Friday, January 14, 2011

DailyMarkets.com - MDT, Ardian Target Hypertension

DailyMarkets.com - MDT, Ardian Target Hypertension

MDT, Ardian Target Hypertension

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 04:05 PM PST

Leading medical devices player, Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) has completed the acquisition of privately-held Ardian for an upfront payment of $800 million. Additionally, Medtronic is liable to pay milestone payments based on Ardian's revenues through 2015.  Earlier, in November, the company announced its decision to acquire Ardian, in which it was holding an 11% stake then.
Ardian develops catheter-based therapies to treat hypertension and related conditions. Immense potential exists in this market … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

PEG Unit Sells Texas Assets

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 04:05 PM PST

Public Service Enterprise Group, or PSEG (NYSE:PEG), announced that its unit PSEG Power has entered into agreements to sell two 1,000 megawatt gas-fired generating assets in Texas.
These assets will be sold in two different transactions having a combined value of $687 million or $343 per kilowatt. The company intends to make use of the proceeds for general corporate purposes.
Of the two PSEG Power properties up for sale, the Odessa facility situated in west Texas will be purchased by High Plains … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

H-P Identifies New Growth Areas

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 03:35 PM PST

The world's largest computer manufacturer Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) has won a $30.0 million deal from Texas Health and Human Services Commission. As per the terms of the agreement, the technology major will create a state-wide Medicaid health information exchange.
This is a 52-month contract, which includes the replacement of the paper-based Medicaid identification cards with plastic magnetic stripe cards for automated eligibility verification.
The agreement further specifies that HP … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

Harris Gaining Momentum Overseas

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 03:35 PM PST

Early indications in 2011 are clearly showing that Harris Corp. (NYSE:HRS) is getting a significant foothold in the international (outside U.S.) markets. This is a welcome development as several industry researchers predicted that the U.S. Government budget for Defense may be reduced in 2011, which means low demand for military product manufacturers. As a leading government electronics supplier, Harris is benefiting from strong international market conditions.
Yesterday, Harris declared that it … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

Starbucks Enters Indian Market

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 03:35 PM PST

Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ:SBUX) has taken its first step in India with Tata Coffee Ltd., Asia's largest publicly traded coffee grower. Starbucks will buy coffee beans from India and explore the possibility of opening outlets in the country.
Per the agreement the company will initially engage in sourcing and roasting of beans. Later, the coffee retailer giant desires to open outlets in Tata retail locations and hotels. The first Starbucks store in India is expected to become operational in about … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

5 Stocks On The Move

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 03:30 PM PST

( click to enlarge )

I think Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS) is setting up for a strong move, probably into the twenty two to twenty five dollar area at first. The stock has been under accumulation for a couple days now and today it broke through two major resistance levels. The momentum is back in this stock. The next major resistance level is around $22.80… so a lot more room on the upside. The volume on accumulation days consistently exceeded the volume on distribution days. That’s always a bullish … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

CME Refinances Debt, Prepays $421M

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 03:05 PM PST

In the latest of its debt restructuring initiatives, yesterday CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) announced a loan prepayment of $420.5 million under the three-year credit and term loan agreement that was due August 2011. This revolving facility has further been replaced with a $1 billion multi-currency three-year revolving credit agreement that will expire in January 2014.
CME is also expected to incur about $9 million of non-interest expenses in the fourth quarter of 2010, which would otherwise be … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

Target’s First Overseas Outpost

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 02:35 PM PST

Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT), in its first expedition outside the U.S., has announced its plan to expand into Canada by acquiring leases for 220 Zellers stores, owned by Hudson Bay Company.
Target will be gaining the leasehold interests on the properties by paying C$1.825 billion to Zellers Inc. The transaction amount will be made in two equal payments of C$912.5 million, expected in May and September, 2011.
Zellers, one of the largest mass-merchandise retailers in Canada, has more than 270 stores and … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

Rating Action On UnitedHealth

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 02:35 PM PST

Following the revision of rating outlook to stable from negative over the U.S. Health Insurance and Managed Care sector, the rating agency Fitch Ratings also took rating action on UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE:UNH) one of the major companies of the sector.
The rating actions included the affirmation of UnitedHealth's long-term issuer default rating (IDR) at "A" and issuer financial strength ratings of "AA-"on fifteen of its subsidiaries. The ratings carry a stable outlook.
Fitch's … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

Grupo Aeroportuario’s Traffic Grows

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 02:35 PM PST

Mexican airport operator Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte, S.A.B. de C.V (NASDAQ:OMAB) recorded a 1.8% growth in passenger traffic in December 2010 compared with the year-ago period. Domestic traffic and International traffic rose 0.5% and 8.0%, respectively. For fiscal 2010, total passenger traffic went up 0.6% year over year with International traffic increasing 6.7%, while domestic traffic decreased marginally by 0.5%.
During the third quarter of fiscal 2010, passenger traffic rose 4.3% year … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

Forex – EUR/USD Up At The End Of U.S. Session

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 02:10 PM PST

Forex Pros – The Euro was higher against the U.S. Dollar on Friday.

EUR/USD was trading at 1.3388, up 0.17% at time of writing.

The pair was likely to find support at 1.2874, Monday's low, and resistance at 1.3456, today's high.

Meanwhile, the Euro was down against the British Pound and up against the Japanese Yen, with EUR/GBP shedding 0.02% to hit 0.8436 and EUR/JPY rising 0.26% to hit … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

Tetra Tech Buys Fransen

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 02:05 PM PST

Tetra Tech Inc (NASDAQ:TTEK) is set to acquire substantially all of the assets of Fransen Engineering of Richmond, British Columbia.
The target company provides engineering and technical consultancy services to industrial clients with targeted expertise in water treatment and management for oil sands producers. Fransen’s experience is complementary to the process engineering capability brought by BPR of Quebec, which Tetra Tech acquired in Oct 2010.
We expect the U.S. stimulus package to drive sales … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

QLogic Raises 3Q Outlook

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 02:05 PM PST

A leading supplier of high performance network infrastructure solutions, QLogic Corp. (NASDAQ:QLGC) reported preliminary results for its third quarter 2011. QLogic expects revenue to come in at the high end of its previously projected guidance. The company raised its earnings per share (EPS) outlook on income tax benefits.
For the third quarter management raised the low end of its total net revenue expectation. QLogic now expects revenues in the range of $155 million to $156 million as compared with … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

Rolling NDA For Pfizer Drug

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 02:05 PM PST

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) recently announced that it has started a rolling submission for a New Drug Application (NDA) to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its lung cancer pipeline candidate crizotinib. The submission is expected to be completed in the first half of 2011.
Crizotinib is a first-in-class, oral anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) inhibitor currently in phase III trials for the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The candidate is also being studied in phase I … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

Forex – GBP/USD Up At The End Of U.S. Session

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 02:05 PM PST

Forex Pros – The British Pound was higher against the U.S. Dollar on Friday.

GBP/USD was trading at 1.5870, up 0.20% at time of writing.

The pair was likely to find support at 1.5476, Monday's low, and resistance at 1.5889, today's high.

Meanwhile, the British Pound was up against the Euro and the Japanese Yen, with EUR/GBP shedding 0.02% to hit 0.8436 and GBP/JPY rising 0.27% to hit … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

Forex – USD/JPY Up At The End Of U.S. Session

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 02:00 PM PST

Forex Pros – The U.S. Dollar was higher against the Japanese Yen on Friday.

USD/JPY was trading at 82.88, up 0.07% at time of writing.

The pair was likely to find support at 82.41, today's low, and resistance at 83.49, Tuesday's high.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Dollar was down against the Euro and the British Pound, with EUR/USD gaining 0.17% to hit 1.3388 and GBP/USD rising 0.20% to hit … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

Closing Bell Market Monitor: JPM, NEM

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 01:50 PM PST

01/14/11 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 @ … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

Forex – EUR/USD Up Toward The End Of U.S. Session

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 01:40 PM PST

Forex Pros – The Euro was higher against the U.S. Dollar on Friday after the release of U.S. data on Retail Sales.

EUR/USD was trading at 1.3383, up 0.13% at time of writing.

The pair was likely to find support at 1.2874, Monday's low, and resistance at 1.3456, today's high.

Earlier in the day, official data showed that retail sales in the U.S. rose less-than-expected to a seasonally adjusted 0.60% last month, from 0.80% in the preceding month.

Analysts had expected retail sales to rise … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

Lululemon Ups Outlook

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 01:35 PM PST

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU), in a scheduled update to its business outlook for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010, revised its earnings per share (EPS) guidance. On a bullish note, the company now sees earnings per share for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010 in the range of 55 cents to 57 cents.
Lululemon had earlier expected earnings per share for the quarter in the range of 46 cents to 48 cents. However, given the signs of a solid performance in recent quarters, constructive trends in … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

Merck’s Blood Thinner In Trouble

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 01:35 PM PST

Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) recently provided an unfavorable update on the development status of its cardiovascular pipeline candidate, vorapaxar. Vorapaxar, in late-stage trials, with a potential filing planned for 2011, is being studied for the reduction of cardiovascular events in patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
Merck currently has two trials in progress for the candidate – TRACER, a study in patients with acute coronary syndrome, and TRA-2P (TIMI 50), a study in … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

Forex – GBP/USD Up Toward The End Of U.S. Session

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 01:30 PM PST

Forex Pros – The British Pound was higher against the U.S. Dollar on Friday after the release of U.S. data on Retail Sales.

GBP/USD was trading at 1.5864, up 0.16% at time of writing.

The pair was likely to find support at 1.5476, Monday's low, and resistance at 1.5889, today's high.

Earlier in the day, official data showed that retail sales in the U.S. rose less-than-expected to a seasonally adjusted 0.60% last month, from 0.80% in the preceding month.

Analysts had expected retail … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

Forex – USD/JPY Up Toward The End Of U.S. Session

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 01:20 PM PST

Forex Pros – The U.S. Dollar was higher against the Japanese Yen on Friday after the release of U.S. data on Retail Sales.

USD/JPY was trading at 82.95, up 0.17% at time of writing.

The pair was likely to find support at 82.41, today's low, and resistance at 83.49, Tuesday's high.

Earlier in the day, official data showed that retail sales in the U.S. rose less-than-expected to a seasonally adjusted 0.60% last month, from 0.80% in the preceding month.

Analysts had expected retail sales … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

What A Recovery!

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 01:17 PM PST

Here’s one way of looking at today’s data:
“US Retail Sales Record Strongest Growth Since 1999″ (Financial Times)
US retail sales surged last year at the strongest pace since 1999, as consumers shook off their fears of recession and started spending again amid tepid inflation.
Commerce department figures on Friday showed that total sales in 2010 were up 6.8 per cent from 2009, marking the sharpest such increase in more than a decade.
And here’s another –

And another –

What can I say … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

U.S. Markets Close Higher; Dow Jones Up 0.47%

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 01:10 PM PST

Forex Pros – U.S. stocks were up after the closing bell on Friday.

At the close of U.S. trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.47%, the S&P 500 index gained 0.74%, while the Nasdaq 100 index climbed 0.78%.

Earlier in the day, official data showed that retail sales in the U.S. rose less-than-expected to a seasonally adjusted 0.60% last month, from 0.80% in the preceding month.

Analysts had expected retail sales to rise 0.70% last month.

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, European … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

Earnings Scorecard: Monsanto

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 01:05 PM PST

Following the first quarter of fiscal 2011 results on January 6, the analysts covering Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) remain positive on the stock based on the strong orders for soybean seeds and 9 biotechnology projects advancement in the company's R&D pipeline for fiscal 2011. Monsanto also posted decent results with an EPS of 2 cents, a penny above the Zacks Consensus Estimate.
Quarter Highlights
Monsanto announced better-than-expected results for the first quarter of fiscal 2011. During the … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

CBSH Beats On Higher Revenues

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 01:05 PM PST

On Thursday, Commerce Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) reported its fourth quarter 2010 earnings per share of 70 cents, ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 66 cents.
The earnings also compare favorably with the prior quarter's earnings of 64 cents and the year-ago quarter's earnings of 57 cents. For fiscal year 2010, the company reported earnings of $2.52 per share, in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate and up 27.9% from $1.97 in the year-ago period.
The results benefited from increase in … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

Ranking The Final 4 Sectors

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 01:05 PM PST

In my weekly Earnings Trends report, I rank the 16 economic sectors on a wide variety of earnings and sales metrics. The report just looks at the 500 firms in the S&P 500, not the whole Zacks Universe. However, since it is organized by the individual metric, such as Annual Earnings Growth or P/E, it can be hard to get an overall picture of a given economic sector.

This is the fourth and final post in a series that tries to rectify that. Since there is a lot to write about in each sector, I … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

BP Options Abuzz Ahead Of News Conference

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 01:03 PM PST

BP options abuzz ahead of news conference
Today’s tickers: BP, WFT, ITT, AMR, OLN, VRGY & NANO
BP PLC (NYSE:BP) – Options volume, options implied volatility and the value of shares in BP are on the rise ahead of a press conference in which the oil company will reportedly shed light on a possible deal with the Russian state-controlled oil company, Rosneft. Volume in options traded on BP is fast approaching 270,000 in the final 30 minutes of the session, with shares in the name having rallied as … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

Forex – GBP/USD Up During The U.S. Session

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 12:45 PM PST

Forex Pros – The British Pound was higher against the U.S. Dollar on Friday after the release of U.S. data on Retail Sales.

GBP/USD was trading at 1.5865, up 0.17% at time of writing.

The pair was likely to find support at 1.5476, Monday's low, and resistance at 1.5889, today's high.

Earlier in the day, official data showed that retail sales in the U.S. rose less-than-expected to a seasonally adjusted 0.60% last month, from 0.80% in the preceding month.

Analysts had expected retail … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

LAN Traffic Surges

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 12:35 PM PST

LAN Airlines S.A. (NYSE:LFL) posted a 13.7% increase in total passenger traffic for December 2010 compared to December 2009. Domestic traffic and International traffic rose 10.7% and 15.0%, respectively. Cargo traffic surged 9.9% year over year, based on the growth in Latin American imports.
During the third quarter of fiscal 2010, LAN recorded a 14.2% increase in passenger traffic and 19.0% in cargo traffic.
The prime reason for the significant increase in passenger traffic was the recovery in … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

Shaw Communications Beats In 1Q

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 12:35 PM PST

Shaw Communications Inc. (NYSE:SJR) has declared the financial results of its first quarter of fiscal 2011 (ended November 30, 2010), which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The company provided a strong financial outlook and also raised the dividend on its common stock.
Quarterly net income was $20.3 million or 4 cents per share compared to a net income of $111.7 million or 25 cents in the prior-year quarter. However, in the reported quarter, Shaw Communications incurred around $140.5 million of … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

Link: Technical Analysis Is About Reflection Not Inflection

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 12:13 PM PST

I wanted to share a link to a brief but helpful/thought-provoking defense of Technical Analysis as explained by Greg Harmon of Dragonfly Capital.
Entitled, "Technical Analysis is about Reflection, not Inflection," Greg challenges some of the common complaints or misperceptions about what those who use TA do and how they study their charts.
He also adds a humorous chart of what NOT to do as a technical analyst – it's worth a glimpse!
I wanted to pull-out a few quotes:
"Technical … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

PC Sales Grow In 4Q

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 12:05 PM PST

Personal computer (PC) shipments for the fourth quarter were disappointing, missing IDC estimates, although growing 2.7% during the quarter. As expected, Apple Inc's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPad was partially to blame, diverting dollars away from the more traditional desktop and notebook markets.
Both market research firms Gartner and IDC are of the opinion that new PC sales rose in the fourth quarter although not as strongly as they had expected.
Total PC shipments were estimated at 92 million by IDC, or … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

Washington Federal Reports In Line

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 12:05 PM PST

On Thursday, Washington Federal Inc.'s (NASDAQ:WFSL) fiscal first quarter (ended December 31, 2010) earnings came in at 22 cents per share in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate and  compares favorably with the year-ago quarter's earnings of 7 cents.
Net income available to common shareholders for the reported quarter came in at $24.5 million, compared with $7.9 million in the prior-year quarter.
Results benefited from a growth in net interest income and decline in provision for loan … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

Strong Q4 For Health Care REIT

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 12:05 PM PST

Health Care REIT, Inc. (NYSE:HCN), a real estate investment trust (REIT) that operates senior housing and health care real estate assets, has recently announced gross investments of $1.6 billion in fourth quarter 2010, partially offset by $77 million of asset sales and loan payoffs resulting in $1.5 billion of net new investments for the quarter.
For full fiscal 2010, gross investments of the company totaled approximately $3.2 billion. Health Care REIT sold assets worth $196 million during the … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

Core CPI Still Tame

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 12:05 PM PST

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 0.5% in December, a sharp rise from the 0.1% increase in November, and the 0.2% rise October. While that sounds bad, year over year it is up just 1.5%.

Looking a little bit deeper, the problem is mostly with energy prices, which surged 4.6% a very sharp acceleration from the 0.2% increase. Actually, November was more like a pause in the trend as Energy prices were up 2.6% in October and are up 7.7% year over year.

In fact, the increase is even narrower … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

Forex – USD/CAD Up During The U.S. Session

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 12:05 PM PST

Forex Pros – The U.S. Dollar was higher against the Canadian Dollar on Friday after the release of U.S. data on Retail Sales.

USD/CAD was trading at 0.9894, up 0.04% at time of writing.

The pair was likely to find support at 0.9848, Wednesday's low, and resistance at 0.9983, Monday's high.

Earlier in the day, official data showed that retail sales in the U.S. rose less-than-expected to a seasonally adjusted 0.60% last month, from 0.80% in the preceding month.

Analysts had expected … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

Retail Sales Set New Record In Dec. Of $381B

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 12:03 PM PST

The Census Bureau reported today that U.S. consumers set a new all-time monthly record by spending $380.9 billion on retail and food services in December of last year.  Without adjusting for inflation, this was the first time since the recession started in December 2007 that consumer spending has surpassed the pre-recession, previous record-high retail sales volume of of $380.0 billion set back in November 2007.  The highest-ever retail spending amount in December was almost 8% … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

Don Coxe Webcast – Updated (January 14, 2011)

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 12:02 PM PST

Article written by Prieur du Plessis, editor of the Investment Postcards from Cape Town blog.
Don Coxe has updated his popular webcast on Friday, January 14, 2011 – good news for his followers. You can access the recording here or from the sidebar of the Investment Postcards site (the column on the right-hand side) by clicking on Don's photograph.

Don Coxe webcast – updated (January 14, 2011) was first posted on January 14, 2011 at 10:02 pm.
©2011 “Investment Postcards from Cape Town”. … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

Gold GLD Still Standing On Precipice Of Chart Support

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 11:34 AM PST

I wanted to give a quick chart-based update to my prior post this week "Key Daily and Weekly Price Level to Watch in Gold GLD" which goes into a bit more detail than this quick update.
It's rare to have such a major commodity 'hanging out' at such a critical key level from the technical analysis perspective.
Let's start with the Daily and move to the Weekly chart:

Cutting right to the chase, Gold – seen in its leading/popular ETF GLD above -  broke under the critical 50 day … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

Crude Drops Near $90

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 11:31 AM PST

01/14/11 Front month crude prices took a hit this session, falling near $90 a barrel, after weak US jobs reports and China moving to slow its economic … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates

Approaching The First Objective

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 11:07 AM PST

It’s getting to feel more and more like a real, old-fashioned bull market. There seem to be three varieties of stocks these days:

Category I stocks started running last Labor Day and have now advanced far ahead including semiconductors, software, internet and precious and rare metals.

Category II stocks are just now breaking above key resistance levels and are just now joining the bull run including money center banks, industrial equipment, construction and engineering, large biotech, … [visit site to read more] or compare Best Credit Cards and Best CD Rates
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