Merkel says the euro has no orderly method for a default. (Reuters)

The Nintendo 3DS sells poorly. (Reuters)

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Offers, meant to compete with Groupon and LivingSocial, struggles. (Reuters)

McGraw-Hill (NYSE: MHP), under pressure from some shareholders, will split into two pieces. (WSJ)

European banks hit hard by fears of Greek debt. (WSJ)

Republicans reacted poorly to the Obama tax plan meant to pay for his jobs program. (WSJ)

Student loan defaults rise sharply. (WSJ)

Banks ask for new home appraisals in the wake of Hurricane Irene. (WSJ)

China may buy a large number of Italian bonds. (WSJ)

OECD’s composite leading indicators shows a global slowdown. (WSJ)

The Graduate Management Admission Council says fewer people want MBAs. (WSJ)

GE (NYSE: GE) to increase its presence in Germany to press rival Siemens (NYSE: SI). (WSJ)

Ford (NYSE: F) to launch a new three-cylinder engine. (WSJ)

Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM) to buy NetLogic (NASDAQ: NETL) for $3.7 billion. (WSJ)

Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) investors must rely on the company’s cash balance to support its stock for now. (WSJ)

Canadian wheat farmers continue to back the Canadian Wheat Board. (WSJ)

Groupon faces slowing revenue growth. (WSJ)

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) must get app developers to make Windows 8 successful. (NYT)

Merkel is at the center of the Greek default storm. (NYT)

Detroit relies on a two-tier wage system that pays new employees lower salaries. (NYT)

European banks likely to cut more staff. (Bloomberg)

Morgan Stanley says Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) may offer a dividend or share buyback. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Baidu.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) is down more than 2% premarket to $140.65, relative to a 52-week range of $83.25 – $165.96.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is down 2.3% before market open to $31.37, relative to a 52-week range of $31.93 – $48.36.

Netlogic Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NETL) is up more than 50% premarket to $47.97, relative to a 52-week range of $22.95 – $43.71. Broadcom is acquiring the company for $3.7 billion, or $50, per share.

Research in Motion, Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) is down 2.5% before market open to  $28.94, relative to a 52-week range of $21.60 – $70.54.

Wells Gargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is down 3.4% premarket to $22.95, relative to a 52-week range of $22.58 – $34.25.

Archer Daniels Midland Inc. (NYSE: ADM) Cut estimates and maintained Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) listed as Bear of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.
Cavium Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: CAVM) Raised to Buy at Auriga.
DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) Reiterated Outperform with $9.00 target at Credit Suisse.
General Mills Inc. (NYSE: GIS) Reiterated Buy with $42 target at Argus.
Great Plains Energy Inc. (NYSE: GXP) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $25 at Argus.
Helmerich & Payne, Inc. (NYSE: HP) listed as Bull of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.
Hess Corporation (NYSE: HES) Kept as Neutral but sees long trade opportunity with $105 target at CRedit Suisse.
Juniper Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: JNPR) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $49 at Argus.
Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL) Maintained Neutral at BofA/ML.
NetLogic Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: NETL) Raised to Buy at Auriga.
PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE: PPG) Maintained Neutral but raised target to $100 at Credit Suisse.
Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) Maintained Market Perform with $155 target at FBR.
Strayer Education Inc. (NASDAQ: STRA) Maintained Buy at BofA/ML.
Tesla Motors, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) Raised to Outperform at Morgan Stanley.

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

JON C. OGG

A-Power Energy Generation Systems (NASDAQ: APWR) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Athenahealth, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHN) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE: STD) Cut to Hold at RBS.
Blackrock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ: BMRN) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Bucyrus International (NASDAQ: BUCY) Cut To Neutral From Buy By Goldman Sachs
Fairchild Semiconductor International Inc. (NYSE: FCS) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
Leap Wireless International (NASDAQ: LEAP) Cut to Underweight at Piper Jaffray
Legg Mason, Inc. (NYSE: LM) Started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) Cut to Reduce at Nomura.
NetLogic Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: NETL) Started as Buy at Gleacher.
Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) Started as Neutral at Nomura.
Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE: SWX) Cut to Hold at Argus.
Stabucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) Maintained Neutral but raised target to $35 at BofA/ML.
Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NYSE: STP) Raised to Buy at Auriga.
Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) Cut to Sell at Axiom.

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

Acme Packet, Inc. (NASDAQ: APKT) up 14% at $12.21 on 28,000 shares after earnings.

Adventrx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (AMEX: ANX) up 4% at $0.33 on 1.2 million shares after appointing Carl Icahn to its Board of Directors.

Alvarion Ltd. (NASDAQ: ALVR) down 6.5% at $4.00 on 16,000 shares after earnings.

Auxilium Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AUXL) is up 9% at $30.61 on 250,000 shares after the FDA approved hand drug Xiaflex for a hand treatment of Dupuytren’s Contracture.

Ctrip.com International Ltd. (NASDAQ: CTRP) down 8.5% at $30.40 on 18,200 shares after earnings.

GT Solar International, Inc. (NASDAQ: SOLR) up 10.5% at $6.63 on 30,000 shares after beating earnings.

Home Diagnostics, Inc. (NASDAQ: HDIX) up almost 90% at $11.45 on 1.3 million shares on the buyout.

Labopharm Inc. (NASDAQ: DDSS) up 14.9% at $3.00 after it received FDA approval for OLEPTRO to treat major depressive disorders.

Myriad Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ: MYGN) up 6.96% at $25.65 on 24,000 shares after earnings.

NetLogic Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: NETL) up 10.3% at $47.80 on 82,000 shares after beating earnings offering Q1 guidance.

News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWS) up 4.8% at $15.76 on about 14,000 shares after beating earnings.

VeriSign Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) -6.9% at $21.79 on 80,000 shares after missing earnings expectations and a downgrade.

Western Union Co. (NYSE: WU) down 7.9% at $17.35 on 149,000 shares after earnings guidance disappointment.

Price snapshots at 8:45 AM EST.

You are invited to join our free daily email distribution list to hear about top analyst upgrades and downgrades, IPOs and secondary offerings, ongoing day trader and options trader alerts, stock and market rumors, Buffett and guru investor news, M&A and more.

JON C. OGG
FEBRUARY 3, 2010

Universal Power Group, Inc. (NYSE Amex: UPG) has signed a letter of intent on a battery distribution agreement with K2 Energy Solutions, Inc., a developer and manufacturer of rechargeable battery systems for electric vehicles and energy storage applications.   UPG will have the rights to market, distribute and sell these products including batteries, prismatic cells and polymer cells, as well as battery modules, systems and packs.

PLX Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLXT) has announced a new system-on-a-chip family for network attached storage (NAS) solutions.  In this SoC family, PLX said that PLX expects global consumer NAS unit sales to grow from 2.5 million today to nearly 13 million units by 2012, with the total available market for silicon to exceed $100M driven by consumer demand for immediate and constant access to secure digital content from any device, at anytime and anywhere on the planet.

Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) is showcasing a new iPhone application from TurboTax to show its latest mobile offering for the upcoming tax season.  Really? Taxes from the phone….

NetLogic Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ:NETL) will showcase a wide range of automotive in-vehicle infotainment telematics and audio/video navigation systems from leading original equipment manufacturers powered by its ultra low-power Alchemy® processors.

Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN) has three initiatives: G3 Golf GPS slims down size & price and expands coverage of preloaded golf courses in U.S. & Canada; using the ecoRoute to transform nüvi into a real-time onboard diagnostics computer; and “Find Your Voice, Find Your Destination with Garmin® Voice Studio.”

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has its own phone announcements outside of CEs, but the company said it and Spring Design will give the Alex eReader owners direct access to one million Google Books on the Android platform.  Also for Google, Sigma Designs (NASDAQ: SIGM) will be demonstrating the world’s first commercially available Android™ set-top box.

Skiff, LLC and Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) will preview the Skiff Reader, the first e-reader optimized for newspaper and magazine content.  The companies have signed a pact that will provide 3G connectivity for Skiff’s dedicated e-reading devices in the United States.

TranSwitch Corporation (NASDAQ: TXCC) will formally introduce its latest High Definition Multimedia Interface™ (HDMI) for next generation digital television (DTV) and home theater applications.

In processors, Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) will be showcasing its new Core processors using 32-nanometer technology.  Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) is showcasing its VISION Pro Technology for corporate video conferencing solutions.

Again, this is just a portion of the press releases ahead of the big event.  There will be releases forthcoming from many more companies today and tomorrow; and it is probably a safe bet that many announcements will be coming out of the show for new partnerships not yet disclosed.

JON C. OGG

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ: AKAM) Cut to Hold at Jefferies; Cut to to Neutral from Buy at Merriman Curhan Ford.
Digital River (NASDAQ: DRIV) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Infineon (NYSE:IFX) Raised to Buy at RBS.
Leap Wireless (LEAP) Cut to Neutral at RW Baird.
MetroPCS (NYSE: PCS) Cut to Neutral from Outperform at RW Baird…
NetLogic (NASDAQ: NETL) Cut to Neutral from Outperform at RW Baird.
SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) Raised to Hold from Sell at Societe Generale.
Tyco Electronics (NYSE: TEL) Raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

Jon C. Ogg
July 30, 2009

Allergan (AGN) Raised to Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
China Unicom (CHU) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Endo Pharmaceuticals (ENDP) Started as Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
Fluor (FLR) Started as Outperform at Baird.
General Dynamics (GD) Started as Outperform at Morgan Keegan.
Lockheed Martin (LMT) Started as Outperform at Morgan Keegan.
MDS Inc. (MDZ) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
NetLogic (NETL) Raised to Buy at Piper Jaffray.
Nuvasive (NUVA) Raised to Buy at Needham.
Shaw Group (SGR) Started as Outperform at Baird.

JON C. OGG

Burger King (BKC) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Started as Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
Level 3 Communications (LVLT) Cut to Sell at UBS.
NetLogic (NETL) Started as Neutral at Baird and started as Hold at Roth.

JON C. OGG

• ABB Ltd. (NYSE: ABB) downgraded to SELL from Hold at Citigroup.
• Amylin Pharma (NASDAQ:AMLN) started as Outperform at Robert Baird.
• Arena Pharamaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARNA) raised to Buy from Neutral at Banc of America.
• BP plc (NYSE: BP) downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Lehman Brothers.
• Electronics for Imaging (NASDAQ:EFII) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Banc of America.
• Metlife (NYSE: MET) raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Bernstein.
• NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), LSI (NYSE: LSI), NetLogic (NASDAQ:NETL) and Xilinx (NASDAQ:XLNX) all downgraded to HOLD from Buy at Deutsche Bank.
• StatoilHydro (NYSE: STO) raised to Outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Total SA (NYSE: TOT) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credits Suisse.
• Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at FBR.

Jon C. Ogg
January 15, 2008