The Alaska oil pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez was shut down early Saturday morning following a spill of about 10 barrels of oil into the basement of a pump station on Alaska’s North…
Another deal has been confirmed in the land grab for utilities. Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE: DUK) has confirmed fresh reports that it was acquiring Progress Energy Inc. (NYSE: PGN). Duke’s $23.5+ billion market cap…
These are some of this Monday’s top analyst calls with upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research firms. Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) Raised to Buy with $35.50 target at BofA/ML. Advanced…
Playboy Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: PLA) has been in talks to go private for some time. It appears to be happening. The company just announced this morning that Icon Acquisition Holdings, L.P., a limited partnership…
Our feature of “The Unusual Suspects” is back after not having enough consistent planned events during the last two weeks of the holidays. We have earnings due, cases happening, FDA events, mergers, rumors and…
This week’s “Top Analyst Calls” is a much more inclusive list than it has been of late, and this week have selected “8 Top Analyst Calls of the Week” rather than just five as…
Americans are borrowing again, although the message from the release is “little changed” despite this being the second month of gains. The Federal Reserve just released data from November-2010 showing that revolving credit decreased…
Baker Hughes Incorporated (NYSE: BHI) has just released its weekly rig count, and the rig count is back up. In the rig count data for services business there is the Oil Services HOLDRs (NYSE:…
The next round of earnings officially kicks off next week with Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) first out of the blocks on Monday. We’re taking advantage of the occasion to preview some developments in a…
You saw the convoluted data from the Labor Department this morning with reports that unemployment magically went down to 9.4% and with 103,000 added to the non-Farm Payrolls. This morning brought on additional data…
Homebuilder KB Home (NYSE: KBH) posted a surprise EPS gain of $0.23 for its fourth quarter of 2010 ended in November. Analysts had expected an EPS loss of -$0.17. The company’s revenue fell by…
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has filed its proxy materials ahead of its annual meeting slated for February 23. There is a whole slew of data noted in the two SEC filings, but there is…
The US Labor Department has released the Unemployment data and the change in non-Farm Payrolls for December-2010. The headline figure on unemployment is 9.4% but the more closely followed figure of the non-Farm Payrolls…
Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) is among a handful of companies which are close to being entirely dependent upon the business around tax filing season. The company has quantified what some IRS exposure will be…
These are some of this Friday’s key analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls. Aeropostale, Inc. (NYSE: ARO) Cut to Underperform at Wells Fargo. Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: APC) Cut…
The cost of carrying Monday Night Football is about to go from being expensive to off the charts. We Americans probably never think of the costs behind carrying the game. The costs are enormous…
Standard & Poor’s Equity Research has issued some of its key trends for 2011 in energy and materials which calls for “largely positive signs for both the Energy and Materials sectors” to continue in…
Greenwich Kahala Aviation Ltd. has filed its F-1 (foreign issuer) paperwork with the SEC for a proposed Initial Public Offering today. Terms were not set but the filing is for up to $250 million…
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) has announced that it will reduce its long-term debt by 25% by the end of 2012 while increasing production by 25%. In its announcement, the company’s CEO said, “This…
A Chinese supplier of solar PV products has purchased a 70% stake in a US project development firm, marking the first entry of a Chinese solar provider into the project development business. LDK Solar…