Copyright (c) 2006 Stockpickr. All rights reserved. http://www.stockpickr.com/ en-us Enter a portfolio, get recommendations automatically from hedge funds, mutual funds, super investors. http://www.stockpickr.com/images/stockpickr.jpg http://www.stockpickr.com/ 144 17 http://stockerblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/methane-stocks-on-fire-or-hot-air.html Methane is a greenhouse gas with global warming potential; however, it is one of the cleanest burning fuels, as it is the purest form of natural gas and is much cleaner than burning coal. The sources of methane gas are natural gas fields, decaying organic wastes of solid waste landfills, such as manure, wastewater sludge, municipal solid waste and landfills, and coal deposits from coal bed methane extraction. Coalbed methane generally consists of at least 95% methane unlike natural gas, which ha... Sun, 29 Jun 2008 00:53:00 CDT http://stockerblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/how-much-would-you-pay-for-lunch-with.html On a recent eBay (EBAY) charity auction, lunch with Warren Buffett went for an amazingly high $2 million. Proceeds went to support the Glide Foundation, which provides services to the poor and homeless in San Francisco. ... Sat, 28 Jun 2008 23:30:00 CDT http://stockerblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/ebay-wedding-sponsor-auction-won-by-dr.html Who would have thought that Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. (DPS) would be getting in on the wedding sponsor business. A woman in Virginia Beach held an eBay (EBAY) auction to find a sponsor for her wedding and Dr Pepper Snapple was the successful bidder at $10,000. ... Sat, 28 Jun 2008 23:20:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/322283505/ Our first week is over on TechcrunchIT and it has been a busy one. Steve Gillmor and I spent time with Salesforce, Sun, at Velocity with a super-smart guy about to join Twitter and with two other smart guys who have a new Javascript platform called SproutCore that Apple has taken a keen interest in. It was also a big week for Open Source as a business as we heard about rapid growth at RedHat and MySQL now at Sun talking about their $100M revenue rate, strong growth and future plans. The cloud is... Sat, 28 Jun 2008 19:42:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/322258591/ New Y Combinator startup Posterous launches today with what might be the simplest blogging platform to date. Yes, it’s even easier to use than Tumblr, which has a cult-following of users who like to post lots of pictures and short messages. Here’s how you create a blog on Posterous - email something to post@posterous.com. You’re done. Here’s how you post something new on Posterous - see paragraph above. The subject line of the email is the post title, the text area is the... Sat, 28 Jun 2008 18:39:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/322221574/ As Bill Gates closed the door for the final time Friday on his ex-office (Ballmer takes over Monday) the rhetoric about continued one day a week doesn’t match the reality. Whether you believe Bill will have an ongoing role in Office and Windows futures, I bet most of Bill’s input is already factored in by the owners of those two dominant sources of Microsoft revenue. What comes next depends on whether Microsoft can pivot to the open Web paradigm as predicated in the Live Mesh strate... Sat, 28 Jun 2008 17:01:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/bloggingstocks/~3/322302522/ Filed under: Market matters, Money and Finance Today, Personal financeThe New York Times reports that Massachusetts secretary William Galvin has subpoenaed some revealing e-mails from UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) that illustrate its decision to stick retail investors with its worthless ARS inventory. I've been following the $330 billion ARS market since February when the weekly auction market for resetting their yields seized up. Since then 4,852 comments have been posted from individual investors whose ... Sat, 28 Jun 2008 16:17:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/etftrends-feed/~3/322200383/mays-funds-bene.html While our economy is plagued by a weak dollar and its implications, exchange traded funds (ETFs) can benefit. These days there are more options than ever for investors to hedge against a falling dollar. And while the Federal Reserve has stated that it's prepared to toughen up the greenback, the fact of the matter is, it's still weak. The dollar hit a three-week low in trading on Thursday, a day after the Fed held steady on interest rates. One fallout of this weakness is the rising price of ... Sat, 28 Jun 2008 16:00:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/322182044/ Facebook may have talked a few investors, including Microsoft, Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing and Germany’s Samwer brothers, into investing in the company’s preferred stockat a $15 billion valuation. But that’s a hard number to justify given Facebook’s revenue projections and comparisons to other big networks, and a lot of people think it’s vastly overvalued at that price. And at least one stockholder is quietly looking to sell some stock at a value significantl... Sat, 28 Jun 2008 15:25:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/322169743/ I saw this on Dave Winer’s Friendfeed stream yesterday. It’s just too good not to post, even though its staged. Some adult language in there, and one NSFW image at the end. The website for this show is usually at www.thewebsiteisdown.com, which is currently down and redirecting visitors directly to the video on Blip.TV. Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware. ... Sat, 28 Jun 2008 14:49:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/bloggingstocks/~3/322247175/ Filed under: Forecasts, Consumer experience, Competitive strategy, Wal-Mart (WMT)This post is part of my series featuring established companies and the smaller, more aggressive or innovative rivals that may eventually succeed them. With over 4,000 stores in the United States ranging from warehouse-concept Sam's Club to discount retail stores to supercenters, Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) is by far the largest retailer in the U.S. -- and the world. So where does Wal-Mart go from here? International expa... Sat, 28 Jun 2008 14:00:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/bloggingstocks/~3/322235093/ Filed under: Products and services, Industry, Consumer experience, Competitive strategy, EntrepreneursThis post is part of our Big Company, Small Town series, featuring large companies and the small towns in which they are headquartered. Is there any piece of furniture more classically American than the La-Z-Boy recliner? It goes hand in hand with the image of Dad -- any Dad, all Dads, from the 1950s to today -- enjoying the simple pleasure of sitting with his feet up and his head back, temptin... Sat, 28 Jun 2008 13:10:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/bloggingstocks/~3/322199097/ Filed under: Forecasts, Deals, Consumer experience, Competitive strategy, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), EntrepreneursThis post is part of my series featuring established companies and the smaller, more aggressive or innovative rivals that may eventually succeed them. I remember way, way back to November 2006 when Wall Street was stunned that Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) was paying the ungodly sum of $1.65 billion for privately held YouTube. How were they to monetize this goofy, home video web site?... Sat, 28 Jun 2008 12:00:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/bloggingstocks/~3/322187105/ Filed under: International markets, Forecasts, Commodities, Oil, Federal ReserveIt's a European anti-inflation campaign that will require boldness, creativity, and patience. That was how one economist described a potential monetary policy tack by the European Central Bank (ECB) for the quarters ahead. London-based economist Mark Chandler told BloggingStocks that typically, a central bank will increase interest rates to fight inflation. Paradoxically, he's not recommending that the ECB do that ... Sat, 28 Jun 2008 11:10:00 CDT http://www.fatpitchfinancials.com/840/weekend-reading-at-value-investing-news-rising-edition/ Here are the top stories this week on Value Investing News: Buy ‘Em Back at Western Sizzlin’ Transcript: Warren Buffett’s Power Lunch Interview on “Exploding” Inflation Value Investing: From Graham to Buffett and Beyond Investor Book Club #1Investor Book Club #1 Morningstar Investment Conference - 3 Morningstar Investment Conference - 2 Morningstar Investment Conference - 1 Mohnish Pabrai on Bloomberg - Getting Ready for Lunch with Buffett Third Avenue Funds Second Qua... Sat, 28 Jun 2008 10:52:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/bloggingstocks/~3/322173756/ Filed under: Industry, Apple Inc (AAPL), Motorola (MOT), Nokia Corp. (NOK)Handset maker Sony-Ericsson said it is having a tough time. According to The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), "the mobile-phone maker continues to be hit hard by a weakening economy in Western Europe, hurting demand for the mid- to high-end handsets it specializes in." Of course, another big market for more expensive phones is America, Motorola's (NYSE: MOT) last stronghold. The U.S. company faces a double thr... Sat, 28 Jun 2008 10:40:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/bloggingstocks/~3/322161875/ Filed under: Products and services, Consumer experience, EntrepreneursThis post is part of our Big Company, Small Town series, featuring large companies and the small towns in which they are headquartered. Cabela's Inc. (NYSE: CAB) has come a long way since the husband and wife team of Dick and Mary Cabela sold outdoor gear from their kitchen in 1961. Today, Cabela's has become the largest mail-order, retail, and internet outdoor outfitter in the world, with record revenues of $2.3 billion in 2... Sat, 28 Jun 2008 10:10:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/bloggingstocks/~3/322145359/ Filed under: Other issues, LawThis is the part of a series of columns called "The Naked Truth," by retirement expert Dan Solin. Please bring him your questions, in the comments box, and he will answer as many as he can. Question: What about those of us that are stuck with our money in auction rate securities? What do we do? I see three options: Sit around and wait for redemption; sue; sell on the secondary market at 90% (or whatever the going rate is at the time). It seems to me that if some... Sat, 28 Jun 2008 09:40:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/247wallst/TEXW/~3/322018966/apple-aapl-th-1.html Wall St. was disappointed by RIM's (RIMM) forecast for the upcoming few quarters? Could the same thing happen to Apple (AAPL)? Several companies in the cell... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] ... Sat, 28 Jun 2008 09:26:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/bloggingstocks/~3/322131797/ Filed under: General Electric (GE), Coca-Cola (KO), Citigroup Inc. (C), Newcastle Investment (NCT), RecessionWith the market looking just plain awful these days, and with the theory of recession becoming more and more concrete as the dour days pass, the concept of shorting equities is gaining popularity, at least from a headline point of view. Here's an article that talks about utilizing ETFs to go short. My colleague Timothy Sykes also discussed shorting in a recent piece of his own. Both of th... Sat, 28 Jun 2008 09:10:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/bloggingstocks/~3/322118969/ Filed under: Wal-Mart (WMT), ColumnsWelcome to the 66th installment of The Wal-Mart Weekly, a column dedicated to bringing you insight, wit, facts, results, opinions, and just a bit of everything else when it comes to a very hot topic these days: Wal-Mart. This week, I'll be examining Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) and the reputation the world's largest retailer has. Wal-Mart's roots from the backyard of a small Arkansas town into the world's largest company in less then five decades is nothi... Sat, 28 Jun 2008 08:40:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/bloggingstocks/~3/322090013/ Filed under: Forecasts, Consumer experience, Competitive strategy, McDonald's (MCD), Chipotle Mexican Grill'A' (CMG)This post is part of my series featuring established companies and the smaller, more aggressive or innovative rivals that may eventually succeed them. The most impressive game-changer story in the fast food industry over the past 50 years is indisputably McDonald's (NYSE: MCD). Founder Ray Kroc was a visionary and pioneer in serving customers hot fast food at a reasonable price. ... Sat, 28 Jun 2008 08:00:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/bloggingstocks/~3/322090014/ Filed under: International markets, Forecasts, Bad news, Economic dataEuropean business confidence declined more than forecast, the European Commission announced Friday -- an indication slowing euro-zone economy and rising inflation are beginning to lower business executives' expectations for the immediate quarters ahead. The EC's sentiment index fell to 94.9 in May from 97.6 in April. It was the index's lowest reading since May 2005, Bloomberg News reported Friday. Europe's major stock market... Sat, 28 Jun 2008 07:40:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/bloggingstocks/~3/322078018/ Filed under: Deals, Management, Anheuser-Busch Cos (BUD)Funny how companies get religion when there is a takeover threat. It says a great deal about how poorly many big firms are run and how lax their boards are when it comes to supervision. Anheuser-Busch (NYSE: BUD) now plans to cut 1,000 people and raise prices. It is trying to hold off a bid from InBev. Now that its independence is at stake, it is taking decisive actions. It may not work because the plan probably comes too late. According t... Sat, 28 Jun 2008 07:10:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/bloggingstocks/~3/322051285/ Filed under: Forecasts, Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), Comfort Zone Investing, RecessionTed Allrich is the founder of The Online Investor and author of the just released book: Comfort Zone Investing: Build Wealth And Sleep Well At Night. In this weekly column, he'll offer advice to investors who are just getting started.We are heading for a crisis of confidence, confidence in the core of the U.S. economy, the capitalist way of life, starting with financial institutions and permeating every... Sat, 28 Jun 2008 06:30:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/bloggingstocks/~3/322051286/ Filed under: Products and services, Kellogg Co (K), General Mills (GIS), Kraft Foods'A' (KFT), AgricultureThis post is part of our Big Company, Small Town series, featuring large companies and the small towns in which they are headquartered. There are probably very few people growing up in North America that have not had Kellogg's (NYSE: K) cereal at some time. I know people that have breakfast cereal for lunch or diner as well. It is the number one U.S. breakfast cereal maker, ahead of General... Sat, 28 Jun 2008 06:10:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/247wallst/TEXW/~3/321925569/media-digest-15.html According to Reuters, the Anheuser-Busch (BUD) board is under pressure to justify what it did not take InBev's buy-out offer. Reuters writes that overseas... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] ... Sat, 28 Jun 2008 05:40:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/bloggingstocks/~3/322034387/ Filed under: Earnings reports, Google (GOOG), Walgreen Co (WAG), Bed Bath and Beyond (BBBY), Kroger Co (KR), Darden Restaurants (DRI), Research in Motion (RIMM), General Mills (GIS), NIKE, Inc'B' (NKE), KB HOME (KBH), Oracle Corp (ORCL), Red Hat Inc (RHT), United Parcel'B' (UPS), Palm Inc (PALM), CKE Restaurants (CKR), Rite Aid Corp (RAD)Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks: Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) Q1 earnings tumbled whil... Sat, 28 Jun 2008 05:40:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/bloggingstocks/~3/322008314/ Filed under: Forecasts, Consumer experience, Competitive strategy, Google (GOOG), Apple Inc (AAPL), Motorola (MOT), AT and T (T), Nokia Corp. (NOK), Research in Motion (RIMM)This post is part of my series featuring established companies and the smaller, more aggressive or innovative rivals that may eventually succeed them. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is one of the great stories of corporate America and the stock market. Under the leadership and genius of Steven Jobs, Apple is emerging as the premier ... Sat, 28 Jun 2008 05:00:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/etftrends-feed/~3/321885671/hedge-funds-and.html Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are one of the most popular investment tools, and hedge funds are picking up on them - especially the leveraged type. That's making some of the hedge funds more risky because these ETFs are not the type you bring home to your mother, as the volatility and risk within these funds can be more than many investors can handle. Hedge funds are limited to betting against a sector, however. Part of the reason leveraged funds have grown in popularity with hedge fun... Sat, 28 Jun 2008 04:00:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/bloggingstocks/~3/321972549/ Filed under: Major movement, International markets, Bad news, Politics, Commodities, Oil, Federal Reserve, RecessionWhat will it take to break the downward cycle for the U.S. stock market and its economy? Get back to our roots as a country that lives within its means. The source of the problem is that we have gotten away from the idea of paying only for things we can afford. To close that affordability gap that results from lower income and higher prices, we have borrowed money -- $9.3 trillio... Sat, 28 Jun 2008 03:20:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/bloggingstocks/~3/321934117/ Filed under: General Electric (GE), Employees, Economic dataSo far, the really big industries which have had lay-offs of tens of thousands of people are restricted to the troubled auto, airline, and financial sectors. That is beginning to change as the economic slowdown is become more severe and global. One of the world's largest conglomerates, Siemens (NYSE: SI) will cut over 17,000 people. According to The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), the plan is "a broad cost-cutting drive am... Sat, 28 Jun 2008 01:40:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/321769761/ As anyone could guess, the Yahoo executive exodus continues. Kent Goldman, Yahoo’s Director of Corporate Development and one of their top deal guys, is rumored to be leaving the company. Goldman joined Yahoo in 2004 as Director of Business Strategy, reporting to Toby Coppel (at that time Yahoo’s Chief Strategy Officer - now Managing Director of Yahoo Europe). If this is accurate, the total number of Yahoo execs who have exited the company since January 2007 is approximately 115. 18 ... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:14:00 CDT http://howardlindzon.com/?p=3686 1. Stock Broker or Account ‘Depletion’ Executive 2. Janitor or PipeScrubber 3. Porn Star or Actor It’s easy to get antsy about job titles and professions. I mean we are all working hard for a living…no? But with the death of the executive (Yahoo killing the idea of a Web or Internet executive as well ) and the ‘Macropocalypse (You need to be reading Umair and his archives) upon us, there is opportunity for the ‘YOOTS’ of America…The ‘So... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:06:00 CDT http://maddmoney.net/jim-cramers-lightning-round-218/ Bullish Alliance Resource Partners (ARLP), Phillip Morris (PM), CRBL (CBRL), and Grupo Simec (SIM). Bearish Oshkosh (OSK) and China Finance Online (JRJC). Join the fastest growing community of small cap investors at Stockhideout.com... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:42:00 CDT http://maddmoney.net/fast-money-recap-62/ Tech Trades This week was a rough one for some major technology stocks. Credit Suisse slapped a $100 price target on Research In Motion (RIMM) saying that earnings momentum will slow. Software giant Oracle (ORCL) sold off as well as shares of Google (GOOG). Najarian said he favors RIMM around $120. Adami said Oracle is a screaming buy around $20. POPS&DROPS POPS-Anheuser-Busch (BUD) advanced 3%. Najarian said keep an eye on BUD because they want $7 billion more than InBev is offering. Exxon... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:39:00 CDT http://valueplays.blogspot.com/2008/06/weeks-best-at-vin_27.html A long list for the week away at Value Investing News 1. Buy ‘Em Back at Western Sizzlin’ (via www.circleofcompetenceblog.com)Western Sizzlin' announced a share buyback authorization today, which is terrific news for shareholders. In this article I explain why that make sense for WEST and all undervalued companies. 2. TRANSCRIPT: Warren Buffett's Power Lunch Interview on "Exploding" Inflation (via www.cnbc.com)This is a transcript of Warren Buffett's live interview with Becky Quick on CNBC'... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:52:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/321704546/ EMI, which is looking less like a music label and more like a lawsuit label, is at it again. This afternoon they filed a lawsuit alleging “massive and blatant” copyright infringement by Hi5, VideoEgg and ten John Doe defendants to be named later. The core of the suit is over copyrighted EMI content that appears on Hi5, particularly music videos. EMI is a particularly litigious company. In the recent past, they’vd sued or threatened to sue AllofMP3, YouTube, Apple, MP3Tunes, X... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:50:00 CDT http://maddmoney.net/jim-cramers-stop-trading-buy-procter-gamble/ Jim Cramer told investors on Friday’s CNBC “Stop Trading!” that this market is a true bear. He explained that oil, gas and gold are working as well as Gilead (GILD) and Pfizer (PFE). “This is a bear market that was concentrated in financials and homebuilders, now spilled over to industrials,” he said. “But really has been mauling safety, too, which is really a new trend.” Cramer pointed out that stocks like Coca-Cola (KO) and Procter & Gamble (PG) are usually the pl... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:42:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/321658767/ A key feature of Twitter has been down most of this week: Replies. The core Twitter service itself is alive, but the team took the Reply feature down on Tuesday when the service started to slow. As of now, Friday afternoon, Replies are still down. Disabling certain features is Twitter’s recent attempt to keep their frail architecture from failing completely. They tried it out during Apple’s recent WWDC keynote and it worked, so they’re clearly using this approach more often no... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:13:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/321647942/ Whoisi is a central site that allows users to add people and their associated web feeds, and then track any number of these people and their feed items using a follower model. Whoisi is a side project by open source evangelist and Mozilla contributor Chris Blizzard. Currently it supports feeds from Flickr, Twitter, LinkedIn, Picasa and any Atom or RSS feed. Once you have added a number of people that you follow, it presents their feed activity in a time-based interface similar to FriendFeed an... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:54:00 CDT http://feeds.wsjonline.com/~r/wsj/deals/feed/~3/321606867/ Carlos Brito: InBev’s offer for Anheuser-Busch won’t be traveling down the same well-worn path that Microsoft walked in its pursuit of Yahoo. The Brazilian-Belgian brewer’s suit to see if it can replace Anheuser’s board was a shot across the beer maker’s bow. And for Anheuser’s shareholders, $65 a share looks awfully tempting. Cash Deals: In the world of M&A, cash is king. In some of the biggest deals of the year, companies have eschewed stock to use cash.... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:30:00 CDT http://feeds.wsjonline.com/~r/wsj/deals/feed/~3/321593774/ Any jobs InBev can cut, Anheuser-Busch can cut better. That seems to be the message from Anheuser-Busch’s announcement today of plans for $1 billion in cost cuts, including the elimination of 1,290 jobs. This is something of a counterintuitive move. After all, one of the common objections of Anheuser-Busch employees and Missouri politicians to InBev’s $46.35 billion takeover bid is that the Belgian-Brazilian brewer would slash away at A-B’s 12 breweries and with it, employee ... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:05:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/etftrends-feed/~3/321633376/cocoa-shortage.html Rising food prices have been a boon to commodities exchange traded funds (ETFs) this year. Corn, wheat, soybeans, sugar, you name it - it's getting pricier by the minute. But...chocolate? Precious, precious chocolate that many of us consume by the pound? Yes, indeed. The world's cocoa supply is threatened, reports Scott Jagow for Marketplace. Now, let's everybody stay calm - there's no reason to run to your local Sweet Shoppe and hoard the chocolate goods yet, unless you've got a craving th... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:00:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/321616704/ Everyone likes to share their thoughts and activities with friends and family, but, narcissists aside, most people don’t have time to spend hours each week blogging about their life. Swurl, a new startup that just launched in public beta, is looking to fix this problem. Swurl is essentially a lifecasting aggregator that pulls your current activity from web services that include Last.fm, Flickr, Amazon, and nearly twenty other sources (you can see the full list here). The site is reminis... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:50:00 CDT http://feeds.wsjonline.com/~r/wsj/marketbeat/feed/~3/321584528/ The action wasn’t encouraging, to say the least. Equities and crude oil acted as dance partners today (or fencing opponents), parrying and shifting their weight against each other, but crude oil was in the lead, with stock investors following. And as crude oil managed to close above $140 a barrel for the first time in history, the stock market could not sustain a rally. Now that the Dow Jones Industrial Average has declined by 20% from its peak, analysts await the inevitable breakdowns of... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:47:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/321601121/ Earlier this month we launched Elevator Pitches, a site for startup CEOs and founders to upload a 60-second video explaining what their companies do and how they make money. As I explained in the launch post, the idea is to create a repository of startup pitches where viewers can offer their critiques and vote the best ones up and the worst ones down. The initial response was very encouraging. We got 50,000 pageviews in the first three days. But we soon realized that we had launched too ear... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:17:00 CDT http://feeds.wsjonline.com/~r/wsj/deals/feed/~3/321591266/ WSJ colleague David Luhnow files this dispatch on the Mexican brewing scene. Mexico’s two big beer companies, Grupo Modelo SAB and Fomento Economico Mexicano SAB, are obvious targets as the beer industry consolidates. Already, InBev’s approach of Anheuser-Busch has prompted the St. Louis company to defend itself by trying to buy the part of Modelo it doesn’t already own. Modelo is likely to say no. Neither Modelo nor Femsa are eager to sell–right now. Still, industry an... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:15:00 CDT http://financialskeptic.blogspot.com/2008/06/kb-homes-is-it-better.html KB Homes (KBH) released Q2 results and announced that, while the housing market is still bad, they have generated cash. Cash is king especially when you are levered as a home builder. They have also taken the opportunity to redeem an expensive debt issue which will improve the balance sheet and reduce interest costs. Managements comments are all based on rear view mirror considerations. Yes cash is up. Given that the markets stink so badly you need to get a handle on the burn rate for cash.... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:06:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/etftrends-feed/~3/321603629/how-share-split.html When a share split among stocks and the exchange traded funds (ETFs) which hold them occurs, are investors any better off? Earlier this month, Vanguard declared a 2-for-1 split of three ETFs in an attempt to bring down their prices. The ETFs are: Vanguard Emerging Markets (VWO) Vanguard Total Stock Market (VTI) Vanguard Extended Market (VXF) For background, most stocks and ETFs like to trade under $100 to keep their attractiveness and affordability to individual investors, reports Tim M... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:00:00 CDT http://bespokeinvest.typepad.com/bespoke/2008/06/bespokes-predic.html The winner of last week's Bespoke Prediction Poll guessed that the Dow would close the week at 11,350 -- just 0.03% percent from today's actual close of 11,346.51. Congratulations on the prediction and winning one free month of the Bespoke Premium service! Please enter your prediction for where the Dow Jones Industrial Average will close next Thursday (Friday is July... ... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:35:00 CDT http://feeds.wsjonline.com/~r/wsj/deals/feed/~3/321536704/ Vikram Pandit, the CEO of Citigroup, is respected on Wall Street for his intellect and well-known for his intense competitive drive. Today, he wrote a long, very diplomatically worded Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal. It is so diplomatically worded, in fact, that the casual reader may have some trouble cracking the code. Deal Journal modestly presents our translation of the piece, which is titled “Toward a Transparent Financial System.” Associated Press Pandit Pandit’s... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:22:00 CDT http://howardlindzon.com/?p=3685 The kids are off to summer camp and all the party jokes aside, I just want to sleep and hang with the Venture Vixen, catch up on some crappy movies and eat carbs. I added a few stocks today, one new - AZZ - and some more BABY, which we covered today on Wallstrip . Staying short some indexes and added a little to my Apple short, but nothing that will help me retire, even if I am waaay right. Enough to take the edge off real pain in my core holdings if we continue to crash. I think we will, muc... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:21:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/etftrends-feed/~3/321571131/are-commodity-e.html The finger-pointing about who's to blame for the rising commodities prices is in full force, and exchange traded funds (ETFs) are not immune from being fingered as a possible cause. Market Club for iStockAnalyst ponders the current situation and what, if any, role ETFs have in it. In his opinion, commodity ETFs have contributed in two ways: By allowing casual investors to participate. By creating a new type of participant in the futures market: the tracker. There used to be just three: prod... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:00:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/247wallst/TEXW/~3/321551665/the-52-week--17.html Smithfield Foods (SFD) S&P downgrades due to credit problems. Falls to $19.75 from 52-week high of $24.69. American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) President of the... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] ... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:47:00 CDT http://feeds.wsjonline.com/~r/wsj/marketbeat/feed/~3/321516249/ Shares of HSBC Holdings Inc. have caught the eye of investors in the options market today, as there’s been a significant amount of bearish activity a ways down the road — but with very little news along with it. The stock has been relatively quiet on its own; American depository shares are down 0.9% in trading on the New York Stock Exchange. However, activity in September put options (the option to sell a stock at a later date at a given price) exceeds the open interest, suggesting ... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:45:00 CDT http://feeds.barrons.info/~r/barrons/techtraderdaily/feed/~3/321510290/ Like the headline says…what’s up with Sprint Nextel (S)? The telecom company’s shares are up today for the fourth session in a row; in that period the stock has gained $1.21, or 15.8%, to $8.92. (That includes a gain of 8 cents today.) The move has pushed up Sprint’s market cap by $3.5 billion. Just why the stock is rallying is not entirely clear. What we do know is that the company is apparently seeing robust demand for the Samsung Instinct, a new touch screen phone off... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:34:00 CDT http://feeds.wsjonline.com/~r/wsj/deals/feed/~3/321507989/ Apple just launched the 3G iPhone. Nokia acquired the remainder of Symbian it didn’t already own. And shortly, Research in Motion will introduce its latest and greatest phone, called the Bold. All that competition is one of the reasons why RIM shares have cratered more than 15% since Thursday, after the company warned of weaker future earnings. As the company’s co-CEO Jim Balsillie admitted to investors, the smartphone market is in its “land grab” phase. But it is worse than m... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:31:00 CDT http://feeds.barrons.info/~r/barrons/techtraderdaily/feed/~3/321495168/ XM Satellite Radio (XMSR) said it cut a deal with 94.6% of the holders of its $400 million of 1.75% senior convertible notes, and will offer to exchange them for a new series of notes with a 10% interest rate but otherwise comparable terms. In return for the dramatic hike in the coupon, the noteholders have agreed not to assert any claim that the proposed merger of XM with Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI) triggers a change of control provision that could allow the noteholders to demand XM buy back ... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:11:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/321526983/ Virgin Mobile purchased Helio today for $39 million in equity. Helio is a small MVNO that made its name by selling powerful and high-end telephones aimed at technophiles and, thanks to an investment by South Korea’s SK Telecom, Korean-Americans. As part of the deal, Virgin Mobile is also receiving $50 million to pay down Helio’s debt (half from SK Telecom, and half from its parent company Virgin Group), as well as an additional revolving credit facility of $60 million. Just last S... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:00:00 CDT http://feeds.barrons.info/~r/barrons/techtraderdaily/feed/~3/321485676/ Spain’s government is considering a proposal which would significantly cut the incentives built into the company’s solar subsidy program, Lehman’s Vishal Shah asserted in a research note this morning. Shah says the latest proposal being discussed by the Spanish government would call for an annual cap of 300 MW in 2009 with a maximum of 2MW for ground-mounted installations. The proposal would cut incentives to 25 euro cents/kilowatt-hour for ground-mounted and 33 cents for roof-... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:55:00 CDT http://feeds.wsjonline.com/~r/wsj/deals/feed/~3/321484180/ Chief executives are supposed to present cool, dispassionate mastery of the worlds around them. Especially a CEO under attack in one of the largest hostile offers in history. Which makes August Busch IV’s remarks on Anheuser’s Friday conference call with analysts and investors all the more noticeable. Here is a transcript of Busch, speaking after the operator had officially concluded the call: UPI/Landov Wait, wait, wait. Can I make one last statement, please? Can we correct ... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:53:00 CDT http://www.vsinvestor.com/2008/06/gm-putscalls-spiking.html There has been a pick up in trading activity of general Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) this afternoon via the put and call and options. The JULY08 $15.00 CALL and $15.00 PUT strikes have seen a sudden pick up: $15.00 CALLS saw    14,095 contracts trade and the open interest was 28,681 before today. $15.00 PUTS saw 14,162 contracts trade and the open interest was 28,978 before today. Elsewhere we have seen in the AUG08 $12.50 CALLS some 2,783 contracts traded, and the open interest before today was 4... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:38:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/247wallst/TEXW/~3/321506663/bear-market-for.html This week could be called "official bear market territory" with some traders, but IPO traders might call this one the "IPO Withdraw Week." As you will see... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] ... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:28:00 CDT http://feeds.wsjonline.com/~r/wsj/marketbeat/feed/~3/321469926/ With its most recent leg downward, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has declined by more than 20%, which is the guideline for defining a bear market. Of course, the action in the market this year — and particularly since the middle of May — already had plenty of investors in a Potter Stewart mood (”I know it when I see it“). At 11358.48, the Dow industrials were 20% below the highest level for the index in history, which was 14198.10, reached Oct. 11, 2007. Whether this ... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:27:00 CDT http://feeds.wsjonline.com/~r/wsj/deals/feed/~3/321468136/ This week, as I was wrapping up a conversation with an investment banker, he suddenly sounded hurried. “Heidi, I have to go,” he said. “The Fed is here.” As I was picturing my source being led away in handcuffs by brisk, bespectacled economists, he explained that the Federal Reserve is stepping up its examinations of investment banks. All of which points out how, in a world of massive bank write-downs, balky credit markets and the subprime-mortgage imbroglio, regulation ... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:24:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/bloggingstocks/~3/321577706/ Filed under: General Motors (GM), Market matters, Citigroup Inc. (C), Merrill Lynch (MER), Federal Natl Mtge (FNM), Bargain stocks, Oil, Stocks to Buy, Cramer on BloggingStocks From TheStreet.com Network One Way to Tame Speculation in Oil Futures What Else Is Jim Trading? TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says forget calling a financial bottom -- everything you need is right in front of you. Do you think this week will finally end the oil inventory nonsense? Do you think t... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:16:00 CDT http://feeds.wsjonline.com/~r/wsj/marketbeat/feed/~3/321457912/ The object on the left is worth more than the pile on the right. Annelena Lobb has this report on an inflation rate that dwarfs all comers. If using the word “hyperinflation” understates the problem, the setting is probably Zimbabwe. In the southern African country, a spiraling inflation rate of at least six digits renders the value of its currency an ongoing puzzle. Hyperactive hyperinflation comes as a result of decades of rule by Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s strongman pres... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:04:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/bloggingstocks/~3/321623107/ Filed under: Forecasts, Consumer experience, Competitive strategy, Charles Schwab Corp (SCHW), Merrill Lynch (MER)This post is part of my series featuring established companies and the smaller, more aggressive or innovative rivals that may eventually succeed them. The expression was good for decades: "Wall Street to Main Street," as Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) was indeed the nation's premier brokerage firm to individual investors. That mantle is in serious jeopardy as "Mother Merrill" has encoun... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:00:00 CDT http://feeds.barrons.info/~r/barrons/techtraderdaily/feed/~3/321459168/ O2 Micro (OIIM) shares are down sharply today after Needham’s Vernon Essi cut his rating on the stock to Buy from Strong Buy. His price target drops to $11 from $15. Essi says checks in Asia on the competitive position of the company’s core backlighting products found “an increasingly competitive environment,” in which O2 is losing market share in the LCD-TV market to Rohm and to a lesser extent Microsemi (MSCC). In response, he cut his pro forma EPS estimates to 59 cents... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:59:00 CDT http://feeds.wsjonline.com/~r/wsj/deals/feed/~3/321452174/ Is a new phenomenon of the credit crunch taking hold? The Financial Times reports that Progressive Moulded Products filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, becoming the latest auto-parts maker do so. But the company, which is owned by Thomas H. Lee Partners, didn’t just buckle under the weight of debt piled on it after the buyout. “Instead, Progressive is a victim of the lethal combination of tight credit and rising oil prices.” Yves Smith over at Naked Capitalism points o... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:57:00 CDT http://feeds.barrons.info/~r/barrons/techtraderdaily/feed/~3/321445869/ Cymer (CYMI) shares are higher today after Pacific Crest’s Weston Twigg raised his rating on the the maker of lasers used in semiconductor manufacturing to Sector Perform from Underperform. The issue for Cymer in recent months has been the loss of market share to rival Gigaphoton. Twigg says that Cymer’s unit market share dropped to just 42% last quarter, but that market share should balance at 50% over the next year. “Gigaphoton remains competitive at the leading edge, but if ... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:47:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/bloggingstocks/~3/321623112/ Filed under: International markets, Other issues, Commodities, OilOil's rise to yet another record high Friday underscores how little it can take to send crude in its favorite direction -- vertical -- during this seemingly relentless bull run. On Thursday it was Libya, which threatened to reduce production in response to a U.S. law that allows terror victims to seize assets of foreign governments, Bloomberg News reported. That was enough to cause oil to bolt $5.50 higher on the day, and on Frida... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:46:00 CDT http://bespokeinvest.typepad.com/bespoke/2008/06/worst-june-si-1.html Man, this is getting ugly. If the month were to end today, the Dow would be down 10.30% this June. That would mark the worst June for the Dow since 1930, and the worst month for the index since September 2002 (-12.37%). Unfortunately, the month still has one more day next Monday. Subscribe to Bespoke Premium to receive more in-depth... ... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:37:00 CDT http://feeds.barrons.info/~r/barrons/techtraderdaily/feed/~3/321439258/ Art Technology Group (ARTG) shares are up nicely this morning after Roth Capital’s Nathan Schneiderman raised his rating on the stock to Buy from Hold. Schneiderman notes that the e-commerce software provider’s shares have fallen 25% from a recent peak, creating “a very attractive entry point.” Schneiderman writes in a research note that the stock’s valuation has fallen to just over 10x free cash flow, “a bargain for a profitable growing company.” &ldquo... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:35:00 CDT http://bespokeinvest.typepad.com/bespoke/2008/06/writedowns-and.html From data compiled by Bloomberg, financial firms have now written down $399 billion, with much more expected in the coming weeks. On the flip side, they have raised a total of $322 billion in new capital. Below we highlight the writedowns and capital raised of major financial firms around the world. Citigroup (C) tops the writedown list at $42.9 billion,... ... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:30:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/321464806/ Need to schedule a meeting or phone call, but can’t agree on a time that is good for everyone? Try using When Is Good, a dead-simple Web app that does just one thing: zero in on a meeting time that is good for everyone without sending 20 emails back and forth. There are plenty of other apps that help you find a mutually convenient time time for meetings or events (such as Presdo, Scheduly, or Jiffle). But When Is Good strips the process down to its bare essentials. No login is required.... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:18:00 CDT http://feeds.barrons.info/~r/barrons/techtraderdaily/feed/~3/321427439/ It’s opening day for Wall-E, the new Disney (DIS)/Pixar movie. And it’s getting raves. Rotten Tomatoes, the movie review tracking site, says Wall-E is one of the best-reviewed films to open so far in 2008, and also “one of the best-reviewed films in Pixar’s history.” One way to play the arrival of Wall-E is THQ (THQI), which is producing a Wall-E video game. Citigroup’s Brent Thill today says that the game could be “a source of revenue upside” for ... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:15:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/bloggingstocks/~3/321609570/ Filed under: Competitive strategy, Entrepreneurs, Unilever ADR (UL)This post is part of our Big Company, Small Town series, featuring large companies and the small towns in which they are headquartered. This entry in the Big Company, Small Town series features one of the great recent American business success stories, as this powerhouse brand came from very humble beginnings only 30 years ago. Ben & Jerry's was started in 1978, when Long Island, N.Y., natives Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:10:00 CDT http://www.vsinvestor.com/2008/06/selling-surge-jpmorgan-chase-hits-52-week-lows-jpm.html There has been what sort of looks or feels like a concerted early-afternoon selling surge in shares of JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM).  What is interesting about this selling surge is that JPMorgan is THE best of the best banks right now.  This had been positive all morning but the selling picked up right after Noon and at 1:04 PM EST we now sit with a 52-week low of $34.85.  The prior lows had been $36.01 and the 52-week high is $50.48.  We have also now seen some 31.2 million shares trade hand... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:07:00 CDT http://bespokeinvest.typepad.com/bespoke/2008/06/business-week-d.html At the end of January, Business Week's Peter Coy wrote a cover story titled, "Meltdown: For Housing, The Worst Is Yet To Come." Many investors look at magazine covers as contrarian indicators, but Mr. Coy was spot on with the article since things have indeed gotten worse. We just got this week's Business Week in the mail, and once again... ... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:06:00 CDT http://feeds.wsjonline.com/~r/wsj/marketbeat/feed/~3/321420735/ Carolyn Cui has this report on what’s happening in the oil market. Oil continues to push higher, but there’s some doubt lingering in the trading pit: the volume is not great. As of 11:55 a.m. ET, crude oil’s most active August delivery contracts traded about 140,000 lots, compared to the contract’s average daily volume so far this month of 298,984 lots, according to real-time market data. Although it’s still early in the day, “it is way off the normal level,” said Raymond Carbone, p... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:04:00 CDT http://www.streetinsider.com/Insider+Trades/JCPenney+%28JCP%29+ChairmanCEO+Buys+27K+Shares/3777736.html Visit StreetInsider.com at http://www.streetinsider.com/Insider+Trades/JCPenney+%28JCP%29+ChairmanCEO+Buys+27K+Shares/3777736.html for the full story.... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:03:00 CDT http://feeds.barrons.info/~r/barrons/techtraderdaily/feed/~3/321409799/ Tibco (TIBX) shares are higher this morning, reversing a post-earnings after-hours slide, thanks in part to an upgrade of the stock this morning by Jefferies & Co.’s Katherine Egbert. Egbert raised her rating on the stock to Hold from Underperform, asserting that “investor expectations for a buyout have created a floor on TIBX stock that we believe is unlikely to come undone anytime soon.” She says the stock should “remain steady, even as the fundamentals deteriorate.... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:45:00 CDT http://feeds.barrons.info/~r/barrons/techtraderdaily/feed/~3/321403512/ The LCD panel industry is headed for an oversupply situation in 2009, UBS analyst Sean Kim warned today. He contends a 54% capital spending hike by the industry this year is going to lead to an over-abundance of capacity in 2009. Kim’s colleague Nikos Theodosopoulos this mornings trimmed his estimates on Corning (GLW) over the supply concerns, which he notes logically will lead to pressure on LCD glass pricing. He now sees glass prices down 10.1% next year and 10.3% in 2010; he had previ... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:35:00 CDT http://valueplays.blogspot.com/2008/06/rhode-island-sc-ruling-due-next-week.html Jane Genova Reports RI SC RULING EXPECTED 6/1 or 6/2 - Informed sources indicate Informed sources reported to me today that a ruling is expected from the Rhode Island Supreme Court on the the lead paint public nuisance appeal this coming Tuesday or Wednesday. Those sources are anticipating a decision favorable to the three defendants Sherwin-Williams (SHW), NL Indusries (NL) and Millennium Holdings. How favorable is the issue. There could be a third trial rather than the whole enchilada be... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:30:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/bloggingstocks/~3/321577704/ Filed under: After the bell, Major movement, Earnings reports, XM Satellite Radio (XMSR), Merrill Lynch (MER), Palm Inc (PALM), Economic dataOil was again the headline event today with the price per barrel near $142.00 and talk of $150.00 sooner rather than later. But all in all this day was far "less bad" than it could have been, especially if you consider the selloff yesterday, and consider that this was a Friday ahead of a shortened work week where traders are leery of holding positions. To t... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:22:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/bloggingstocks/~3/321577705/ Filed under: Earnings reports, Forecasts, Conventions and conferences, Annual meetings, Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI), H and R Block (HRB), Family Dollar Stores (FDO), Texas Instruments (TXN)Monday, June 30 H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) to report Q4 earnings; conference call at 8:00am on Tuesday. InteractiveCorp (NASDAQ:IACI) to give operational update. Tuesday, July 1 Constellation Brands (NYSE:STZ) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 10:... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:17:00 CDT http://www.streetinsider.com/Insider+Trades/Trans+World+Entertainment+%28TWMC%29+Beneficial+Owner%2C+Lloyd+Miller%2C+Buys+250K+Shares/3777591.html Visit StreetInsider.com at http://www.streetinsider.com/Insider+Trades/Trans+World+Entertainment+%28TWMC%29+Beneficial+Owner%2C+Lloyd+Miller%2C+Buys+250K+Shares/3777591.html for the full story.... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:15:00 CDT http://feeds.wsjonline.com/~r/wsj/marketbeat/feed/~3/321389562/ Investors looking for positive developments as the morning goes on are hard-pressed to find them, as equities of late were bouncing around near the lows of the session. Traders say the investing community has been quick to sell shares on rallies, taking advantage of brief surges to get out of positions with profits (or losses, of course). As crude has rallied this week, the S&P 500 has done the inverse. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index opened higher on the day, quickly s... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:14:00 CDT http://valueplays.blogspot.com/2008/06/blackrocks-blk-bob-doll.html Since he has billions to invest, it bears listening to him.. Doll discusses the S&P, Oil (USO), the Fed, European Bankers, Speculation, Merrill Lynch (MER) Disclosure ("none" means no position):None ↑ Grab this Headline Animator Visit the ValuePlays Bookstore for Great Investing Books Enter your Email Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:51:00 CDT http://www.streetinsider.com/Insider+Trades/Gateway+Financial+%28GBTS%29+Director+Buys+51.6K+Shares/3777499.html Visit StreetInsider.com at http://www.streetinsider.com/Insider+Trades/Gateway+Financial+%28GBTS%29+Director+Buys+51.6K+Shares/3777499.html for the full story.... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:50:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/bloggingstocks/~3/321561254/ Filed under: Major movement, Forecasts, Top Picks 2007, Valero Energy (VLO), Chasing Value, Commodities, Oil, Stocks to BuyWhat can I say, one of my best stocks picks of 2007 has turned into one of my worst of 2008. Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO) the largest independent oil refiner in the United States has experienced shrinking profit margins as oil prices have continued to climb throughout the year.It was reported in the Associated Press that a Wall Street analyst at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey &... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:47:00 CDT http://feeds.barrons.info/~r/barrons/techtraderdaily/feed/~3/321378419/ Will Microsoft (MSFT) do a deal with Yahoo (YHOO) after all? Apparently not. Bill Gates says he doesn’t think a deal is likely. At least, that is what the Microsoft chairman told Tom Brokaw, according to a Reuters account of a report on CNBC. YHOO today is down 37 cents, or 1.7%, to $21. ... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:46:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/321399865/ Today, Bill Gates is retiring as an employee of Microsoft to focus on his philanthropic foundation. More than any other single person, Gates defined the PC era. His products touch nearly every computer user on the planet. And he created what is still the biggest technology wealth machine in Microsoft. But now that he is leaving, who will fill his shoes? I don’t mean who will fill his shoes at Microsoft. Gates stepped back from day-to-day management years ago, handing his business res... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:45:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/247wallst/TEXW/~3/321408385/some-good-news.html For the past two months, all the news from Cheniere Energy (AMEX:LNG) has been bad. First, there was the triple whammy. Then there was an awful earnings report... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] ... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:43:00 CDT http://feeds.wsjonline.com/~r/wsj/deals/feed/~3/321369486/ Deal Journal checked in with our favorite merger arbitrager and asked him why investors drove down stocks so severely in Thursday’s market rout. His casual, sighing reply: “The economy is s***, the financial companies are nearly defunct, the bond insurers are practically insolvent and the entire country is being sold to foreigners. Anything else you want to know?” Alrighty, then. His disillusioned tone highlights how much the market bloodbath, with a 358-point drop in the Dow ... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:39:00 CDT http://www.vsinvestor.com/2008/06/put-options-alert-national-city-corporation-ncc.html National City Corporation (NYSE: NCC) has not gone without its shares of trouble since the financial meltdown started. OCT08 $4.00 PUTS have seen some 27,079 contracts trade over the last 45 minutes.  Its prior open interest was a mere 6,220 contracts.  As a reminder, 27,000 contracts equals 2.7 million on a fully leveraged basis.  This was the only active series today in National City stock options and this is currently the largest options trade on the CBOE today. So far we have seen only 6 ... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:37:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/bloggingstocks/~3/321544591/ Filed under: Major movement, Analyst reports, Good news, Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Options, Technical AnalysisBristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) shares are trading higher today after a Bernstein analyst wrote that BMY might be a takeover candidate, one day after the company announced it has completed its $234.6 million acquisition of Kosan Biosciences. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on BMY.A... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:33:00 CDT http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/247wallst/TEXW/~3/321397684/virgin-hopes-he.html If you have followed the launch of the "cool cellular" service called Helio over the last year or so, you might be among the few who remembered it even... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] ... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:27:00 CDT