BofA/ML Rides To Rescue EA With Upgrade
Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) was given an intraday rating upgrade by Bank of America/Merrill Lynch after the video game giant’s earnings. The analyst team there raised the rating to Buy from Hold and…
All Work
Jon C. Ogg
FOMC Promises More Easing Measures As (if) Needed
Today’s Federal Open Market Committee decision on interest rates was never really about rates. How could it be? The reality is that Ben Bernanke and friends at the FOMC have already had short-term interest…
Nokia Shares Withstand Adverse Patent Ruling (NOK, IDCC)
Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) has managed to hold up rather well considering that a federal appeals court allowed an InterDigital Inc. (NASDAQ: IDCC) patent case to be revived against Nokia. The court of appeals apparently…
Silver Lives Up To ‘The Devil’s Metal’ Name on Employment Data (SLV, GLD, SIL, SLW, PAAS, HL)
The ADP report on jobs managed to come in much better than expected. This has somewhat dampened the hope that the FOMC will need to immediately begin new stimulus measures via the so-called QE3. The…
Hillshire Brands Already Facing Accounting Irregularities & Restatement
The Hillshire Brands Company (NYSE: HSH) saw its trading halted today and it did not appear to be due to the trading issues affecting so many NYSE-listed shares. This is not the sort of…
Knight Confirms Trading ‘Issues’
Knight Capital Group, Inc. (NYSE: KCG) was down 8.4% at $9.46 on the day earlier this morning when its fat-finger and trading error issues were highlighted. That was then… The company has been experiencing…
Knight Capital’s Fat-Finger Trading Problems
Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesKnight Capital Group (NYSE: KCG) may have just been the latest firm to create trading issues that were somewhat akin to the Flash Crash of 2010, or at least akin…
Casinos React to Muted Growth in Macau (MPEL, WYNN, MGM, LVS)
China’s Macau gambling and free trade zone managed to show growth in July. While the pace was up by only 1.5% in July on a year-over-year basis, the results were better than expected so…
Investors in Phillips 66 Should Not Focus on Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway Stake (PSX, COP, BRK-A)
Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) has risen handily since Warren Buffett disclosed that he has a stake in the oil company in the middle of July. Now shares have hit a new post-IPO high after…
ISM Shows Second Month of Contraction
We have another contraction from the Institute for Supply Management. The ISM reported that July’s manufacturing PMI came in at 49.8, versus a Bloomberg consensus target of 50.2 for the month. June’s report was…
S&P Chart Braces for FOMC (SPY)
Stocks are higher after a better than expected ADP private payrolls report, but it still feels like the market is looking for direction after a weak ISM reading ahead of the FOMC announcement later today. What…
Analyst Cautions Lowe’s on Chasing the Buyout of Rona
Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) is making a mistake in its recently announced acquisition of the Canadian home improvement chain called Rona. At least that is the take of the analyst team at Janney…
LabCorp May Be Next Huge Private Equity Buyout
Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings (NYSE: LH) may soon be private if reports (or rumors) of a private equity buyout come true. There are now multiple reports that a private equity consortium is looking to…
Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (BDX, BMC, BP, CBST, DAL, DRIV, DISCA, INTC, JBLU, TECD, UTHR, UAL, WMT)
Jon OggThese are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall St. research calls this Wednesday morning. Becton Dickinson and Co. (NYSE: BDX) cut to Underweight at JPMorgan. BMC Software Inc. (NASDAQ:…
ADP Payrolls Offers Large Boost for Friday’s Payrolls Data
The ADP p ayrolls projection for the month of July is going to act as a potential boost to the key unemployment and payrolls data due this Friday. ADP said that its…
A Higher Water Dividend (AWR, AWK, CWT)
American States Water Co. (NYSE: AWR) has just announced that it is raising its dividend. The water utility said this brings its payout ratio more in-line with its industry peers and that this higher payout…
Garmin Blows Past Estimates
Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN) is out with earnings that beat estimates. The GPS and personal navigation systems maker has reported that demand for its outdoor products rose, as did the revenue from its personal…
How Low Can Mortgages Go? New Record Lows All Over Again
Zillow has reported numerous times that the mortgage rates have hit another record low, but now it is looking almost silly if you have been in the housing economy for more than a couple…
Bill Gross Not Just Talking The Death of Equities… The Death of Real Returns!
Bill Gross is talking up a painful yet obvious theory in his August 2012 Investment Outlook: the death of equities as a reliable investment class. Gross said, “The cult of equity is dying.” If you…
Stock of the Day: Cirrus Logic (CRUS)
Cirrus Logic, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRUS) is one of the top stocks on the day as far as the gainers, but the double-digit gain and the more than 5-times volume spike makes this our stock…