The Hong Kong exchange said it was open to mergers after marriages began between North American and European exchanges. (Reuters)

Facebook and Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) have both looked at deal to buy Twitter at a valuation which could be as high as $10 billion. (WSJ)

The Congressional Oversight Panel said Ken Feinberg did not do a good job revealing his practices as he cut Wall St. pay. (Reuters)

RealtyTrac said home foreclosures rose in January. (Reuters)

McAfee said Chinese hackers broke into the online files of five large multinational energy firms. (Reuters)

An ECB board member said rising commodity prices would not cause inflation. (News)

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) will launch its new table, “TouchPad” to compete with the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPad and Google Android-powered tablet PCs. (Reuters)

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) caused concern among investors because of its weak earnings outlook. (Reuters)

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) canceled its new Meebo phone and admitted it will have big challenges ahead as it tries to compete in the smartphone business. (Reuters)

Activision Blizzard will drop its “Guitar Hero” video game line. (Reuters)

The London Stock Exchange merger with the Toronto exchange has pressured other exchanges to consider joining together. (Reuters)

PetroChina (NYSE: PTR) will pay $5.4 billion for Canadian gas assets. (Reuters)

Some investment firms may have been overcharged by currency trading operations at banks. (WSJ)

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: NYX) may be bought by Deutsche Borse. (WSJ)

Clearwire (NASDAQ: CLWR) will end its retail business and focus on WiMax infrastructure. (WSJ)

Some House Republicans say they are worried about troubled state deficits. (WSJ)

Corn futures rose sharply on news that crop supply will be smaller than expected. (WSJ)

Nokia and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) are in discussions about jointly made smartphones. (WSJ)

Students taking Advanced Placement tests are posting extremely low scores. (WSJ)

Brazil will cut spending in an effort to undermine inflation. (WSJ)

Oil drilling in the US has risen sharply. (WSJ)

Whole Foods posted better-than-expected earnings. (WSJ)

A $4.1 billion charge against AIG (NYSE: AIG) earnings will sharply reduce earnings but clean its books for an IPO. (WSJ)

Short sales declined on Nasdaq shares. (WSJ)

Gazelle, a research firm, says Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhones hold their value better than most other smartphones sold on the market for used handsets. (WSJ)

AT&T (NYSE: T) is concerned about sales now that Verizon Wireless will sell the Apple iPhone. (NYT)

Medical device makers say US government regulations have hurt their market in the US. (NYT)

The US delay the AIG IPO until May. (FT)

The IMF’s independent auditor office said the agency missed warning signs of the financial crisis because it did not see risking in US and UK bank regulation and oversight. (FT)

Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP) earnings grew due to the rising price of oil. (Bloomberg)

The CFO of Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) may receive as much as $22 million after he leaves. (Bloomberg)

China real estate developers have begun to operate outside Beijing and Shanghai to find unexploited markets and dodge regulations. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Toyota Motor’s (NYSE: TM) fiscal third quarter profits fell but it increased it forecast for production during the balance of the year. (Reuters)

Chipotle faces the dismal of hundreds of workers because they are illegal immigrants. (Reuters)

Stocks in developed Asia markets like Australia and Japan have risen because of the recovery in the region. (Reuters)

McAfee (NYSE: MFE) says cellphone security threats have gone up sharply. (Reuters)

Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) will release a new dual screen phone made by Kyocera. (Reuters)

Big Lots (NYSE: BIG) will put itself up for sale. (Reuters)

The home market has been helped recently by cash buyers, according to Zillow. (WSJ)

Asian currencies moved higher in anticipation that governments will take actions to curb inflation. (WSJ)

Obama said companies should use the cash on their balance sheets to expand and add jobs. (WSJ)

Obama may change part of the healthcare bill to cover worker long-term car insurance. (WSJ)

The US and Brazil have joined to force China’s hand on yuan valuation. (WSJ)

US lumber exports to China are up sharply. (WSJ)

Many store chains have turned to private label beer which has caused strong reactions from brewers like Anheuser Busch. (WSJ)

Danaher agreed to acquire medical-test maker Beckman Coulter for $5.87 billion. (WSJ)

Chesapeake Energy will sell some of its natural gas assets. (WSJ)

Ensco agreed to buy Pride International for $7.3 billion. (WSJ)

The Verizon iPhone will have hardware to prevent the dropped calls caused by earlier versions of the smartphone. (WSJ)

JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) will take gold as collateral which has give the metal the status of a AAA security.

Banks have increased their lending to small firms. (WSJ)

The Boston Consulting Group has issued a report that banks may lose $25 billion year in revenue because of new credit card regulations. (WSJ)

The yield on junk bonds is near an historic low. (WSJ)

Retail firms have begun to sack executives after weak holiday sales. (NYT)

The SEC has become more active in investigating the content of mortgage securities. (FT)

VW reached a wage agreement with German workers. (Bloomberg)

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) will reorganize to put engineers into senior jobs. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

The company sees PC sales growth of 18% for the current quarter, and expects another year of double-digit growth in 2011. Most of the impact will come from enterprise sales of servers and PCs, while Intel sees a softer market for consumer products in Europe and the US.

Intel’s CEO also noted that the company “fully welcomes” competition from tablet devices such as the iPad from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) because the interest in the devices has expanded the market for computing in general. He did say that he expected some impact on PC sales as a result of the popularity of tablets, but that he expects Intel to participate in the new segment.

Well, the company has bet more than $9 billion on that sentiment, so he’d better hope so. First there is the $7.7 billion acquisition of McAfee, Inc. (NYSE: MFE), and second there is the $1.4 billion buyout of Infineon Technologies AG (OTC:IFNNY). Neither deal closes until early 2011.

The acquisition of Infineon gives Intel an instant entry into the booming market for wireless devices. Infineon’s license to make customized versions of the ARM chip from ARM Holdings plc (NASDAQ: ARMH) was the big prize here. Apple uses an ARM chip in its iPhone, iPad, and iTouch devices, and Intel may be able to parlay its Infineon acquisition into a whole new relationship with Apple.

The buyout of McAfee offers Intel an opportunity to put security at the center of its push into mobile computing. Intel has recognized that mobile devices lack serious a security component, and it believes it can lead the market for mobile processors if it can be first out of the blocks with a strong hardware security component.

Intel is also prepping for the launch of a new family of chips that offers on-chip graphics support in addition to the usual computing functions. For enterprise computing and for a lot of general consumer computing, this should lower the cost of a system while still allowing Intel to maintain its gross margins, projected by the company to be 67% in the fourth quarter.

Intel should have little trouble hitting its adjusted targets for the fourth quarter. And based on its statements about orders for the new chip, the company’s outlook for the first half of 2011 should also be okay, even if not strong. But if it can really execute on its two big acquisitions, the juggernaut might really roll again.

Paul Ausick

S&P says that th3 ‘up to $1.1 billion senior unsecured note offering’ is getting a BBB rating with a stable outlook.  Its belief is that Symantec will maintain its market position and financial profile.  Additionally cited are a satisfactory positioning, a successful track record of acquiring and integrating operations, and also its growth opportunities in products, platforms, and geographies.

Moody’s gave a Baa2 rating based on a strong market position and based upon a solid credit profile. The company did however note that the company is constrained by an expected plan that acquisitions will continue to play an important role in its growth.  Also noted by Moody’s is that ongoing margin pressure limits the rating.

It was just on July 29 that some 62,181,800 shares traded hands and fell down to $13.03 from $14.67 and then from above $15.00 the week before.

What is amazing is that despite the company’s caution and despite the slowing in software and tech, shares are actually back above were they were before the earnings warning.  After a 0.75% rise so far on Monday, the stock is at $14.97.  Symantec is magically higher than when it warned in the first place.

JON C. OGG

Burger King Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BKC) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
Collective Brands, Inc. (NYSE: PSS) Cut to Neutral at Susquehanna.
DRDGOLD Ltd. (NASDAQ: DROOY) Cut to Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Gold Fields Limited (NYSE: GFI) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
K-Sea Transportation Partners L.P. (NYSE: KSP) Raised to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
McAfee, Inc. (NYSE: MFE) Cut to Neutral (exit coverage yesterday) at Cowen (clean up call only).
Mitel Networks Corp. (NASDAQ: MITL) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ: MELI) Reiterated Overweight at Piper Jaffray.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about dividend trends, analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Dotcom Travel Stocks have gained 22.7% in the past month. The best performing stocks in the sector are priceline.com Incorporated, (NASDAQ: PCLN) up 32.2%, eLong Inc., (NASDAQ: LONG) up 26.9%, and Travelzoo Inc., (NASDAQ: TZOO) up 18.9%.

Chinese Solar Stocks have gained 19.8% in the past month. The best performing stocks in the sector are JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd., (NYSE: JKS) up 75.8%, Trina Solar Ltd., (TSL) up 16.5%, and ReneSola Ltd., (NYSE: SOL) up 15.4%.

IT Security Stocks have gained 15.9% in the past month. The best performing stocks in the sector are ArcSight Inc., (NASDAQ: ARST) up 55.5%, McAfee Inc., (NYSE: MFE) up 42.5%, and CommVault Systems Inc., (NASDAQ: CVLT) up 35.6%.

Celestica Inc. (NYSE: CLS) Raised to Outperform at Scotia.
Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Equifax Inc. (NYSE: EFX) Started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
First Niagara Financial Group Inc. (NASDAQ: FNFG) Cut to Neutral at Janney (late yesterday call).
Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) Maintain Outperform and Raised target to $45 at Oppenheimer.
McAfee Inc. (NYSE: MFE) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
Melco Crown PBL (NASDAQ: MPEL) Started as Neutral at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: PTEN) Cut to Neutral at Sterne Agee.
Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) Cut to Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) Maintained Buy and Raised target to $120 at Kaufman Bros.
Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: YGE) Reiterated Buy and Raised Target at Auriga.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about dividend trends, analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Reuters:   Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) shares dropped on concern about a tech slowdown.

Reuters:   Potash (NYSE: POT) is looking for a higher bid than the one made by BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP)

Reuters:   An Indian executive says that a solution to solve Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) Blackberry problems as to come from the Canadian company.

Reuters:   The CBO forecast a harsh economy for the next several years.

Reuters:   The Defense Department is looking at tech to improve efficiency.

Reuters:   Alliance Medical may be for sale.

Reuters:   Three US share gas firms are for sale.

WSJ:   The FAA will hit AMR (NYSE: AMR) will $25 million in penalties for maintenance issues.

WSJ:   Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) will shut down its Quattro wireless advertising network

WSJ:   Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) named the directors it will nominate for election.

WSJ:   Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) will buy McAfee (NYSE: MFE) to move into hardware and software security.

WSJ:   LG is prepared to launch Optimus handsets and tablets.

WSJ:   Lenovo moved from a loss to a profit.

WSJ:   A huge oil slick from the BP plc (NYSE: BP) leak still exists.

WSJ:   The jobs crisis is Greece is worsening with the recession

WSJ:   China is investing more in Asia to cut its reliance on the dollar.

WSJ:   The Treasury will sell $194 billion in new paper

WSJ:   Mortgage rates hit another all-time low.

NYT:   Those who make settlements with the BP plc $20 billion escrow fund may have to waive the right to sue later.

NYT:   People magazine subscribers will get free access to content on the Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPad.

NYT:   Cymbalta, a drug made b y Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) can now be used for pain treatment

FT:   Emerging economies have changed the dynamics of global oil demand.

Bloomberg:   Honda Motor (NYSE: HMC) plants in the US are helping cut its problems with sales hurt by the yen.

Douglas A. McIntyre

The release noted that both boards of directors have unanimously approved the deal.  It is subject to McAfee shareholder approval, regulatory clearances and other customary conditions.

Intel noted that today’s security approach does not fully address the billions of new Internet-ready devices connecting, including mobile and wireless devices, TVs, cars, medical devices and ATM machines as well as the accompanying surge in cyber threats.  Intel also noted that it has elevated the priority of security to be on par with its strategic focus areas in energy-efficient performance and Internet connectivity.

McAfee has seen double-digit growth and nearly 80% gross margins last year.  , will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intel, reporting into Intel’s Software and Services Group. The group is managed by Renée James, Intel senior vice president, and general manager of the group.

McAfee’s 52-week trading range is $29.53 to $45.68.

This is a game-changing deal considering that a hardware company is getting into the security via a software company.  It will also highlight a few data security players.  Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC) is a very troubled company with data security and storage, and its shares are now up 12% at $14.18 in the pre-market trading.  Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP) is also up 5.4% at $36.14 in pre-market trading.

JON C. OGG

Things have been stagnant for so long at Symantec that at the end of 2007 we called for then-CEO John Thompson to bring in a new CEO and just keep the Chairman title which he did.  Unfortunately, the Great Recession came and the benefits of new blood were not fully enjoyed by its shareholders.

The $0.35 adjusted EPS on $1.43 billion in revenues compared to estimates of $0.35 EPS and $1.47 billion from Thomson Reuters.  The guidance of $0.27 to $0.28 EPS on revenues of $1.44 to $1.46 billion compared to estimates of $0.34 EPS and $1.53 billion in revenues from Thomson Reuters.  About half its business is subject to currency fluctuations due to a strong international business.  Closing sales and execution are a larger issue than currency.

There has been a slew of analysts throwing in the towel today.  Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, FBR Capital, Morgan Keegan, Pacific Crest, and Raymond James are among those who cut their ratings on the stock.  Morgan Keegan was disgusted enough that its fair value was put at $12.00, and the new consensus target is likely going to be down around $15 or $16 from large firms that cover the stock.

McAfee, Inc. (NYSE: MFE) is viewed as the closest direct competitor of Symantec by Wall Street as far as groupings within the data security sector.  After today’s price drop, McAfee is almost half of the size by market cap and still one-third of the size in sales.  The news from the larger is hurting the smaller.  McAfee shares are down 2.6% at $30.30 and its 52-week range is $29.75 to $45.68.

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP) is in a different boat as it is deemed solely as an enterprise player in network and gateway security solutions.  The onset of low-tide is dragging all ships out to sea.  It is weak with the market and the data security sector, but at $33.21 its 52-week range is $25.64 to $36.40.

Symantec has been a range-bound stock and that acquisition of Veritas marked the end of the multi-year run higher.  It has been the case for several years now that you wanted to be a buyer under $15.00 and a seller every time the stock went close-to or above $20.00.  Unfortunately, today’s action is well under $15.00 and the chart looks like a repeat of that death-spiral we saw during late-2008.  Shares almost violated $10.00 during that period of weakness.

The field here just went from those still with hope to a field full of despair.  The lows in January-2009 were $12.63 before the market recover took all stocks far higher from their lows.  With shares down 11.4% at $12.98 and the stock putting in a new 52-week low today with a new 52-week range of $12.90 to $19.16.  You know the take on 52-week trading ranges: companies that hit new 52-week lows are viewed as doomed to keep hitting new 52-week lows.

The stock will likely come back at some point.  The company just better hope a double-dip recession does not enter the equation beyond theory.  It now seems that it is going to take another raging bull market surge to help this dog and its owners any time in the immediate future.

Maybe the company can try to lure investors in on a “value investing” approach now, something that technology companies have had a hard time with when trying to find investors.  Maybe Symantec should consider changing its name to Semantic.

JON C. OGG