Investment Banking & Brokerage

ProShares UltraShort Silver (ETF) (NYSE: ZSL) dropped 7.38% today as silver traded sharply higher. ZSL closed at $27.75, and it had a volume of 2.75M traded shares. Powershares DB Crude Oil Double Short ETN (NYSE: DTO) got hurt today by rising oil prices. DTO fell 6.31% on Friday, and crude oil...

Shares of Raymond James Financial (NYSE: RJF) are lower on the session by 1.72%, trading at $37.71. Overall call volume is now running at 4.96x the daily average, with 93% of all calls traded being purchases on the offer. 1,348 contracts have traded on the session so far. Raymond James Financial,...

Shares of E*TRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: ETFC) are lower on the session by 1.88%, currently trading at $15.63. The stock has been moving largely higher over the past six months and is currently trading above the 200-day moving average. Options traders are buying calls on the name today. A...

Crude oil is currently over $104 per barrel, and could go even higher into the close, as traders fear the "weekend effect." “Traders face a weekend of uncertainty over Libya and several other countries in the Middle East and North Africa,” said James Williams, an economist at WTRG Economics. “In...

Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) CEO Lloyd Blankfein has agreed to testify for the U.S. government at the coming trial of Raj Rajaratnam, who has been accused of insider trading. A federal judge decreed yesterday he would approve the bankruptcy plan for "Old GM," which would allow a distribution of...

Financial stocks are once again dragging the entire stock market down with them. This sector continues to be a significant laggard and many of the biggest financials have been trading terribly recently. The biggest losers at this point are Citigroup (NYSE: C) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), which...

Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) have come under pressure in recent trading sessions. The stock has lost 2.66% to $28.53 in early trade. Many of the leading financial names are falling today after comments from an analyst about the likelihood that earnings are not going to be great this year....

Wells Fargo is out with its report today on TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: AMTD), initiating coverage at Market Perform. In a note to clients, Wells Fargo writes, "We are initiating coverage of AMTD with a Market Perform rating and a 12-month valuation range of $23-24. We are positive on AMTD...

Cowen Group Inc (NASDAQ: COWN) reported its Q4 EPS at $0.06, versus the consensus of $0.03. COWN reported its Q4 revenue at $69.73 million, versus the consensus of $73.88 million. COWN's investment banking revenue rose 120% to $15.8 million. The company's brokerage revenue rose 3% to $26.8 million...

Cowen Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: COWN) today announced its operating results for the fourth quarter and full-year ended December 31, 2010. For Q4'10, the Company reported GAAP net income of $4.1 million, or $0.06 per share, compared to a GAAP net loss of $23.4 million in Q4'09, or $0.46 per share. GAAP...

The Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) was downgraded by BofA/Merrill from "buy" to "neutral." GS' shares closed at $164.49 yesterday. Goldman Sachs' trailing-twelve-month ROE is 11.28%. Credit Suisse downgraded Verso Paper Corp (NYSE: VRS) from “outperform” to “neutral.” VRS' stock closed at $5.69...

Pre-open moversUS stock futures are higher this morning, as investors are awaiting nonfarm payrolls for February. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 24 points to 12,263.00 and futures on the S&P 500 stock index gained 1.50 points to 1,331.20. Nasdaq 100 futures rose 1.25 points...

Analysts at Wells Fargo initiate coverage of TD Ameritrade Holding Corp (NASDAQ: AMTD) with a “market perform” rating. AMTD shares rose 3.94% to close at $22.44 yesterday. More Analyst Ratings here

Analysts at Wells Fargo initiate coverage of Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE: SCHW) with an “outperform” rating. SCHW shares gained 2.21% to close at $18.96 yesterday. More Analyst Ratings here

Assisted Living Concepts Inc (NYSE: ALC) is expected to post its Q4 earnings at $0.42 per share on revenue of $57.86 million. Madison Square Garden Inc (NASDAQ: MSG) is expected to report its Q4 EPS at $0.43 on revenue of $435.06 million. Bronco Drilling Company Inc (NASDAQ: BRNC) is expected to...