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Financials Continue Volatile Trade (XLF, GS, MET, WFC)
Thursday, October 7, 2010 - 5:24pm | 178The financials sector continues to trade in volatile manner as of late. Notable is the divergence between names that the Street likes and one that it does not. For instance, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) ended the session higher by 0.18%, trading at $151.11, but Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) ended...
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Small Caps Taking a Hit 10-07-2010
Thursday, October 7, 2010 - 4:19pm | 873Cusick's Corner We are seeing some weakness in the indices going into the Midday, and the catalyst looks to be the Small Caps which started to take a hit yesterday and continues today. While I am not one to advocate a trend, the trend at this stage is clearly still bullish going into this earnings...
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Calls Active as Ambac Spikes Higher (ABK)
Thursday, October 7, 2010 - 10:46am | 164Shares of Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: ABK) are higher on the session by 15.69%, currently trading at $0.903. The stock is spiking on news that Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. has reached a deal with Ambac under which Ambac will drop its $6.1 billion claim against the bank's bankruptcy estate....
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Progressive Jeff Charney Chief Marketing Officer
Wednesday, October 6, 2010 - 4:07pm | 70Progressive (NYSE: PGR) today named Jeff Charney as its new chief marketing officer. Charney comes to Progressive from insurance company Aflac (NYSE: AFL), where he was senior vice president and chief marketing officer. He previously held CMO posts at multimedia retailer QVC and Fringe Ventures,...
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US financial Sector Down, Led By M&T Bank (MTB, AIB, CBG, MROE, ONB, ABK, PMI)
Wednesday, October 6, 2010 - 2:16pm | 237The US financial sector was slightly down, after the weaker-than-expected private-sector employment report. Shares of M&T Bank Corp (NYSE: MTB) fell after a major shareholder announced its plans to sell its stake. Shares of MTB dropped about 5.41% to lead the list of financial decliners in the...
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Oppenheimer Dropping Coverage On PMA Capital Corporation
Tuesday, October 5, 2010 - 7:13am | 56Oppenheimer & Co. is dropping coverage of PMA Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: PMACA), as it announced it was being acquired by Old Republic (NYSE: ORI), and the transaction closed on October 1. Shares of Old Republic closed at $13.73 yesterday, a gain of 6 cents.
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Calls Purchased on Fidelity National (FNF)
Monday, October 4, 2010 - 2:14pm | 173Shares of Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE: FNF) are lower on the session by 1.93%, currently trading at $14.75. The stock has been moving largely higher over the past three months, though has come under selling pressure over the past few days (on high volume). Options traders are buying...
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Late Market Roundup (SLE, ABX, GG, BPO, ALL, WOSCY, PRRFY)
Monday, October 4, 2010 - 1:17pm | 291Shares of Sara Lee Corp (NYSE: SLE) advanced after a report that the company has rejected a buyout offer of $12 billion from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. SLE shares are up about 8% following the report. Shares of Canada are down, with Toronto's main stock index dropping after decline in the US...
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Wunderlich Raises Estimates on Old Republic International Corp.
Monday, October 4, 2010 - 9:00am | 92In a recent report from Wunderlich Securities, Old Republic (NYSE: ORI) announced the closing of its PMA Capital (NASDAW: PMACA) acquisition. PMA shareholders will receive 0.55 shares of ORI stock for each share of PMACA. Wunderlich is revising its EPS estimates for 2010 to $0.38 from $0.35 and...
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J.P. Morgan Upgrades Allstate Corp. To Overweight
Monday, October 4, 2010 - 7:54am | 143J.P. Morgan is upgrading shares of Allstate (NYSE: ALL) to Overweight from Neutral and raising its December 2011 target price to $40. Significant capital and operating issues that have affected the stock in recent years, and curtailed valuation, are largely in the past. The earnings are likely...
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Piper Jaffray Positive On Tower Group (TWGP)
Monday, October 4, 2010 - 7:14am | 153Piper Jaffray is positive on shares of Tower Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: TWGP), as it rates shares at Overweight, with a $43 price target. In the research report, Piper Jaffray writes, "Recent discussions with management reaffirmed our thesis on the TWGP story. With shares trading not only below...
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Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Downgrades Aspen Insurance Holdings
Monday, October 4, 2010 - 7:08am | 83Keefe Bruyette & Woods is downgrading Aspen Insurance Holdings (NYSE: AHL) shares to Market Perform from Outperform on valuation. It continues to believe Aspen has a conservative balance sheet and a well diversified book of business, but given the cautious view on the industry coupled with AHL...
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Keefe Bruyette Downgrades AHL To Market Perform
Monday, October 4, 2010 - 6:24am | 52Analysts at Keefe Bruyette downgrade Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited (NYSE: AHL) from "outperform" to "market perform." The target price for AHL is set to $33. AHL's shares dipped 0.53% to close at $30.12 on Friday. More Analyst Ratings here
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Merger Arbitrage Mondays – October 04, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010 - 2:10am | 4782Merger activity slid a little with “just” six new deals announced and eleven deals closing as it was the end of the third quarter. Deal Statistics: Total Number of Deals Closed in 2010 81 Total Number of Deals That Did Not Complete in 2010 5 Total Number of Pending Deals Cash Deals 50...
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Market Potentially at a Turning Point 10-01-2010
Friday, October 1, 2010 - 6:40pm | 798Cusick's Corner This market is potentially at a turning point. I think that resistance looks ready to mount up some momentum in front of this busy week. At this stage the market has not been able to advance with the conviction that it had been showing off since the August lows. If you are still...