Mar 5, 2010

Daily Markets - Financial News And Opinions

Daily Markets - Financial News And Opinions

Real Estate ETFs May Not Be As Stable As You Think

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 06:14 PM PST

Over the past year, the real estate sector has been on somewhat of a roller coaster ride as the federal government has poured billions dollars worth of incentives its way to add stability; however, recent data indicates the sector is far from being stable.

Most recently, the Commerce Department indicated that new home sales slumped to an all-time low and the National Association of Realtors stated that sales of previously owned homes unexpectedly dropped 7.2% in January, after witnessing a … [visit site to read more]


A Figment Of The Bulls’ Imagination

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 04:14 PM PST

Apart from their reliance on misleading or bogus statistics and a complete misreading of recent geopolitical developments, one argument the equity bulls keep making is that prices are “climbing a wall of worry.”
In other words, because there are too many bears, the stock market can’t — or won’t go down.
In principle, I agree with the concept, and it is one of the reasons why I stated publicly last March that I expected share prices to stage a decent bounce. Anybody who has every studied the … [visit site to read more]

Daily ETF Roundup: VGK, VNQ Surge

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 03:15 PM PST

The tech-heavy Nasdaq hit its highest close in 18 months on Friday, as stocks were buoyed by a jobs report that kept unemployment flat at 9.6%. Thanks to the jobs report and renewed confidence in an economic recovery, the price of oil soared, finishing near $81.50 a barrel, within striking distance of its 2010 high. Meanwhile, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao gave a speech to the National People's Congress in which he detailed Chinese budget plans and a proposal to hike spending by 11% this … [visit site to read more]

Video: “No Short Term Inflation Risk” - ECB’s Trichet

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 02:07 PM PST

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet speaks about keeping interest rates unchanged, touches on the bailout of Greece, and speaks about the fate of stimulus measures. … [visit site to read more]

A River Of Debt

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 02:00 PM PST

As I was floating down impassible rivers
I no longer felt myself steered by the haulers…
– Arthur Rimbaud, "The Drunken Boat"
The news yesterday pushed against us like a gentle wind. Pending house sales were bad. Consumer spending was good. Unemployment was bad. Manufacturing was good.
The Dow rose 47 points. It has moved without much conviction for several weeks. It can't seem to make up its mind. We thought it had headed down decisively a few weeks ago…and then, it … [visit site to read more]

Video: NYSE Closing Bell Market Monitor: CVX, GD, SNE

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 01:46 PM PST

The latest in news, commentary, and information on what’s moving the US equities markets. Watch this broadcast LIVE at 4:00 pm EST daily @ “http://www.nyx.com/marketmonitor” … [visit site to read more]

Salix: Focus On Label Expansion

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 01:42 PM PST

Salix Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SLXP) is slated to report fourth quarter as well as fiscal 2009 results on March 9. The current Zacks Consensus Estimate for the fourth quarter of 2009 is a loss of 14 cents. For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimate stands at a loss of 89 cents.
Salix suffered a major setback in Dec 2007 when its lead product, Colazal, started facing generics from several companies including Mylan (NYSE:MYL). The genericization of Colazal adversely impacted the company's … [visit site to read more]

Nissan Joins Parade Of Recalls

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 01:24 PM PST

Nissan Motor Co. has announced that it will recall 539,864 vehicles to inspect brake pedal pins and fuel-gauge components on certain trucks and minivans.
Nissan has noticed that the brake-pedal pins in some of its vehicle models have partially engaged, causing a loss of normal breaking ability. The problem is related to a manufacturing error on the part of the supplier. The faulty makes include Nissan Titan, Armada, Quest and Infiniti QX56 of 2008–2010 model years.
Yet another set of models … [visit site to read more]

Managing The Numbers

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 01:22 PM PST

It’s long been known that companies (and the financial analysts that cover them) engage in a little song-and-dance known as “earnings management.”
In essence, senior executives seek to dampen expectations about their upcoming results so that when the actual numbers are reported, they turn out to be “better than expected,” providing a short-term lift for share prices and luring gullible investors (and journalists) into thinking that the business is running on all cylinders.
As the following … [visit site to read more]

HCBK Seeks To Change Regulators

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 01:04 PM PST

Hudson City Bancorp (NASDAQ:HCBK) announced yesterday its intention to change its regulator to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). Currently the bank is under the regulation of the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS). The bank is planning to file an application with the OCC to change its organization from a savings bank to a nationalized bank.
The OCC regulates and supervises more than 1,500 national banks and 50 federal branches of foreign banks in the U.S., accounting for … [visit site to read more]

You Asked For It: More Details On Overpaid Federal Workers

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 01:00 PM PST

This is a hot button issue… many federal workers are going to read statistics about how a number occupations in the public sector get paid more than their private sector counterparts and they are simply not going to believe it. Clearly, it's frustrating for both sides. An article today digs a little further into specifics and helps explain the details behind the discrepancy as well as some explanatory factors that make sense to consider.
From USA Today:
"Accountants, nurses, chemists, … [visit site to read more]

Kraft’s Estimate Trends Declining

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 12:45 PM PST

Earnings estimates for Kraft Inc. (NYSE:KFT) are declining following the release of strong fourth quarter and full year 2009 results. Kraft completed 2009 on a strong note with fourth-quarter earnings increasing 17.1% from the year-ago period to 48 cents per share. Full-year earnings increased 6.8% to $2.03 per share.
Fourth-quarter revenues grew 3.2% to $11.0 billion. Revenues were positively impacted by foreign exchange (FX) fluctuations (3.2%). However, full-year revenues declined 3.7% to $40.4 … [visit site to read more]

New Clients For Allscripts

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 12:29 PM PST

Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:MDRX) has recently entered into an agreement with two new clients, Covenant Health and Sharp HealthCare.
 
These two clients have selected the Allscripts Care Management and Post Acute solutions to automate administrative processes in their hospitals and post-acute care facilities, improve efficiency, streamline and enhance the quality of patient care, and generate cost savings.
 
Allscripts Care Management solution is a fully integrated, … [visit site to read more]

AT&T Unveils 3G USB Modems

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 12:13 PM PST

AT&T (NYSE:T) has announced that it will launch two USB modems that will enable customers to stay connected on their laptops while accessing the carrier's high-speed 3G network. Come March 7, 2010, the devices will be available online and at AT&T's nationwide retail stores.
 
One of the new modems, the USBConnect Velocity, has a built-in GPS functionality. Manufactured by the wireless technology company Option, the device is the first GPS-enabled modem from AT&T. Velocity … [visit site to read more]

Video: Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Reports Drop In Quarterly Earnings

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 12:09 PM PST

The world’s second largest exchange operator by market value, Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing, reported lower-than-expected quarterly earnings and warned of growing global competition. … [visit site to read more]

How To Profit From Health Care Reform… In China

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 12:09 PM PST

It's safe to say that the financial media is obsessed with four subjects these days: Economic stimulus, healthcare reform, Greece and China.
And let's face it: After the eighth, seventeenth or twenty-fifth article on the same topics, it starts to get a bit boring.
Combine three out of those four subjects together though, and it becomes much more interesting… especially considering that unlike what the United States implemented, China's $586 billion stimulus package focused on repairing … [visit site to read more]

Zombieland

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 12:07 PM PST

"The world's largest shopping mall is almost entirely empty," says a headline now making its way around the Internet. The mall is not one of America's consumer emporia. It is not in the US at all. Instead, it is in the Middle Kingdom…and twice as large as the "Mall of the Americas."
The world did not end in 2009. Two things are widely reported to have saved it – stimulus in the West and China in the East.
Harvard economist Robert Barro, writing in The Wall Street Journal, … [visit site to read more]

Why The Crisis Is Coming To A Head In The U.K.

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 12:01 PM PST

Boy are things getting ugly in the U.K. The British currency, the pound, is getting crushed. The price of long-term British debt securities, called gilts, is heading down. And the cost of default insurance on the country’s debt is rising steadily.

My takeaway: This is but a preview of what’s to come here in the U.S.

Why the Crisis Is Coming To a Head in the U.K.

Britain’s finances are in shambles. The country’s budget deficit is running at more than 12 percent of gross domestic … [visit site to read more]

Carl Icahn: A Lion At The Gate?

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 11:56 AM PST

Seventy-four-year-old Carl Icahn has been on the Wall Street scene awhile. Aside from amassing a significant fortune as an “activist investor” over the past several decades by purchasing large shares of publicly traded companies and winning seats on the boards of those he feels may be headed down the wrong path, Icahn has generated plenty of controversy — enough to fill an entire big-budget Hollywood movie.
In fact, Icahn’s personality of someone buying into companies at low rates and finding … [visit site to read more]

Merge Launches New Device

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 11:46 AM PST

Merge Healthcare Incorporated (NASDAQ:MRGE) recently launched a new device, eFilm Mobile, an extension of the eFilm Workstation franchise. The new device provides users of eFilm Workstation v3.3 secure access to worklists and studies from their iPhone or iPod touch.
 
The eFilm Mobile connects with 3G and wireless networks that allow users to connect their iPhones to multiple eFilm Workstations. It also enables the reverse transaction. By using the eFilm Mobile, users can interact with and … [visit site to read more]

Santarus Beats On Higher Revenues

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 11:41 AM PST

Santarus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNTS) reported fourth quarter earnings of 40 cents per share, doubling the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 20 cents and far above the year-ago earnings of 7 cents. Performance was boosted by higher revenues.
Total revenues, consisting of net product sales, promotion revenues and license and royalty revenues came in at $62.4 million, up 66.3% from the year-ago period. Fourth quarter revenues included a $20 million milestone payment received by the company from Merck (NYSE:MRK) on the … [visit site to read more]

ITT Nabs U.S. Military Order

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 11:34 AM PST

ITT Corporation (NYSE:ITT) has been awarded a contract to provide maintenance, supply and transportation services to the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps on Camp Arifjan and other locations in Southwest Asia. The award is a task order under the Field Installation Readiness Support Team (FIRST) contract vehicle, for one base year with four one-year options.
 
The expected value of work completed in 2010 is approximately $45 million, with a total potential contract value of approximately $230 … [visit site to read more]

PC Shipments To Grow In 2010

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 11:21 AM PST

As per the latest findings of leading technology research firm Gartner (NYSE:IT), worldwide PC shipments are expected to grow 19.7%, reaching 366.1 million units in 2010. The firm also expects that spending on PCs will increase by 12.2% to a level of $245 billion.
We think this is good news for PC manufacturers like Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) and International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM), who are already witnessing a sharp revival in demand from retail and industrial … [visit site to read more]

GE Gets $1.1 Billion Order

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 11:16 AM PST

GE Oil & Gas technology has again been selected to support the development of Gorgon, one of the world's largest untapped natural gas fields, which also features one of the world's largest ever carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration technology projects.
 
GE will supply five 130 MW Frame-9 gas turbines in a modularized solution to meet the power generation needs of Barrow Island's gas treatment and liquefaction facilities.
 
GE will supply Chevron (NYSE:CVX)  with equipment … [visit site to read more]

Video: Crude Prices Rise On Economic Data

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 10:32 AM PST

Front month crude prices were on the upside this session following better-than-expected jobs data. … [visit site to read more]

Earnings Preview: Slow Week Coming Up

Posted: 04 Mar 2010 09:00 PM PST

Earnings Preview 3/05/10
Earnings Season is winding down, but that does not mean it is over. Next week will bring 228 earnings reports, but just 5 members of the S&P 500. Some of the higher-profile firms to report will be Kroger's (NYSE:KR), H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) and National Semicondutor (NYSE:NSM).
It will also be a relatively light week on the economic data front. As a result, attention is likely to drift towards political developments like progress on health care reform and the prospects … [visit site to read more]
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