Preliminary Data Shows Retail Sales Floundering in June
Retail Metrics is out with its preliminary targets on June same-store sales and the report is one of caution. The firm is now expecting only a 1.0% growth in the same-store sales, down from…
All Work
Jon C. Ogg
Reevaluating a Best Buy Buyout
Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE: BBY) is surging in early trading on this merger Monday. While there is no direct Best Buy news this morning there is ample speculation that this will be the…
Crucial S&P 500 Chart Levels This Fourth of July Week (SPY, JPM, GE)
Friday’s gains are currently history and investors better be paying close attention to the daily buy/sell pivots if they are staying in the market over the coming Fourth of July week. We are tracking the daily…
ISM Recession Watch: Weakest In Three Years
Is a U.S. recession on the way? If the Institute for Supply Management’s Report on Business in manufacturing is any key, we are very close. The PMI (purchasing managers index) came in at 49.7%,…
Fitch Eyes E.U. Prequel of TARP
If you thought that the latest market-moving news out of Europe where the European Central Bank could directly lend and offer aid to troubled banks in Europe sounded a bit like a prelude to…
First Solar, Both Sides of the Coin: Bargain or Bust? (FSLR)
First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) is caught somewhere between a rock and a hard place. The solar player’s cost of production is above what the prevailing prices are and there are performance issues when…
Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AFFX, BUD, ACI, CREE, DDS, DLTR, FINL, AWAY, IMAX, ITT, LH, LIFE, MAR, P, PSX, DGX, RIMM, TIF, SPY)
Jon OggThese are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls this Monday. Affymetrix Inc. (NASDAQ: AFFX) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs. Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD) Raised…
The Next Mergers & Buyouts For 2012
As of late last week we had many potentially imminent buyouts that could have hit the market. When we were just finishing the report draft on Friday is when the Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:…
The Long Buyout Valuation of Amylin… A Higher Price Yet To Come?
Some mergers are very straight-forward, and others are just odd. Now we have an answer over whether or not Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMLN) was going to be acquired or not. Bristol-Myers Squibb Company…
Analyst Again Pounds on First Solar’s Relevance
Axiom Capital’s Gordon Johnson is remaining negative on First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) as his comments made on CNBC were still very negative. Johnson has been very vocal against the company for quite some…
J.P. Morgan Chase Stalls As Only DJIA Loser (JPM, BAC, BCS)
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) was up with the rest of the banks at the open on Friday, but something happened along the way and the bank ended up being the only one…
GE Leading Conglomerates in 2012, Set For Highest Close of Year
General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) is exhibiting a pattern which might not have seemed possible at the start of June. If the 2% gain to $20.60 holds up this Friday, GE will be closing…
Can A Good New Chief Operating Officer Save First Solar?
First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) had been trying to recover from its lows but its shares have stalled in recent days. Now comes news that the firm has hired Georges Antoun as the Chief…
Reality Check: Online Ad Spending Is Not As Dead As You Have Been Told
If one company would be the judge, jury and executioner on online ad spending, it would be Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG). The problem is that Google is now so spread out that you cannot…
S&P Chart Buy/Sell Pivots Meet The Euro Pop (SPY)
The S&P 500 is sharply higher on bank bailout news from the Europeans, but the charts tell it all now. We are tracking the daily buy/sell pivot points on the SPDR S&P 500 (NYSEMKT: SPY) as…
Economic Data from Chicago and from University of Michigan Sentiment Adds More Weakness
The report on the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index is showing more and more weakness, but perhaps not as much as expected. The change in the University of Michigan sentiment barometer is weak as well.…
A Direct Bailout of E.U. Banks, TARP-Lite (SAN, BBVA, NBG, IRE, DB, UBS, CS, BCS, GREK, EWP, EWI, FXE)
European leaders are taking the aid directly to the banks to stave off any added crisis. The futures in the U.S. are soaring and the markets in Europe are up big. This will sound…
Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ANTH, BBBY, BLK, BPL, CZR, CELG, EEP, FB, F, LNCR, NKE, ORCL, RIMM, SKS, TTM, TIF, UNP, UHS, WETF, ZUMZ)
Jon OggThese are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls this Friday. Anthera Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ANTH) Cut to Sell at Citigroup. Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY)…
A Perfect Storm Drives Record Gun Sales
It is no secret that gun sales are through the roof. Still, up over 27% year over year? That is what Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation (NASDAQ: SWHC) disclosed today. What we are tracking…
Ford Warns of 2012 Being Dragged Down By S. America, Europe, and Asia
Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) is still the great America car company, but the growth markets are not going to deliver for it in 2012. in fact, the company noted in an SEC Filing…