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Daily Archives: August 14, 2008

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Energy Watch Part II: Refining Woes Remain (WNR, ALJ, DK, TSO, VLO, XOM, CVX, COP)

Posted: August 14, 2008 at 8:29 am

It's no secret the oil refining margins have been dropping like a rock for the past few quarters. When pump prices began to approach a US-wide average of about $4/gallon, ...
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Slow Housing Equals Slow Lawn Mower Market (BGG, TTC)

Posted: August 14, 2008 at 8:22 am

Shares of Briggs & Stratton Corp. (NYSE: BGG) are trading down about 10% pre-market this morning after the company said that high materials costs and slower sales were affecting its ...
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The Smell of Stagflation

Posted: August 14, 2008 at 7:39 am

This morning is going to be a disappointment for some who were hoping that inflation was going to be much less hot than estimates.  The July number for annualized CPI ...
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Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (BIOF, CSX, CYH, PSYS, SLH, UHS)

Posted: August 14, 2008 at 6:35 am

These are some of the top analyst upgrades and positive calls we are seeing in trading early this Thursday morning:Biofuel Energy (BIOF) Raised to Hold at Citigroup.CSX Corp. (CSX) Raised ...
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Brokerage Firms Again Downgrading Each Other (C, GD, GS, JEF, KBW, LEH, MS, NCC, SGR)

Posted: August 14, 2008 at 6:31 am

These are some of the top analyst downgrades or negative calls we are seeing this morning, and you'll notice that brokerage firm stocks are again the targets of many downgrades:Citigroup ...
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24/7 Wall St. Most Overpaid CEO Of The Day: Power Medical (PMII) CEO Michael Whitman

Posted: August 14, 2008 at 6:30 am

Power Medical Interventions (PMII) CEO Micheal Whitman is being paid an extraordinary base salary of $385,000 this year, according to the company proxy. In the meantime, his company is posting ...
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Wal-Mart (WMT) Refuses To Knuckle Under, Saved By International

Posted: August 14, 2008 at 5:38 am

Wal-Mart refuses to play ball with the recession. Its July same-store sales were not tremendous, its most recent quarter was, under the circumstances, spectacular. The figures were for the period ...
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Drop-Off In Driving To Undercut Economy

Posted: August 14, 2008 at 5:16 am

Americans drove 12.2 billion miles less in June than they did in the same month a year ago. That is a drop of almost 5%.The fall-off in activity is likely ...
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Greenspan Versus Foreclosure Rates

Posted: August 14, 2008 at 4:56 am

Alan Greenspan was over at The Wall Street Journal playing his wise old man act. He is ancient, but he may also be dumb.Greenspan made the point that housing should ...
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As Europe Drives In Reverse, Pressure On Central Banks Grows

Posted: August 14, 2008 at 4:34 am

No one was surprised when German and France said their GDP growths were negative in the last quarter, by .2%, although the term "negative growth" does not seem to be ...
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Barnes & Noble (BGP) Says No To Borders (BGP) Acquisition — Will The Last Person Please Get The Lights On The Way Out?

Posted: August 14, 2008 at 4:14 am

In a rare sign of sanity in the executive suites of corporate America, it looks like one potential deal that had been the subject of wide speculation will not be ...
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Toll Brothers (TOL) CEO Sees Housing Recovery — Who Cares What He Thinks?

Posted: August 14, 2008 at 4:05 am

Struggling upscale homebuilder Toll Brothers (TOL) saw its homebuilding revenue fall 34% for the third quarter, but CEO Robert Toll is sounding an optimistic note, telling shareholders that "Although the ...
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Media Digest 8/24/2008 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

Posted: August 14, 2008 at 2:53 am

According to Reuters, Greenspan says the housing market should bottom in 2009.Reuters writes that US auto makers are scrambling to make more fuel-efficient cars.Reuters reports that the SEC is close ...
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Asia Markets 8/14/2008 (TM)

Posted: August 14, 2008 at 2:24 am

Markets in Asia were The Nikkei fell .5% to 12,957. Canon was down 1% to 5160.Toyota (TM) dropped 1.6 to 4880.The Hang Seng slipping 1.6.Data from ReutersDouglas A. McIntyre ...
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