Coal Stocks Soar — Good News from Europe, Not China!
Shares of Patriot Coal Corp. (NYSE: PCX) are up nearly 30% today and other coal companies are tagging along. James River Coal Co. (NASDAQ: JRCC) is up almost 9.5%, Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI)…
All Work
Paul Ausick
China Boosts Solar Installation Goal by 2015 by 4x
The Chinese government has increased its planned installation of solar energy projects by 2015 from 5,000 megawatts to 21,000 megawatts. And at least one analyst expects the total to climb to more than 30,000…
US Economic Confidence Faltering — Gallup
The June 2012 Gallup Economic Confidence Index indicates that 56% of Americans think the US economy is getting worse and just 38% think it is improving. Only 15% of Americans think the current economy…
Are There More Mergers on Tap in Electric Utilities?
Today marks the closing of the $32 billion merger between Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK) and Progress Energy. Duke initiated a one-for-three reverse stock split at the same time and the former CEO of…
Marathon Files for Pipeline IPO
Marathon Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: MPC) has filed with the SEC for the IPO of a new pipeline company, MPLX LP, that would operate as a master limited partnership (MLP) and trade on the NYSE…
Iran-US Tensions Rise, So Do Oil Prices
Iran’s parliament yesterday introduced a bill that would direct the country’s military forces to block shipments of crude oil through the Strait of Hormuz if the destination of the shipment is one of the…
24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — July 2, 2012: A Mixed Monday on Wall Street
The three major US stock indexes opened only slightly higher this morning as European markets traded a little stronger today on lower yields for both Spanish and Italian sovereign debt. A weak report from…
Samsung Leads Smartphone Market
The latest rankings are out from comScore Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) on the US smartphone device and platform markets. Samsung Electronics (OTC: SSNLF) leads the device makers with a 25.7% market share. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:…
June Retail Sales Headed for Modest Gain
Retailers will be announcing June same-store sales this week, and industry research firm Retail Metrics is now predicting sales growth of just 1% for the month. The past weekend’s storms on the East Coast…
Coming Soon — Mozilla’s Smartphone OS
The non-profit Mozilla Corporation, maker of the Firefox web browser, today said that it would issue a smartphone operating system platform as the Firefox OS. The platform has been known until now as the…
East Coast Oil Refinery Will Not Close
The oldest refinery on the US East Coast will not be closing in August. The refinery’s owner, Sunoco Inc. (NYSE: SUN) today announced that it would form a joint venture with The Carlyle Group…
US Firm Hits Gas Find Off Israeli Coast
US oil & gas exploration and production company ATP Oil &Gas Corp. (NASDAQ: ATPG) announced this morning that the company’s Middle East subsidiary had successfully drilled a well offshore of Israel in 3,600 feet…
USG Expands into Growing Middle East and Asian Markets
Building materials maker USG Corp. (NYSE: USG) today announced a strategic partnership with the Oman’s Zawawi Group to expand the market for its wallboard products into India and the Middle East. The company expects…
US Construction Spending Up 9.4% So Far in 2012
Spending on construction in the US rose from a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $822.5 billion in April to $830 billion in May, a rise of 0.9%. Year-over-year, May’s total is up 7% higher…
Pan Am Silver’s Argentina Mine Threatened by New Regs
The Argentinian province of Chubut has proposed a new law regulating future mining operations that could force Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ: PAAS) to cease development of its Navidad project. Pan Am acquired the…
US PMI Weakest in 18 Months
Following this morning’s publication of the Eurozone’s PMI readings, Markit Economics has now published its PMI reading for June in the US. The US index came in at 52.5, lower than the flash estimate…
Quest Software Takes Offer from Dell (DELL, QSFT)
Computer maker Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Quest Software Inc. (NASDAQ: QSFT) for $28/share in an all-cash deal valued at $2.4 billion. The deal…
Micron Buys Bankrupt Japanese Chipmaker (MU, AAPL, SSNLF)
Following a second round of bidding for Japan’s failed Elpida Memory Inc., Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) has signed an agreement to purchase the DRAM maker for $2.5 billion, the same price it had…
Eurozone PMI at 3-year Low
For the 11th month in a row, manufacturing PMI in the Eurozone has contracted. The manufacturing PMI index reading for June came in at 45.1, unchanged from May’s reading, but slightly better than the…
Summertime — and the Movies are Jumpin’ (CMCSA, TWX, DIS, LGF)
This past weekend turned out better than expected for Hollywood’s movie makers, even though a heavily populated part of the country was struggling with power outages. A boy and his stuffed bear in a…