Archive for January, 2010
(F) Unemployment: Sectors & Demographics
The employment report for December was disappointing . The job losses were concentrated in the goods producing side of the economy, which lost 81,000 more jobs. Construction was particularly hard hit again, with a loss of 53,000 jobs. Construction employment peaked earlier than...
8Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(BLUD) Immucor Beats Earnings Estimates
Immucor (BLUD) announced second quarter 2010 earnings per share of 28 cents, which was better than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 26 cents and the year-ago quarter’s 24 cents. Net income for the quarter was $19.7 million, compared with $17.3 million for the same quarter last...
8Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(EVVV) ev3 Completes TrailBlazer Support Catheter Recall
ev3, Inc. (EVVV) recently completed a voluntary Class I recall of its TrailBlazer Support Catheter. The catheter was recalled as a result of the device cracking near its marker band. ev3 received these complaints from physicians during the initial limited market release of the...
8Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(INTU) Internal Revenue Service Plans to Regulate Tax Preparers
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) plans to regulate the U.S tax preparers from the 2011 tax season. This includes mandatory registration, competency testing and continuing education requirements for tax preparers. Tax preparers, such as H&R Block Inc. (HRB) and Jackson Hewitt...
8Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(COST) Costco Wholesale Comparable Store Sales Up 9%
Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST), one of the leading U.S. warehouse club operators, reported December sales of $8.26 billion, up 11% from $7.41 billion in the year-ago period. Total comparable store sales for the 5-week period ended January 3 were up 9%. Costco posted a 5%...
8Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(FNM) Housing and Rental Data
Many of the government efforts to help the housing market, such as the Fed buying up fully one quarter of all the mortgage-backed securities backed by Fannie Mae (FNM), Freddie Mac (FRE) and Ginnie Mae, as well as the “first time” homebuyer tax credit, are designed to...
8Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(QCOM) Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Enters PC World
Yesterday Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) announced that it has entered into an agreement with Hewlett Packard Co. (HPQ), to design a smartbook based on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon platform. This smartbook will have Google Inc’s (GOOG) Android operating system. The device will use the Snapdragon...
8Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(MOT) Motorola Unveils New BACKFLIP Smartphone
Motorola Inc. (MOT) yesterday introduced the latest addition to its smartphone portfolio, the BACKFLIP. This device has its keypad at the back, which can fold out rather than slide out. BACKFLIP will combine the social networking and personalization of MOTOBLUR software with...
8Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(VLO) Surprise Build in Crude Inventories Announced by U.S. Energy Department
The U.S. Energy Department’s weekly inventory release showed a surprise build in crude and gasoline stockpiles. The agency’s bearish report further added that distillate supplies logged a narrower-than-expected decline, while refinery run-rates also decreased from the...
8Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(MET) MetLife’s Global Funding Unit Begins Sale of $2.5Billion in Notes
Yesterday, MetLife Global Funding I, a unit of MetLife Inc. (MET), announced a two-part sale of its notes worth $2.5 billion. The first part includes $1 billion of notes at an issue price of $100, maturing on July 13, 2011. These 18-month floating-rate notes will bear a rate...
8Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(ADSK) Autodesk Settles Trademark Lawsuit With SolidWorks
Autodesk, Inc. (ADSK) announced the settlement of a lawsuit against Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp. (SolidWorks) pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Autodesk had alleged that SolidWorks inappropriately used its trademarks AutoCAD and...
8Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(BRKA) Berkshire Hathaway’s Finance Subsidiary to Issue $1 Billion in Notes
Yesterday, Berkshire Hathaway Finance Corporation, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRKA) (BRKB) announced the issue of $1.0 billion notes, out of which $750 million will be senior notes due 2040 and $250 million will be floating rate senior notes due 2012. The $750 million...
8Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | ContinuedDecember Unemployment at 10% – Economic Highlights
The Unemployment Rate for December was unchanged at 10%, as was the number of unemployed persons, at 15.3 million. At the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons was 7.7 million and the unemployment rate was 5%, which means these figures have...
8Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(PFE) Pfizer Joins With Strides Arcolab For Off-Patent Generics in the U.S.
Pfizer, Inc. (PFE) recently joined hands with Indian company Strides Arcolab for the commercialization of off-patent sterile injectable and oral products in the United States. As per the agreement, these products will be commercialized through the company’s Established...
8Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(BA) Boeing 2009 Commercial Aircraft Orders Were Down 61%
Boeing Company (BA) announced that in fiscal 2009 its commercial airplane order booking tumbled 61% to only 263 gross orders compared to 662 in fiscal 2008. However, hit by the recession a number of customers either cancelled or deferred their orders, bringing down the net order...
8Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(GS) Goldman Sachs Group is Sued by Pension Fund
On Thursday, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) was sued by the Central Laborers’ Pension Fund in Illinois, who had bought some Goldman stock in Jan, 2009. As an active investor the pension fund charged Goldman of distributing $22 billion to its employees as bonus payments for...
8Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(TTEK) Tetra Tech Gets Federal Aviation Administration Contract
Tetra Tech Inc. (TTEK) announced that it has been awarded the $200 million Navigation Technical Assistance Contract (NAVTAC) with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The initial contract is for $70 million, but would grow to $200 million over seven years if all options...
8Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(AMX) Mexico Confirms Wireless Spectrum Auction
The Mexican government has finally announced that it will complete the much-awaited wireless spectrum (radio bandwidth) auctions in the country by the end of June 2010. In November 2009, the Mexican telecom regulator Cofetel divulged the bidding rules for the radio-electric spectrum...
8Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(JEC) Jacobs Engineering Group Wins Sasol Deal
Earlier this week, Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (JEC) received a contract from Sasol, an integrated oil, gas and chemical company operating worldwide, to provide basic engineering services for the first commercial installation of Sasol’s proprietary tetramerization technology....
8Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued($S) Sprint-Nextel Expands Boost Mobile Reach
Sprint Nextel (S) has reportedly expanded the coverage of its Boost Mobile prepaid subsidiary across all of its wireless network platforms. Boost Mobile will offer its popular $50 monthly unlimited calling plan to all new and existing prepaid subscribers on the carrier’s own...
8Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(GOOG) Google Files Regulatory Application For The Energy Market
Google Inc’s (GOOG) application to the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) seeks to authorize the company to procure and market electricity. While some may view the initiative as a play in a new market, Google’s intention appears fairly obvious to us. Google...
8Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(TSON) TranS1 Reports Preliminary Revenues
TranS1 Inc. (TSON) has reported preliminary revenues for the fourth quarter of 2009. Revenues are expected to be approximately in the range of $6.2 million to $6.3 million, lower than the company’s previous guidance of $6.7 million to $7.2 million. The company expects to report...
8Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(MDRX) Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions Enters New Agreement With CVS Caremark
Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions Inc. (MDRX) recently entered into a new agreement with CVS Caremark Corporation (CVS) whereby the latter will stop offering its iScribe prescription software, switching all its customers to Allscripts’ e-prescribing software instead. Financial...
8Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued($AAPL) Three Reasons Why You Should Add This Tech Titan to Your Portfolio
by David Fessler, Energy and Infrastructure Expert Friday, January 8, 2010: Issue #1171 “It’s all selling well. We can’t replenish the stock fast enough.” A look around the store confirmed the employee’s comments, in response to my question about how business was...
8Jan2010 | InvestmentU | 0 comments | Continued(MWW) Monster Worldwide Says Job Losses Are Easing
The Monster Employment Index, issued by online job-search giant Monster Worldwide (MWW), shows that the amount of jobs being lost in the U.S. is still rising, but in ever-smaller increments. The Monster Employment Index for December 2009 reached 115, four points lower than the...
7Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(MCRS) MICROS Systems Acquires TIG Global
MICROS Systems, Inc. (MCRS) recently announced that it will acquire TIG Global, one of the leading interactive marketing companies. Headquartered in Washington, DC, TIG Global serves the online needs of a diverse portfolio of clients located around the world. Management stated...
7Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(STI) SunTrust Banks Impliments Salary Freeze
In compliance with the pay restrictions imposed on the company for participating in the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), SunTrust Banks Inc. (STI) said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday that it has put in effect a salary freeze for all of its senior executives except one. Atlanta-based...
7Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(CBS) CBS Corporation Upgraded by Analyst
CBS Corporation’s (CBS) strategic initiatives have helped it to weather the economic downturn. The company has been aggressively selling slow-growth radio stations in mid-sized markets to focus on the large markets that promise real growth. Moreover, the company has been paring...
7Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(ETP) Energy Transfer Partners Offers Common Units
Energy Transfer Partners L.P. (ETP) – a natural gas and propane gas distributor – priced the public offering of 8.5 million common units at $44.72 per unit, with a 30-day over-allotment option for an additional 1.3 million units. The partnership plans to use the net proceeds...
7Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(MON) Monsanto Reports a Net Loss
Monsanto Company (MON) reported results for the first quarter of 2010, which ended November 30, 2009, and reinstated its full-year guidance. Along with its quarterly earnings results, Monsanto also announced its annual research and development pipeline update. Net sales decreased...
7Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued