Tropical Storm Ernesto Becomes Hurricane Ernesto
The 2:00 PM update from the National Hurricane Center now has what was Tropical Storm Ernesto as Hurricane Ernesto. That is not exactly good news for anyone who monitors offshore oil drilling in the…
All Work
Jon C. Ogg
Silver Merger Formally Falls Apart (HL)
Hecla Mining Company (NYSE: HL) has had troubles of its own for a while. After the U.S. Silver Corporation (traded in Canada, operating in Idaho) said that a sufficient number of its common shareholders…
EIA Lifts & Tweaks Energy Price/Demand Expectations
The U.S. Energy Information Administration has adjusted its energy use forecasts in an early August update. Usually we see reports come earlier but this appears to be another adjustment. Covered today are uses and…
S&P Lifts Whole Foods to Investment Grade
Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ: WFM) may be an expensive stock trading at a significant premium to traditional grocery store chains and also to most retailers. Still, the company has managed to beat earnings estimates…
Analyst Bull Case Drives First Solar
After looking back over an analyst call on First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR), there is an interesting take. We would caution that the bullish case may seem too good to be true. We would…
Standard Chartered Shares Try Recovering from Multiyear Lows
Standard Chartered PLC has been pounded in local London trading. The bank has recovered from its lows this morning but it is impossible not to notice that this was a low back to 2009.…
S&P Bounce Shows Key Chart Signal… Buzz Lightyear Lives! (SPY)
Stocks popped this morning as the S&P 500 is trying to challenge the levels the markets sold off of back in April and May. Today we are tracking the daily buy/sell points on the…
Another Analyst Jumps on Arch Coal Train … Calls for Big Upside
Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI) is seeing another analyst jump on its bandwagon after what has been a dismal ride down. Shares have fallen close to 80% over the past year and change, but…
Freddie Mac Didn’t Need Treasury Draw This Last Quarter
Freddie Mac has reported its earnings, but most investors are out of the name now. At this point, it and cousin Fannie Mae, just remain sore topics for Main Street and for Wall St.…
Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (AMGN, AMT, AMAT, COH, DELL, FLEX, GILD, HPQ, KCG, LEAP, NTAP, SANM, SPLK, VE, VRTX, VVUS, WMT)
Jon OggThese are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall St. research calls this Tuesday morning. Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) raised to Buy at Lazard. American Tower Corp. (NYSE:…
The Six Cheapest DJIA Stocks (AA, BAC, CAT, CSCO, HPQ, JPM, MSFT, UTX, BA, AAPL, IBM)
As stocks rise, analysts generally lift their price targets on key stocks. As stocks fall, analysts generally lower their price targets. It is a game on Wall St., but it is a game all…
SIRIUS XM Raises Guidance After Huge Headline Earnings Figure
Sirius XMSIRIUS XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) is so far managing to avoid any soft patches in the economy. Some headlines arising from today’s earnings report may be shocking, such as “Sirius XM Reports…
Leap Shows Gaps In Earnings
Leap Wireless International (NASDAQ: LEAP) is out with its second quarter results, and the end result showed a wider loss than expected and the customer metrics look soft as well. Apparently having no-contract customers is…
Warning to Best Buy: S&P Cuts Rating to Junk on Deal, Warns of More Downgrades
Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) surged on news that founder and 20.1% owner Richard Schulze has sent a letter to the board of directors saying that he is set to offer $24 to…
Another Research Case on Muni Bonds Losing Tax-Exempt Status
Interest payments on municipal bonds are tax-exempt from federal income tax for the most part. There have been attacks over this in the past, all of which have failed to go anywhere. Imagine how many…
Outrage: Bonus Paid To Kodak CEO Antonio Perez
If you think that ‘ridiculous bonuses’ are limited to Wall Street, think again. We have always worried about a bonus even being called a bonus, but this one truly is frivolous and is going…
Speculators Still Keep Buying Up Clearwire (CLWR, S, T, WAVE)
It was just last Friday that Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ: CLWR) was up double-digits on word that the FCC was going to plan a 4G roll-out on an accelerated basis. The move was part of…
Counter-Take: U.S. Treasury Could Have Sold More AIG Shares
The United States Treasury has successfully unloaded more shares of American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG). While the last two sales were a bit harder on the stock, AIG shares are managing to hold…
Vringo Wins in Patent Settlement (VRNG, GOOG, AOL, TGT, GCI)
Vringo Inc. (NYSEMKT: VRNG) is the latest company to surge on patent news. We have seen news that the video ringtone company has reached a settlement with AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL), and this is…
S&P 500 Chart Seeking Resistance (SPY)
Stocks are trading marginally higher to continue the late-week rally as no implosion news dominated the headlines this morning. Today we are tracking the daily buy/sell points on the SPDR S&P 500 (NYSEMKT: SPY) as…