-
SWS Group, Inc. Declares Cash Dividend of $.09 (SWS)
Thursday, August 19, 2010 - 11:49am | 77The Board of Directors of SWS Group, Inc. (NYSE: SWS) declared a quarterly cash dividend of 9 cents per share at its meeting Wednesday, August 18, 2010. The dividend will be payable on October 1, 2010 to common shareholders of record as of September 15, 2010. SWS Group, Inc. is a Dallas-based...
-
UCITS III Fund from Morgan Stanley - Analyst Blog
Wednesday, August 18, 2010 - 4:37pm | 772On Monday, Morgan Stanley (MS) announced the launch of its first Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) III Fund. UCITS follows a set of European Union (EU) directives that are aimed to provide collective investment schemes that operate freely in the EU based...
-
Rodman & Renshaw Could Benefit From Increased M&A (RODM)
Wednesday, August 18, 2010 - 1:54pm | 395Yesterday, BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP), the world's largest mining company, made an unsolicited bid for fertilizer heavyweight Potash (NYSE: POT), which has been rejected by POT's board. This M&A activity, however, sparked a rally in U.S. equities which is continuing on Wednesday with the Dow up...
-
Financial Stocks Mixed With Key Moves Discussed
Wednesday, August 18, 2010 - 11:43am | 298The financial stocks continue to be under pressure over the last couple weeks. Stocks like Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) and Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) are all sharply off their recent daily highs. Goldman Sachs has faired the best, falling...
-
Company News for August 18, 2010 - Corporate Summary
Wednesday, August 18, 2010 - 10:23am | 553• Privately-held Reynolds Group announced plans to acquire hefty-bag maker, Pactiv (NYSE: PTV), for $6 billion, or $33.25 per share • Deere (NYSE: DE) reported better-than-expected sales and earnings for fiscal third quarter. Earnings of $1.44 beat estimates of $1.24 on revenues of $6.84 billion,...
-
From Fear to Greed, Banks Jostle for GM Deal
Tuesday, August 17, 2010 - 3:39pm | 183When the Obama administration sent General Motors into bankruptcy last summer, the automaker wiped out creditors, and critics warned that Wall Street investors would have a long memory. What a difference a year makes. Now the biggest names on Wall Street, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS...
-
The Big Short: Michael Lewis – A Book Review
Tuesday, August 17, 2010 - 12:31pm | 2083The Big Short is a very insightful book viewing, from a different angle, the financial structure collapsed due to the bubble in the mortgage markets. Michael Lewis does a wonderful job at tackling the subject from the point of view of market participants that believed that the housing bubble was...
-
Aon Borrows $2.5B for Hewitt Deal - Analyst Blog
Tuesday, August 17, 2010 - 10:43am | 854Moving ahead with its latest deal, Aon Corp. (AON) is arranging funds for the acquisition of Hewitt Associates Inc. (HEW) through some credit agreements with a financial syndicate, which are estimated to be worth approximately $2.5 billion. The deal is scheduled to close by mid-November....
-
Blackstone to Acquire Dynegy - Analyst Blog
Tuesday, August 17, 2010 - 10:04am | 620On Friday, Blackstone Group (BX) announced that it will acquire Houston-based energy company Dynegy Inc. (DYN) for $4.7 billion (including debt). Under the deal, Blackstone will pay $4.50 per share (a 62% premium on the closing price of $2.78 on August 12) in cash for about 120.6 million...
-
Company News for August 17, 2010 - Corporate Summary
Tuesday, August 17, 2010 - 9:43am | 597• BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) confirmed a bid for Potash (NYSE: POT), valued at $130 per share, or $38.5 billion. • Home Depot (NYSE: HD) announced second quarter results of 72 cents a share, one cent above Zacks estimates, and up from 66 cents a year ago; however, sales up 1.8% to $19.41 billion...
-
Goldman Sachs Remains Neutral On Cisco Systems (CSCO)
Monday, August 16, 2010 - 12:24pm | 159In a research report released by Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) last week, the firm's analysts reiterated their Neutral rating on shares of Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO). Cisco reported its quarterly earnings on August 11th. The company beat Wall Street earnings estimates, but gave disappointing forward...
-
On the Market 8-16-2010
Monday, August 16, 2010 - 9:04am | 1143Quote of the day "With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?" ~ Jay...
-
TGI Friday - Hoping the Weekend Brings Perspective
Friday, August 13, 2010 - 2:39pm | 1395Courtesy of Phil of Phil's Stock World David Rosenberg is the special guest on CNBC this morning. Sometimes I get the impression they intentionally counter-program any bullish point I bring up (we talked about Rosenberg in yesterday’s post). As I did say yesterday - fear sells and CNBC is in the...
-
The Daily Long and Short Setup
Friday, August 13, 2010 - 9:42am | 99Equity markets are open, and things are relatively flat. CPI and Retail Sales reports gave bulls a little bit of a push to work off the early morning losses. We have the Consumer Sentiment coming out at 9:55am, which should add an additional jolt to the markets as well. LONG: TD Ameritrade Holding...
-
Afternoon Update (HPQ, MS)
Thursday, August 12, 2010 - 3:41pm | 172According to Gary Shilling, Americans are correct in their belief that the economy has not bottomed as yet and that the US has just seen the beginning of a prolonged period of economic depression. Although his forecast for the GDP growth of an average of 2% for the next ten years is not bad, it is...