Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline Back on Front Burner (BP, XOM, COP)
Back in the day — about 4 years ago — when US natural gas production was falling and prices were rising to as much as $13/thousand cubic feet, two competing natural gas pipeline routes…
All Work
Paul Ausick
24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (HD, LNKD, MU, RGLD, BX, ORCL, GIS, KKD, SAI, DQ, FRED, BHI, LOOK, SEED, GMCR, YGE)
Markets opened slightly higher this morning, expecting good news from today’s report on existing home sales. Alas, the number came in lower than expectations and sent the DJIA to a daily low that it…
Zynga Deal for OMGPOP Near Certain (ZNGA, AAPL, GOOG)
ZyngaSocial gaming company Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA), which became a publicly traded company in December, has made a deal to acquire social gaming start-up, OMGPOP, maker of the popular ‘Draw Something’ game. The game…
IT Staffing Services Acquisition Boosts On Assignment (ASGN, MAN, KELYA, RHI)
Staffing agencies, both for temporary and permanent hires, have been having a pretty good year so far. Things got better today as On Assignment Inc. (NASDAQ: ASGN) announced the acquisition of privately held Apex…
Junior Gold Miner Rubicon Gets Permits (RBY, GG, GDXJ)
Rubicon Minerals Corp. (AMEX: RBY) said today that it has received approval from the Ontario, Canada, environmental ministry for its proposed amendments to water, sewage, and air permits at the company’s Phoenix Gold Project…
Dendreon Rises on Takeover Chatter (DNDN, LLY, AMGN)
AuthorDendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN), maker of prostate cancer drug Provenge, is once again rumored to be a takeover target. As Streetinsider.com points out, the company’s new chairman presided over the Eli Lilly & Co.…
Brazilian Crude Reserves Could Double to 30 Billion Barrels (PBR)
The newly installed head of Brazil’s national petroleum regulatory agency (ANP) has said that the country’s probable reserves could double from 15 billion to 30 billion barrels in the near future according to a…
Hamburgers Going Gourmet (MCD, WEN, SONC, JACK)
During the recent Great Recession, the big fast food chains like McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD), The Wendy’s Co. (NASDAQ: WEN), Sonic Corp. (NASDAQ: SONC), Jack in the Box Inc. (NASDAQ: JACK), Burger King, and…
Chinese Solar Firms’ Stocks Dive on Tariff News (YGE, TSL, STP, JASO, LDK, FSLR, SPWR)
Yesterday’s sugar-coated decision by the US Commerce Department to impose tariffs of up to nearly 5% on Chinese-made solar panels imported into the US has hit the makers hard. One can only imagine the…
Most Ethical Companies List Published (GE, F, INTC, ADBE, MSFT, XRX, SRE, AXP, DE, CSCO)
International think-tank Ethisphere Institute has just announce the 143 global companies that made the Institute’s 2012 list of Most Ethical Companies. Of the total, 102 are US-based companies, and 23 of the 143 have…
US Petroleum Inventories Fall, Imports Rise
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its weekly petroleum status report this morning. US commercial crude inventories fell by 1.2 million barrels last week, bringing the total US commercial crude inventory to 346.3…
Origin Agritech Skyrockets on China Report (SEED)
Ag biotech company Origin Agritech Ltd. (NASDAQ: SEED) is seeing its shares shoot up this morning following a report from boutique investment firm Moness Crespi Hardt that the company’s genetically modified (GMO) corn will…
LookSmart Doesn’t (LOOK)
Search advertising network firm LookSmart Ltd. (NASDAQ: LOOK) reported fourth quarter and full-year 2011 results after markets closed yesterday. The company reported a fourth-quarter EPS loss of -$0.10, compared with a consensus estimate for…
Micron Bids for Japan’s Bankrupt Elpida (MU, INTC)
Japanese DRAM maker Elpida Memory filed for bankruptcy last month, and the company has now decided to find a new management team to run the company. A report in Taiwan’s Digitimes cites speculation that…
HP Pulls the Trigger on Realignment — Again (HPQ)
In a move that was widely expected, Hewlett Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) this morning said that it would join its printing and imaging group with its PC group in a single division to be…
Broadcom Buys Chip Maker (BRCM)
Communications chip maker Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) has agreed to acquire privately held BroadLight Inc. for $195 million in a transaction that is essentially all-cash except for certain unvested BroadLight options. There is an…
Baker Hughes Slices First Quarter Profit Estimate (BHI, SLB, HAL)
Oil field services firm Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) this morning announced that it is cutting its first quarter 2012 operating profit before tax margins in both its US and international operations. The company…
Morning Wire — US Stock-Index Futures Higher
US index futures are higher this morning as investors wait to hear the data on US existing home sales in February. A consensus estimate calls for an annualized adjusted figure of 4.6 million, up…
Gasoline Prices Continue March to $4 Everywhere
The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in the US is now $3.864 according to the American Automobile Association (AAA). According to gasbuddy.com, a gallon of regular gasoline now costs $3.841. A…
Shell Gets Shale Gas Deal in China (RDS-A, PTR, CVX, TOT, BP)
Oil supermajor Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE: RDS-A) announced that the company’s China subsidiary has signed a production sharing contract with China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), parent of publicly traded PetroChina Co. Ltd. (NYSE:…