Diversified Capital Markets

U.S. stocks started the new year on a positive note as optimism on the manufacturing front and corporate deal-making boosted investors’ appetite for riskier assets.  A weak dollar also helped the broader market as the major indexes gained at least 1.5%, holding on to gains recorded in early trading...

Below are the top 5 large-cap financial stocks on the NASDAQ and the NYSE in terms of revenue estimates. The revenue estimate for Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) for this quarter is $121.64 billion. BAC’s market capitalization is $135.73 billion. UBS initiated coverage of BAC with a “buy”...

According to a Reuters report, Credit Suisse AG (NYSE: CS) has been sued by property owners for a whooping $24 billion in damages. The class action lawsuit filed in Boise, Idaho has real estate consultants Cushman & Wakefield as co defendants. The alleged losses relate to Yellowstone resort,...

Analysts at UBS (NYSE: UBS) have made changes to their US Alpha Preferences. Analysts have added Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) to their Least Preferred list as they feel that the upside from current levels is limited given the $9.50 takeout bid from Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL). Analysts at UBS...

Halliburton (NYSE: HAL), the energy services conglomerate, has become almost synonymous with what is wrong with corporate America, at least in some circles (those that are not particularly fond of the war in Iraq nor Dick Cheney). But on Wall Street, printing money can go a long way towards...

• A spat between the Fox division of News Corp. (NASDAQ:NWSA) and Time Warner Cable (NYSE:TWC) threatens to cause a midnight blackout of Fox programming, as Fox seeks $1/month/subscriber and Time Warner is willing to pay 20 cents. • Piper Jaffray (NYSE:PJC) maintains an "overweight" rating on...

Options trading in the United States has achieved a new annual record for the seventh straight year. The volume of options contracts on indexes, stocks, and ETFs hit 3.59 billion contracts this year, a 100 million contract increase from last year's record. “We’ve seen a lot of people getting...

Barron’s interviewed Kevin Duffy and Bill Laggner, hedge fund managers with Bearing Asset Management. They predicted housing and credit excesses and profited on their forecasts by shorting Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, money-center banks and mortgage insurers. Both of them are contrarians and believe...

Investors' appetite for hedge-fund start-ups is slowly returning, although managers typically are raising relatively small amounts and some are granting concessions on key terms. The pace of new fund launches has picked up after plunging dramatically in late 2008, underscoring a broader trend of...

• A number of health care IPOs were filed over the weekend, including a $90 million filing from Rules-Based Medicine (NASDAQ:RULE), a $80 million IPO from Alimera Sciences (NASDAQ:ALIM).  Dehaier Medical Systems (NASDAQ:DHRM) expects its IPO to be price at $7-$9. • The Royal Bank of Scotland (NYSE...

According to The Wall Street Journal, more than a dozen investors have submitted bids to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) for the portfolio of loans held by Franklin Bank Corp. (OTC: FBTXQ), IndyMac Bancorp (OTC: IDMCQ) and other failed lenders, for the chance to buy a $1.1 billion...

According to reports, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) is planning to launch its own phone, Nexus One, directly to consumers in 2010. There is very little information on how the device will be priced, how it will be distributed and which carriers will support it. Credit Suisse (ADR) (NYSE: CS) has built a...

Credit Suisse (ADR) (NYSE: CS) maintained an Outperform rating for Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT). Analysts have set a target price of $58 for the company. Target released its master trust data for its securitized credit card receivables for the month of November on Tuesday. The company saw a...

• Micron Technology (NYSE:MU) posted fiscal first quarter earnings of 23 cents a share, up from estimates of 6 cents, on revenues of $1.74 billion, which beat consensus projections of $1.59 billion • Cintas (NASDAQ:CTAS) reported non-GAAP earnings fell 21% to 39 cents, four cents under projections...

A Credit Suisse analyst appearing on CNBC says that the investment bank is recommending J.P. Morgan (NYSE: JPM) and U.S. Bank (NYSE: USB) in the financial sector to their clients. Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS) has an outperform rating on both companies. Their target price for JPM is $54.00. The shares...