| 3 ETFs Hit By Natural Gas’ Supply & Demand Imbalance Posted: 30 Sep 2010 03:17 PM PDT Excess supply and lower than expected demand have taken their toll on natural gas and the exchange traded funds [[ETFs]] that track them pushing the spread between March futures contracts and April futures contracts to a record low.
The spread between these futures contracts has narrowed by 93 percent this year to 3.6 cents per million British thermal unit indicating that a supply and demand imbalance is likely to keep prices of natural gas depressed through the remainder of the year.
On … [visit site to read more] 
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| VeriFone Bids To Buyout Hypercom Posted: 30 Sep 2010 03:05 PM PDT Electronic payments processing company, VeriFone Systems, Inc. (NYSE:PAY) recently launched a bid to acquire all of the outstanding shares of rival Hypercom Corporation (NYSE:HYC) for $5.25 per share in cash. Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, Hypercom Corporation designs and sells electronic payment and transaction solutions, and value-added services at the point of transaction primarily in the Americas, northern EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), southern EMEA and the Asia-Pacific. Earlier, … [visit site to read more] 
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| Treasury To Sell Citi’s TRUPS Posted: 30 Sep 2010 03:05 PM PDT As part of its effort to unwind its holdings in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C), the U.S. Treasury has announced its plan to commence selling $2.2 billion in trust preferred securities (TRUPS) it received from Citi in relation to the Asset Guarantee Program (AGP). The Treasury has made it clear that it will sell the TRUPS at a price which is not less than its par value plus any accumulated and unpaid distributions. The Treasury had received these TRUPS in January 2009 as part of its effort to rescue Citi … [visit site to read more] 
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| Commtouch Gains Valuable Assets Posted: 30 Sep 2010 02:35 PM PDT Back on July 27, 2010, Commtouch (NASDAQ:CTCH) announced that it had signed a definitive Asset Purchase Agreement to acquire the assets, products, licenses and operations of the Command antivirus division of Authentium, Inc., a Florida-based company. Authentium was a privately held company based in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. In 2002, Authentium acquired Command Software, a security firm that was founded in 1984 and focused on anti-malware technology. Authentium also had another division, known as … [visit site to read more] 
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| Jack In The Box To Shut 40 Stores Posted: 30 Sep 2010 02:35 PM PDT Jack in the Box Inc. (JACK) announced recently that it is planning to shut 40 company-owned underperforming restaurants before the end of its current fiscal year 2010 on October 3, 2010. The fast-food chain plans to close the restaurants situated across 7 states, mostly in the Southeast and Texas, places hard-hit by the economic downturn. The bleak economic scenario resulted in weak labor and tight credit markets, which slashed discretionary spending. Jack in the Box, based in San Diego, … [visit site to read more] 
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| Triumph Upped To Outperform Posted: 30 Sep 2010 02:05 PM PDT We upgrade our recommendation on Triumph Group Inc. (NYSE:TGI) from Neutral to Outperform based on the recent Vought acquisition, which was highly accretive to first quarter fiscal 2011 earnings of $1.33 per share. Reported EPS surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.08. Management expects the acquisition to add approximately $1.10 to the earnings estimate in fiscal 2011 and synergies are expected to be approximately $15.0 million within a year. Hence, Triumph has raised its guidance to … [visit site to read more] 
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| Earnings Scorecard: Discover Financial Posted: 30 Sep 2010 02:05 PM PDT Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) reported its third quarter earnings for fiscal year 2010 on 20th September, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate substantially by 12 cents per share, led by strong net interest income growth and lower loan loss provisions, though partially offset by higher-than-expected interest expenses. Nonetheless, the investors' reactions to the better-than-expected results were quite optimistic on Wall Street. This gets reflected in the upward price movement witnessed … [visit site to read more] 
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| Good News For Covance Posted: 30 Sep 2010 01:35 PM PDT Through an agreement signed with Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE:SNY), Covance (NYSE:CVD) has become its R&D partner for the next 10 years. Covance will provide drug-development services to Sanofi for payments of $1.2-$2.2 billion over the 10-year period. Additionally, Sanofi will sell two facilities to Covance located in France and the UK for $25 million. The deal is expected to close before the year-end. Covance will also acquire chemistry, manufacturing and control services which will include … [visit site to read more] 
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| Honeywell Augments Metals Capacity Posted: 30 Sep 2010 01:35 PM PDT Honeywell International (NYSE:HON) is augmenting its production capacity for 300mm sputtering targets and related metals in a bid to cash-in on the fortunes of a reviving semiconductor market.
Honeywell is increasing targets output capacity, as well as internal capacity to make available copper, cobalt, titanium, and tungsten- the raw materials required for making the targets. In addition to manufacturing sputtering targets, Honeywell is vertically integrated in supplying source materials … [visit site to read more] 
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| MDV3100 In New Phase III Study Posted: 30 Sep 2010 01:05 PM PDT Medivation, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDVN) and Astellas Pharma recently moved their prostate cancer candidate, MDV3100, into another phase III study. The company initiated a phase III trial (PREVAIL) that will evaluate MDV3100 in advanced prostate cancer patients who are yet to receive chemotherapy.
The randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, multi-national trial will enroll approximately 1,700 patients across the United States , Canada , Europe, Australia and Israel . The study has two primary … [visit site to read more] 
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| CSX Hikes Quarterly Dividend Rate Posted: 30 Sep 2010 01:05 PM PDT Jacksonville, Florida-based, CSX Corporation's (NYSE:CSX) board of directors approved an 8.0% hike in the company's quarterly dividend rate. The revised quarterly rate now stands at 26 cents per common share compared with 24 cents previously, resulting in an annual rate of $1.04 per common share. The revised dividend will be paid on December 15, to shareholders as of the close of business on November 30.
CSX Corporation follows a consistent policy of returning cash to shareholders via … [visit site to read more] 
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| Praxair Signs ControLyo Contract Posted: 30 Sep 2010 01:05 PM PDT Praxair Inc. (NYSE:PX) signed a contract with SP Scientific, according to which the latter will be utilizing Praxair's ControLyo nucleation on-demand technology. The combination of Praxair's ControLyo technology and SP Scientific's leading line of laboratory lyophilizers will enable drug manufacturers to use various formulations during drug and process development.
The technology, mainly used by pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, strictly controls the freeze-drying process for the … [visit site to read more] 
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| Eni: African Ventures Gleam Posted: 30 Sep 2010 12:35 PM PDT Eni SpA (NYSE:E), Italy's oil major, together with its associates declared a successful oil discovery in the Cabaca South East-2 well in block 15/06, located offshore Angola. The well produced 7,000 barrels per day during the initial test run, which was limited by surface facilities.
Early July, Eni had announced the discovery, which is located at a distance of 100 kilometers from the coast and at a depth of 470 meters. The company initially estimated that the reservoir holds a total of … [visit site to read more] 
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| Equity Residential Acquires Asset Posted: 30 Sep 2010 12:35 PM PDT Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR), the largest fully integrated publicly traded multi-family real estate investment trust (REIT) in the U.S., has recently acquired Vantage Pointe – a high-rise building in San Diego, California, for $200 million. The property includes 679 apartment units valued at approximately $291,000 per unit and $348 per square foot of rentable apartment space. Vantage Pointe also features 26,425 square feet of retail space and 968 underground parking units.
The … [visit site to read more] 
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| Another Record Week For Intermodal Rail Traffic Posted: 30 Sep 2010 12:33 PM PDT “The Association of American Railroads (AAR) today reported that U.S. railroads saw the highest weekly intermodal volume for 2010 and highest container count on record for the second consecutive week. For the week ending Sept. 25, 2010, intermodal traffic on U.S. railroads totaled 241,167 trailers and containers, up 17.3 percent from the same week in 2009, but down 2.1 percent compared with 2008. Container volume last week increased 19.2 percent compared with 2009, and rose 6 percent compared … [visit site to read more] 
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| Why I Buy Stocks Making All-Time New Highs Posted: 30 Sep 2010 11:31 AM PDT I was challenged the other day by my focus and emphasis on what appears to be a narrow range of stocks. The stocks I buy (and therefore the ones that appear in the Daily Alerts sent to subscribers) are often stocks that are making “all-time” (because of the constraint in my system, usually actually 5-year) new highs.
Whenever the market is accommodating and the time is right to begin putting your hard-earned cash to work, it always boils down to a question of selecting those stocks with the … [visit site to read more] 
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