHF has been trending down from the high of 1.5138 in Mid December and gathered downward momentum on the break of the 1.5000 floor.  The warning yesterday led to a move higher but the price remained below the 100 hour MA which currenty comes in at the 1.4782 level ( see chart above).

Looking at the 100 and 200 bar MA on the 5 minute … [visit site to read more]

Stock Buy: Scripps Networks Interactive

Posted: 11 Jan 2010 09:00 PM PST

Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. (SNI) recently declared a quarterly dividend of 7.5 cents per share, which was paid out on Dec 10. The company boasts an industry-leading dividend yield of 0.70%.
Company Description
Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. develops lifestyle-oriented content for television and the Internet. The company’s media portfolio includes: Lifestyle Media, with popular lifestyle television and Internet brands HGTV, DIY Network, Food Network, Travel Channel, Fine Living … [visit site to read more]
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