LyondellBassell Leads as Investor Announces Intent to Raise Ownership to 16 Percent

Model Portfolio Daily Update:  January 11, 2011

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Of Note:
We experienced three additional upgrades today in our model portfolios, including our long-only model based on actual trade data.  Barclays raised price targets for Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc. (WDR) and T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (TROW), and Credit Suisse upgraded Macy's, Inc. (M) to Outperform from Neutral and raising its price target to $27 from $25.  For the month to date, 13 out of 25 stocks in our model long portfolios have experienced 16 major positive sell side upgrades that we are aware of.

LyondellBasell Industries NV (LYB) led our long models today up 3.49% upon the announcement from Access Industries Holdings LLC that it would purchase 34.2m shares of the stock for $28/share ($957m) bringing its total ownership to 16%.  Bloomberg has a comprehensive story on the news.

Biogen Idec Inc. (BIIB) updated investors with a presentation of its strategic plan and expected milestones at a J.P. Morgan healthcare conference today.  To cite Reuters coverage, there is still demand for multiple sclerosis drugs, Avonex sales are doing well and Tysabri is an amazingly efficacious drug with tremendous upside.  Interestingly, the CEO said the company might consider leveraging its manufacturing expertise to produce biosimilar drugs on drugs that have lost patent protection.

About this report
This daily update is a supplement to a monthly report dated December 31, 2010 that details the model portfolio strategies of Ascendere Associates LLC (“Ascendere”).  For more information, please see our list of frequently asked questions, suggested tips on using our newsletter or an interview with us on Covestor Live.  See also our long-only model based on actual trade data. Please see our disclosures and disclaimers.