DailyMarkets.com - Ventas To Renew Lease For 64 Assets

Ventas To Renew Lease For 64 Assets
Action Date For UTHR Candidate
WU Affirms Pact With Grupo Elektra
Hot Option Plays: Groundhog Is Trading Again
Incyte Cut To Underperform
RenaissanceRe Upgraded To Neutral
Citi Offloads Entire HDFC Stake
U.S. Crude Stocks Gain, Fuels Drop
AstraZeneca’s Caprelsa Gets EU Nod
Chubb Hikes Dividend Yet Again
Texas Capital Upped To Outperform
BUY/SOLD DUST – $28.65/$29.60
Delta Spreads Wings In China
Canadian Solar Modules In Denmark
Flat Friday For U.S. Stocks
BofA To Increase Footprint In China
Avnet Teams Up With Smart Storage
5700 P&G Jobs On The Chopping Block
Maxwell Gets Swiss Funding
Earning Scorecard: Comcast
China Unicom Adds 3G Users
Tesoro Poised At Neutral
BSX Stents OK’d For AMI Patients
Transocean Upgraded To Neutral
Hot Option Plays: Looking For Confirmation
Monetary Policy Week In Review – 25 February 2012
SM Energy Tops Consensus
Cartoon Of The Day
National Bank Of Belarus Drops Rate 500bps To 38.00%
Central Bank Of Colombia Hikes Rate 25bps To 5.25%
The Trend Trader For ETF Trading On Monday, February 27, 2012
The Trend Trader For Stock Trading On Monday, February 27, 2012
The Trend Trader For Forex Trading On Monday, February 27, 2012
The Trend Trader For Futures Trading On Monday, February 27, 2012

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 03:55 PM PST

Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) recently announced that it is on the look out for prospective tenants for 64 healthcare assets, which are currently leased to Kindred Healthcare, Inc. under four Master Leases. Kindred currently pays an annual cash rent of $77 million for the assets. The lease term of these assets is scheduled to expire April 30, 2013.
Kindred indicated that it intends to renew its leases on 25 health care assets, totaling $46 million of the current annual rent. However, Kindred has already … [visit site to read more] or compare Credit Card Rewards and Best Credit Cards

Action Date For UTHR Candidate

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 03:40 PM PST

United Therapeutics Corporation (NASDAQ:UTHR) recently announced that its new drug application (NDA) for oral treprostinil was accepted for review by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The company is looking to get oral treprostinil approved for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). The FDA is scheduled to respond on the NDA for oral treprostinil by October 27, 2012.
United Therapeutics had applied for US approval of oral treprostinil in late December 2011. Remodulin … [visit site to read more] or compare Credit Card Rewards and Best Credit Cards

WU Affirms Pact With Grupo Elektra

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 03:35 PM PST

World's leading money transfer company, Western Union Co. (NYSE:WU) has renewed its agreement for international money transfer with Elektra, S.A.B. de C.V, a leading financial services company and specialty retailer in Latin America. With more than 1,800 points of sale in Mexico, Grupo Elektra offers a solid franchise for the Western Union Money transfer business.
Western Union had first entered into an agreement with Grupo Elektra in 1993 to offer international payments transfer services in … [visit site to read more] or compare Credit Card Rewards and Best Credit Cards

Hot Option Plays: Groundhog Is Trading Again

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 03:24 PM PST

Cusick’s Corner 02-24-2012
The grind continued into the After Hours and while this is frustrating for traders, it’s like Bill Murray’s “Groundhog Day” — we have seen this type of action repeat all week. I pointed this out on the close yesterday when the NASDAQ sat right at the 2600, so still no side tipping their hat. I did not like the fact that Consumer Discretionary, XLY, and the Financials, XLF, both lagged all week against the S&Ps. I will watch for an early squeeze next week, ’til … [visit site to read more] or compare Credit Card Rewards and Best Credit Cards

Incyte Cut To Underperform

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 03:15 PM PST

We have downgraded Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ:INCY) to Underperform from Neutral following its lackluster showing in the final quarter of 2011.
The company incurred a wider-than-expected loss in the final quarter of 2011. Results were hurt by lower revenues and higher costs. Total revenue in the reported quarter plummeted 66.4% to $28.9 million mainly due to a 68.8% reduction in contract revenues.
Revenues in the fourth quarter of 2010 were boosted by the presence of milestone payments to the tune … [visit site to read more] or compare Credit Card Rewards and Best Credit Cards

RenaissanceRe Upgraded To Neutral

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 03:15 PM PST

We have upgraded our recommendation on RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) to Neutral from Underperform based on its improving operating leverage, strategic divestitures and stable ratings. Additionally, efficient capital deployment is boosting investors' confidence in the stock.
RenaissanceRe reported fourth-quarter 2011 operating earnings of $1.11 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.06. However, this compared unfavorably with the year-ago quarter earnings of $3.47.
Over … [visit site to read more] or compare Credit Card Rewards and Best Credit Cards

Citi Offloads Entire HDFC Stake

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 03:06 PM PST

As part of its ongoing capital planning efforts, Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) has offloaded its entire stake in Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd. (HDFC) through the National Stock Exchange.
The company sold 145.3 million shares in HDFC, representing 9.85% of the total stake. Proceeds from the stake sale are projected to be $1.9 billion, which would result in a pre-tax gain to Citigroup of $1.1 billion, and an after-tax gain of approximately $722 million.
In 2011, Citi had slashed its stake … [visit site to read more] or compare Credit Card Rewards and Best Credit Cards

U.S. Crude Stocks Gain, Fuels Drop

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 02:50 PM PST

The U.S. Energy Department’s weekly inventory release showed that crude stockpiles rose to their highest level since September 2011. The agency's report further revealed that gasoline and distillate stocks declined slightly from their previous week levels. Meanwhile, refinery utilization rate was up by 1.5%.
The Energy Information Administration (“EIA”) Petroleum Status Report – which contains data for the previous week ending Friday, outlines information regarding the weekly change in … [visit site to read more] or compare Credit Card Rewards and Best Credit Cards

AstraZeneca’s Caprelsa Gets EU Nod

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 02:50 PM PST

AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN) recently announced that Caprelsa has been approved in the EU for the treatment of aggressive and symptomatic medullary thyroid cancer ("MTC") in patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic disease. In Europe, Caprelsa is the first approved therapy for this indication.
The approval comes after the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use ("CHMP") gave a positive opinion in November 2011. Caprelsa is already approved in the US where it was launched … [visit site to read more] or compare Credit Card Rewards and Best Credit Cards

Chubb Hikes Dividend Yet Again

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 02:35 PM PST

Property and casualty insurer, Chubb Corp. (NYSE:CB) has raised its quarterly dividend by 5.1% to 41 cents per share. The dividend will be paid on April 3, 2012 to the shareholders of record as of March 16, 2012.
Chubb's dividend yield of 2.4% compares quite favorably with other companies in the sector. Given the continued weakness in the global economy, low-interest rates and record catastrophe losses incurred in 2011, we are quite impressed with the company's announcement of a dividend … [visit site to read more] or compare Credit Card Rewards and Best Credit Cards

Texas Capital Upped To Outperform

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 02:25 PM PST

We have upgraded our recommendation on Texas Capital Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ:TCBI) to Outperform from Neutral following better-than-expected fourth quarter 2011 earnings, backed by the increase in net interest income. The improvements in the credit quality metrics were also quite impressive.
Texas Capital reported fourth-quarter 2011 operating earnings of 67 cents per share, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 61 cents. The results were also above the prior-year earnings of 32 cents per … [visit site to read more] or compare Credit Card Rewards and Best Credit Cards

BUY/SOLD DUST – $28.65/$29.60

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 02:19 PM PST

I’ve been watching a couple of different setups take shape on various stocks and when the 1 hour chart of Direxion’s Gold Miner 3X Bear ETF (DUST) showed me what I was waiting for, I bought shares at $28.65.

It’s particularly nice to find a setup where more than one TSI technique BUY signal is active. In this case, there were three – the trend line break, the positive divergence and the ZERO crossover. Additionally, I am gravitating towards finding trend line break BUY signals that are … [visit site to read more] or compare Credit Card Rewards and Best Credit Cards

Delta Spreads Wings In China

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 02:07 PM PST

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) has recently entered into a partnership with China Eastern and China Southern airlines. The agreement will allow code sharing between Delta and both the Chinese airlines to serve more flights to customers.
Per the agreement, both the Chinese carriers will place their codes and flight numbers on Delta flights operated between Seattle and Beijing. Additionally, China Eastern can access Delta carriers flying between Detroit and Beijing.
In exchange, Delta can expand … [visit site to read more] or compare Credit Card Rewards and Best Credit Cards

Canadian Solar Modules In Denmark

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 02:00 PM PST

Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ:CSIQ) has supplied 2,800 solar modules for a rooftop system built in the Danish city of Virum, north of Copenhagen. The rooftop system is Denmark’s largest photovoltaic ("PV") system with a generation capacity of 605 KW and is built by SRU Solar AG in collaboration with Greengo Energy.
The young Danish energy company Greengo Energy and SRU Solar AG, based in the city of Berga in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany have constructed and made the solar installation on two roofs of an … [visit site to read more] or compare Credit Card Rewards and Best Credit Cards

Flat Friday For U.S. Stocks

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 02:00 PM PST

02/24/12 U.S. stocks drifted to a mixed close Friday in lackluster trade Friday to end the week just under the pivotal 13,000 mark … [visit site to read more] or compare Credit Card Rewards and Best Credit Cards

BofA To Increase Footprint In China

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 01:55 PM PST

On Thursday, Bloomberg reported that Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC), one of the Wall Street giants, is all set to speed up its expansion in China. For this expansion, the bank is aiming to double its profits and enhance its workforce.
Currently, BofA has three outlets in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. Further, the bank plans to open five branches in China over the next two to three years. The company is working on the layout of its three-year strategic plan, which includes increase in … [visit site to read more] or compare Credit Card Rewards and Best Credit Cards

Avnet Teams Up With Smart Storage

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 01:35 PM PST

Electronic parts distributor Avnet, Inc (NYSE:AVT) recently expanded its global distribution agreement with SMART Storage Systems.
SMART Storage Systems is an innovative and rapidly emerging SSD technology provider. Under the expanded agreement, Avnet Memec and Avnet Embedded will now distribute SMART Storage Systems’ Xceed solid-state drive (SSD) product lines to its customers on a worldwide basis
Management stated that the expanded agreement with SMART Storage Systems will not only broaden the … [visit site to read more] or compare Credit Card Rewards and Best Credit Cards

5700 P&G Jobs On The Chopping Block

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 01:30 PM PST

The world's leading consumer product maker, Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) has announced that it will slash over 4,000 non-manufacturing jobs during the current fiscal year. This declaration follows the already planned 1,600 job losses, which was announced by the company at the beginning of February 2012.
P&G anticipates that by trimming down 5, 700 jobs, it will save up to $10 billion of cost, including $1 billion in marketing costs and $3 billion in overhead costs, by the end of … [visit site to read more] or compare Credit Card Rewards and Best Credit Cards

Maxwell Gets Swiss Funding

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 01:20 PM PST

Maxwell Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:MXWL) announced that it will receive approximately $0.6 million from the Swiss government to accelerate the company’s initiatives to improve manufacturing processes and enhance performance of its proprietary CONDIS high-voltage capacitor products. CONDIS is used in electric utility grid infrastructure and other high-voltage applications.
The funding provided by the Commission for Technology and Innovation of the Swiss Federal Department of Economic Affairs would … [visit site to read more] or compare Credit Card Rewards and Best Credit Cards

Earning Scorecard: Comcast

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 01:10 PM PST

Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) reported excellent financial results in the fourth quarter of 2011, easily outpacing the Zacks Consensus Estimates. While the company's Cable businesses continued to beat market expectations, NBC Universal has started providing synergies.
Moreover, Comcast impressively narrowed its subscriber loss to 17,000 compared with a loss of 135,000 subscribers in the year-ago quarter, which we believe had a positive impact on the company's performance in the reported … [visit site to read more] or compare Credit Card Rewards and Best Credit Cards

China Unicom Adds 3G Users

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 01:05 PM PST

China’s second largest mobile operator China Unicom (NYSE:CHU) added 3.232 million subscribers in January, up 1.62% from the prior month. This takes the company's total customer base to 202.89 million.
The company's GSM subscriber base rose to 159.823 million with the net addition of 0.182 million customers, while its 3G subscriber base increased to 43.069 million with net addition of 3.05 million in January. China Unicom added less 3G subscribers in November compared to 3.48 million last … [visit site to read more] or compare Credit Card Rewards and Best Credit Cards

Tesoro Poised At Neutral

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 01:00 PM PST

We are maintaining a Neutral recommendation on Tesoro Corporation (NYSE:TSO), based on the company's strategic initiatives, acquisitions and investment programs, partially offset by the volatility of the refining business and weak product demand.
San Antonio, Texas-based Tesoro is an independent refiner and marketer of refined petroleum products in the western U.S. The company operates in two segments: Refining (accounted for 93% of the company's total 2011 operating income) and Retail … [visit site to read more] or compare Credit Card Rewards and Best Credit Cards

BSX Stents OK’d For AMI Patients

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 12:35 PM PST

Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE:BSX) has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) for use of its Ion and Taxus Liberete stents in patients experiencing an acute myocardial infarction ("AMI"), commonly called a heart attack. These are thus the only drug-eluting-stents ("DES") in the US for treatment of heart attack patients.
The FDA approval is based on positive data from the HORIZONS-AMI trial, where 3,006 patients were randomized to receive either DES or … [visit site to read more] or compare Credit Card Rewards and Best Credit Cards

Transocean Upgraded To Neutral

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 12:30 PM PST

Ahead of the fourth quarter and year-end 2011 results, we have upgraded offshore drilling giant Transocean Ltd. (RIG) shares to Neutral from Underperform.
Switzerland-based Transocean is the world's largest offshore drilling contractor and the leading provider of drilling management services worldwide. The company owns, has partial ownership interests in, or operates 137 mobile offshore drilling rigs. Transocean's drilling fleet consists of 47 high-specification deepwater floaters, 25 … [visit site to read more] or compare Credit Card Rewards and Best Credit Cards

Hot Option Plays: Looking For Confirmation

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 12:23 PM PST

Cusick’s Corner 02-24-2012
There appears to be no divergence from trend or any flag for potential bearish variance on the landscape from a long term perspective. One short term question mark comes from looking at the transports, $DJT/IYT, which have not confirmed the move in the Dow Jones, so I will watch the transports for a sign of momentum — a break of 5000 could be negative. One other point is that Volatility, VIX, continues to contract, like a spring that is coiled — at some point it … [visit site to read more] or compare Credit Card Rewards and Best Credit Cards

Monetary Policy Week In Review – 25 February 2012

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 12:09 PM PST

The past week in monetary policy saw two central banks changing their main interest rates; Colombia +25bps to 5.25%, and Belarus -500bps to 38.00%, while two held their rates unchanged; Namibia at 6.00%, and Turkey at 5.75%. Turkey did however cut some of its other interest rates (see the update for details). Also making headlines was the People’s Bank of China announcing a 50 basis point cut to the Required Reserve Ratio, an important move towards more growth focused policy … [visit site to read more] or compare Credit Card Rewards and Best Credit Cards

SM Energy Tops Consensus

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 12:05 PM PST

SM Energy Company's (NYSE:SM) fourth-quarter 2011 adjusted earnings of 60 cents per share increased by over 30% from the year-ago earnings of 46 cents. The results also beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 56 cents.
Full-year 2011 adjusted earnings increased nearly 87% to $2.56 per share from last year's profit level of $1.37.
Fourth quarter earnings recorded a jump on the back of greater production. Production growth was driven by robust results in the company’s Eagle Ford shale and … [visit site to read more] or compare Credit Card Rewards and Best Credit Cards

Cartoon Of The Day

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 11:59 AM PST

From Michael Ramirez at IBD.

HT: Warren … [visit site to read more] or compare Credit Card Rewards and Best Credit Cards

National Bank Of Belarus Drops Rate 500bps To 38.00%

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 11:41 AM PST

The National Bank of the Republic of Belarus cut its refinancing rate by 500 basis points to 38.00% from 43.00%, effective 1 March, reversing a string of aggressive rate hikes. The Bank said [translated]: “in recent months, there is a significant slowdown in inflation. Thus, the consumer price index for December 2011 amounted to 102.3 percent for January 2012 – 101.9 per cent, for two weeks of February – 100,9 percent. As a result, interest rates in real terms on … [visit site to read more] or compare Credit Card Rewards and Best Credit Cards

Central Bank Of Colombia Hikes Rate 25bps To 5.25%

Posted: 24 Feb 2012 11:22 AM PST

The Central Bank of Colombia hiked its monetary policy interest rate another 25 basis points to 5.25% from 5.00%. The Bank said [translated]: “The latest information suggests that in the fourth quarter of 2011 the Colombian economy continued to show strong momentum and that this performance has continued in early 2012. Both exports and imports of capital goods continued to grow at high rates in December. In the same month, the index of industrial confidence remained at high … [visit site to read more] or compare Credit Card Rewards and Best Credit Cards