Vulnerable companies in the utility sector are certainly showing shorting opportunities. Andrew Gordon of Investor’s Daily Edge suggests that although the “recession has finally caught up to the utilities,” there is opportunity for triple digits gains.

In a sign that the planned construction of new nuclear reactors in the U.S. market could jump-start the nation’s moribund manufacturing sector, France’s Areva SA and defense-industry giant Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC) have formed a joint venture to make nuclear reactor vessels, steam generators and other related components at Northrop’s Newport News shipyard in Virginia.