This was the early method of performing a lobotomy. And just 50 years ago, they were carried out not only on severely mentally ill people, but also on moody teenagers, or housewives who’d lost their enthusiasm for domestic work. Seriously. Over 40,000 Americans were lobotomized, often with catastrophic results.

Thankfully, they’re a thing of the past. But it made me think about how medicine has changed over the years and what practices were once acceptable. Just a few hundred years ago, for example, you wouldn’t have questioned the “doctor” for putting leeches on you any more than you do today for prescribing an antibiotic.

What other common medical practices will be outdated in the years to come – and more importantly what will replace them? As someone who follows the health care sector, I believe I have the answer to the next big thing in health care: Immunotherapy and regenerative medicine…

How Immunotherapy is Changing the Playing Field

Immunotherapy has been around for decades in the forms of vaccines, allergy shots, etc. It involves introducing something into the body to create an immune response. For example, when you receive a flu shot, you’re essentially training your body’s immune system to respond to specific infectious agents.

And then there are more serious diseases – like cancer.

Over the past few years, we’ve seen new cancer medicines receive approval, with even more in development.

With greater technology and intensive ongoing research, we may one day look back at chemotherapy (the equivalent of carpet-bombing your body in order to kill cancer) as barbaric as we do lobotomies.

And with regard to immunotherapy drugs, the body’s immune system specifically targets the cancer, typically resulting in fewer side effects than chemotherapy.

Several well-known cancer drugs already employ this technique – for example, Genentech’s Avastin and Herceptin and Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) and ImClone’s (now Eli-Lilly) joint-partnership with Erbitux. All three have become blockbuster drugs for these companies.

Three Small-Cap Firms That Could Cash in on Immunotherapy

But there are also many small-cap health care companies engaged in immunotherapy research, which stand to make piles of money for shareholders if they develop a successful drug. Here are some names to look into…

• Dendreon Corp. (Nasdaq: DNDN): Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among American men and is the second-highest cause of cancer deaths. Dendreon’s leading drug candidate for prostate cancer, Provenge, could be approved in 2010.
• Cel-Sci Corp. (AMEX: CVM): The company’s Multikine drug, which treats head and neck cancer has completed Phase II trials and its scientists are currently working on an H1N1 flu drug, too.
• Northwest Biotherapeutics (OTC BB: NWBO): The firm has several drugs in various phases of clinical trials for brain, prostate and lung cancers, including DCVax-Brain, DCVax-Prostate and DCVax-LB for non-small cell lung cancer. It also has DCVax-Direct, which treats ovarian, head and neck cancer.

Three “Regenerators” for Your Health Care Sector Watchlist

In addition to immunotherapy drugs, the field of regenerative medicine is also flourishing and holds some excellent growth potential, as we’re still in the early stages of understanding the power of stem and other regenerative cells. Here are a few names to kick off your research…

• Cytori Therapeutics (Nasdaq: CYTX): The company already has a product approved in Europe (Celution 800/CRS) and Asia (Celution 900/MB) for breast reconstruction following a partial mastectomy. The firm is currently running clinical trials in several cardiac areas, too.
• StemCells Inc. (Nasdaq: STEM): The company currently has clinical trials in progress for drugs that treat diseases of the central nervous system and liver.
• Geron (Nasdaq: GERN): It’s involved in both immunotherapy research for cancer and stem cell investigation in spinal cord injuries.

Keep in mind that most of these stocks are very small, so their trading can be volatile. In addition, they may need to raise funds to aid research and development, so do your due diligence.

However, I’m confident that over the coming years, firms like these will be at the forefront of new, more effective and safer ways to treat some of the world’s worst diseases.

Hoping your longs go up and your shorts go down,

Marc Lichtenfeld

Source: How to Profit from Immunotherapy & Regenerative Medicine

• Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman said the United States needs to take aggressive economy-stimulating action or risk facing a lost decade of growth a la Japan in the 1990s. “We’re doing half-measures that help the economy limp along without fully recovering, and we’re having measures that help the banks survive without really thriving,” Krugman told reporters in Beijing, Reuters reported. “We’re doing what the Japanese did in the 90s.”

• European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said he and fellow policy makers are seeing the first signs of economy recovery. Recent reports are “encouraging, but it’s no time for complacency,” Trichet said at a meeting of global banks, Bloomberg reported.

• AstraZeneca plc’s (NYSE ADR: AZN) heart drug Brilinta beat blockbuster drug Plavix – of Sanofi-Aventis SA (NYSE ADR: SNY) and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co’s (NYSE: BMY) – in one of the largest comparative head-to-head drug studies, Reuters reported. Plavix alone nets about $8 billion and if approved, Brilinta would take a large portion of that.

• Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) may have to pay an antitrust fine of more than 1 billion euros ($1.36 billion) and stop giving discounts to computer sellers. The company faces awaits the decision of the European Commission on charges that it has been muscling competitors out of the European market, Bloomberg reported.

• General Motors Corp (GM) is open to moving its headquarters from Detroit. The company also may sell some of its U.S. plants and renegotiate its restructuring plan with unions as it heads toward probable bankruptcy, GM Chief Executive Officer Fritz Henderson said yesterday (Monday), according to Reuters. Henderson it was more likely that GM was headed for bankruptcy by June 1 – the U.S. government-imposed deadline for the automaker to restructure.

• Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) plans to sell $3.75 billion of debt in its first bond offering, taking advantage of its top credit ratings to help fund a share buyback and technology investments.  The world’s largest software maker, whose shares have declined 34% in the past year, is seizing on a credit-market rally to help fund a $40 billion stock repurchase program. The company is also investing in data centers to compete against Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) in Internet search, Bloomberg reported.

• Dish Network Corp (NASDAQ: DISH) posted better-than-expected profits on Monday and lost fewer subscribers than most Wall Street analysts had forecast, sending its shares soaring, Reuters reported. U.S. satellite TV provider Shares rose as much as 21.5 percent in afternoon trading on the Nasdaq on the lower customer losses and indications that the company had started to get control over a long-standing problem with piracy with its set-top box software.

• Nortel Networks Corp (OTC: NRTLQ), North America’s biggest maker of telephone equipment, said yesterday (Monday) its quarterly loss widened as the global recession contributed to a 37% drop in revenue, Reuters reported.  Nortel, which filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year, also said it is completing plans to decentralize some functions at each of its four main businesses to give it more flexibility as it decides which divisions to sell.

Source: Investment News Briefs Tuesday, May 12, 2009

The stress-test results are expected to show that the 19 banks may have to raise between $100 billion to $150 billion – or even more – in new capital. Investors will cause the shares of the strong players to zoom northward, and will likely savage the shares of the weakest players.

“I can’t think of a time since I’ve been watching banks when there’s been so much uncertainty about the true value of a key set of assets,” Douglas Elliott, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, told Reuters.

The U.S. bank stress tests have transfixed the world financial markets for weeks, exacerbating the ongoing financial crisis – worsening the U.S. recession and shaking economies around the world. That’s escalated the burden on the still-new Barack Obama administration and on the U.S. Congress.

The banks being tested include Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC), and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS). All told, the 19 banks hold two-thirds of total U.S. bank assets.

“Most banks will have to raise capital in some form,” Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group Capital Markets Group (NYSE: FBR) managing director Paul Miller told Reuters. “The capital raises will be much bigger than people think.”

Miller said that uncertainty about what the tests might reveal has made banks stocks “uninvestable” in the near term.

The issue for investors is that “you just don’t know how the government is going to view it,” Miller said.

Public release of the stress test results is set for Thursday. The government is scheduled to brief the top officials of the banks themselves tomorrow (Tuesday).

Although all but one of the 19 major U.S. banks the government has stress-tested reportedly passed, many skeptics believe the banks are still using all sorts of accounting dodges to keep from revealing just much they still hold in toxic assets and bad loans, National Public Radio reported.

Why wait for the U.S. Treasury Department’s bank stress test when Money Morning can highlight the four secrets that will let you separate the winners from the losers in the U.S. banking system?
Call it the “Money Morning Bank Stress Test.”

Money Morning Contributing Editor Martin Hutchinson last week evaluated the 13 largest U.S. banks and rated them as either “Zombies,” “Walking Wounded,” “Risky But Proud,” and “Hidden Gems,” and concluded that nine of the banks pose some degree of risk. But he also found that four of the financial institutions are “Hidden Gems” that might be worth a look for investors.
On Thursday, we’ll finally see how it all plays out.

Market Matters

Chrysler LLC filed for bankruptcy and then forged a potentially “game saving” partnership with mighty Fiat SpA (OTC ADR: FIATY), Italy’s largest car manufacturer.  General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) will be saying good bye to its Pontiac brand (any interest, Fiat?).  Bank of America’s Ken Lewis was stripped of his board chair, but will continue to put out fires from the chief executive office.   Earnings season moved forward and Exxon-Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) did NOT set a new record for a change.  International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) bucked the cost-cutting trend and actually raised its dividend.

With Treasury set to release the stress test results on Thursday, rumors are circulating that Bank of America and Citigroup may be in need of additional capital, though both are pleading their cases.  Meanwhile, Citi began lobbying for permission to pay retention bonuses to key employees [it worked for American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG) and Merrill Lynch (NYSE: SQD)], who may seek the greener pastures of other (ailing) financial institutions.

Telecommunications firms were in the spotlight early in the week as chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. (Nasdaq: QCOM) raised its revenue outlook and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) actually announced increased earnings in the first quarter.  Verizon may be teaming up with Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) to develop its own touch-screen cell phone to cut into Apple Inc.’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhone market share.

Drugmakers Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) posted quarterly results that beat Wall Street expectations, as did The Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW) and Starbucks Corp. (Nasdaq: SBUX), though the latter’s major restructuring (store closures) prompted a 77% decline in profits.

MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA) confirmed that 2009 will be a challenging year, though rival Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) beat earnings estimates, as debit card usage increased, resulting in greater fee income.

The Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) struggled last quarter, with weaker sales, as shoppers traded down to lower-priced consumer goods.  Exxon-Mobil, Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX), and Royal Dutch Shell PLC (NYSE ADR: RDS.A, RDS.B) were victims of the declining global demand for oil.  Still, Exxon’s long-term outlook remains strong as the company continues pouring money into development projects to be fully prepared once the recession ends.  In fact, management even boosted its stock dividend.

Economically Speaking

While the U.S. Federal Reserve seemed to offer some “cautious optimism” about the overall direction of the economy, the policymakers avoided any sugarcoating and hedged their comments for fear of an unforeseen development (such as the “swine flu,” also known as the A/H1N1 flu).

While the virus quickly expanded across the globe, most of the worst cases have been limited to Mexico, where the already depressed economy will be further impacted from business closures and travel restrictions.

When SARS (Severe acute respiratory syndrome) hit in 2003, China’s gross domesic product (GDP) was estimated to have been hurt by about 1%; According to early projections by Moodys Corp.’s (NYSE: MCO) Economy.com, the Mexican economy will contract by 6.2% in 2009 (revised from the -4.5% estimate to account for the flu).

The Fed plans to leave rates at near 0.0% and stands prepared to purchase more Treasury and mortgage-related securities to keep the economy moving in the right direction.

The first quarter’s gross domestic product (GDP) highlighted a relatively hectic week on the economic front.  While the economy contracted from January through March at a worst-than-expected 6.1% clip, analysts found some positives deep within the release, as consumer activity actually picked up during the quarter.

The spending component rose by 2.2%, after falling by 4.3% in the fourth quarter.  Additionally, a decline in inventories hindered the release; however, economists point out that such a reduction indicates that manufacturers have scaled back production and will not be burdened with excessive supplies that may need to be deeply discounted to be sold. As demand slowly returns, they will be able to boost production once again.

Meanwhile, consumer confidence surprisingly soared to levels not seen since November 2008, which is especially good news, since the consumer accounts for about two-thirds to 70% of the activity in the economy.

Weekly Economic Calendar

Source: Market Moves Will Remain on Hold Until Bank Stress Test Results Are Released Thursday

They just can’t help themselves – which I suppose isn’t surprising, since they don’t really have much to lose by doing so.

The way they see it is: If they’re wrong, chances are we won’t remember anyway. And if they’re right, they can crow about it for years.

They are in fact wrong. But they’ll probably claim victory in the next few weeks or months. Sentiment is so bad that many are claiming this contrary indicator signals the bottom is in.

Current Investor Confidence- All Hail The Doom

In recent weeks, we’ve seen two confidence surveys that paint a pretty grim picture…

• Last month, the Consumer Confidence Index reached the lowest point in its 42-year history.
• The American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) Bull/Bear survey showed over 55% of respondents are bearish, while only 30% make bullish claims.

And countless financial articles have proclaimed the death of buy-and-hold investing.

Typically when sentiment is at extremes, markets move in the opposite direction, catching most investors unprepared.

If you were getting jittery and ready to sell some of your stocks, you may want to think about hanging on a bit longer and sell into a rally rather than dumping them in a panic.

Okay, Mr. President… What Now?

Despite its bold rescue and recovery proposals, the Obama administration’s rhetoric hasn’t impressed the market one bit. The White House knows it. And while it won’t necessarily be pandering to investors, Obama’s team must know that with every brutal selloff that makes headline evening news, the very hope and confidence that it’s trying to inspire in Americans is eroded a little further.

Because of that, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some steps taken to lift the spirits of market participants. Something much more substantive than Obama telling American investors that it was a good time to buy, that is. Here are two things that could happen…

1. A reinstatement of the uptick rule, which requires short sellers to wait for an uptick in price before they can sell short.
2. The suspension of mark-to-market accounting, which would free up the balance sheets of financial institutions. Or it could possibly be something else completely unexpected.

But mark my words: Whether it’s a government-sponsored rally, or just a natural part of the cycle, be prepared to see a strong surge upward. Bear market rallies are notorious for featuring fast and sharp moves higher.

However, should such a rally occur, be sure to keep the bigger picture in mind. Don’t get swept away by the positive emotions… only to lose out as the market recedes again.

We may see a rally, but they’re not called “bear market rallies” for nothing. Bear markets don’t generally end, and bull markets don’t generally start, with big moves higher in the market. It’s almost always a much more gradual process.

So Where Is The Bottom, Marc?

Talk about the $64,000 question…

I’m not going to be one of those guys that attempt to call the stock market’s bottom. At least not yet. Why?

Because it’s a mug’s game, and I believe this drastic selling won’t end until the S&P 500 is trading at a single-digit P/E multiple. Here’s why…

My friend John Roque, who works for Natixis Bleichroeder, discovered a scary fact…

Going back to 1881, the four times that the P/E ratio of the S&P 500 rose above 20, it eventually turned around and didn’t stop falling until it hit single digits. The average of those four trough valuations was 6.4.

The P/E ratio of the S&P 500 peaked at 44 in 1999 and has been falling since then.

Earnings for the S&P 500 this year are expected to be $48. But it’s quite possible that this figure will dip even lower if the economy continues to slide. For example, Goldman Sachs’ (NYSE: GS) estimate is $40. But for the sake of our argument, let’s use the much more optimistic $48 target.

If we assume that the P/E ratio will drop to 9 – a number higher than any of the previous trough levels – that would suggest an S&P 500 of 432. Unfortunately, that’s another 37% drop from current levels.

So What Can We Do?

Simply put, if we see a strong bear market rally between 10% to 20%, I’d sell some of the more expensive names and get some capital ready for what I believe will be one of the biggest buying opportunities in at least a generation.

Next, make a stock watchlist of companies you want to own. Which ones? Start by looking at cheap stocks with stable dividends. Firms that fit the bill here are Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY), a member of our Xcelerated Profits Report portfolio and Boeing (NYSE: BA), which already sports a P/E of 8 and is suffering through extremely negative sentiment.

Here’s another sector that could benefit, even if the market continues to slide…

Biotechnology.

I think the biotech acquisition boom will finally occur. That’s because small-cap biotech names will be so cheap that it will be tough for Big Pharma companies to resist those low valuations.

In summary, the next 6-9 months will not be for the faint-hearted. I think a 450-point reading on the S&P 500 is a very real possibility. And when that occurs, I’ll be backing up the truck to load up on all of my favorite names.

I’ve given you a couple of names and a sector to watch for here, but I’ll be sharing many more with you in the pages of the Xcelerated Profits Report. And if you want a piece of that action, now’s is the best time as any to get in. What are you waiting for?

Hoping your longs go up and your shorts go down.

Source: Watch This Sector During The Upcoming Bear Market Rally

It will be interesting to see how the FOMC approaches this meeting. The current Fed Funds target rate is 0-0.25%, which in and of itself is rather strange. It is a moving target, not a fixed rate. Who determines which rate is used? My guess is this meeting will be used to clarify what the rate is. The Fed will either officially reduce it to 0% in a continued effort to resuscitate the economy, or lock it in at 0.25%. This would at least leave the Fed with one perceived bullet in the gun.

The rest of the week has a full slate, which starts this morning with the December Existing Home Sales report. Expectations are for a slowdown of 40k units versus the previous month, and I think that is overly optimistic. The housing reports last week both fell flat on their face so I don’t think this report, or the New Home Sales report on Thursday, will come anywhere close to expectations.

Tuesday morning sees the release of the Consumer Confidence report for January, and this one is a tough read for me. It is expected to be the same as the December reading of 38. I am not sure which one will have a bigger impact on the reading: consumers getting excited about a change in leadership, or fearful of more job cuts. I guess it all depends on when the reading was taken.

Earnings:
Mon: AXP, AMGN, CAT, HAL, MCD, TXN
Tues: BMY, DD, GILD, JAVA, YHOO
Wed: PFE, SBUX, WFC
Thurs: MMM, AMZN, CELG, CL, LLY, JNPR,
Fri: CVX, XOM, HON, PG,

Source: Fed Counts Bullets, Earnings Dominate Calendar

This from Investor’s Daily Edge:

So, for what it’s worth, here are my predictions for 2009, please adjust the time frame as necessary.

The bailouts will work. The banking/credit crisis will ease in early 2009, and with it businesses should be able to start borrowing again.  Once the money flows open up we should see some relief from the recession.

Ford (NYSE:F) will survive, I’m not sure about General Motors (NYSE:GM). Chrysler has been dead for a long time. The future of autos is electric and hybrids, not minivans or trucks. This should not be news to anyone except GM and Chrysler.

The market will rebound to the range of about 10,000 to 11,000. Any significant move above these levels will be a function of how well the next administration handles their responsibilities in the early months of 2009. There are very real concerns.

We have elected the most inexperienced candidate, ever. This, during a time when what we need is wisdom, real down home, paid your dues, learned the hard way wisdom. What we have is a person with zero experience that many feel is a leader who can offer change. This may work.

It will work only if he makes all the right moves between January and June. If he makes any serious stumbles, or what are perceived to be serious stumbles, he will lose what is already a skeptical, beaten up American people, and that could be disastrous.

All he really has to do is to be able to explain what he is doing and why, and make us believe it’s good. Not perfect, but at least good.

The confidence of the American people is so badly damaged that we can’t survive another first six months of a new presidency like the last candidate that promised to change Washington, Jimmy Carter. Can’t remember what it was like? Read the editorials in the NY Times for the period of January 1977 to October 1977. Ouch!!

On the other hand, Obama may be able to pull the same smoke and mirror act he did in the campaign. It’s up to the press to let him continue to get away with it. I think they will. If so we may be in for a surge in confidence and better times. And confidence is what we need to get the show on the road. The press however is very fickle, and Mr. Obama may find himself on the other end of that information juggernaut that gave him the presidency.

Everything the government can do is being done to help us through this mess. The success we see in 2009 will be a function of whether the people of this country can get out the funk we are in, start spending and start looking a little further down the road than tomorrow. Pushing them out of the funk has fallen on the shoulders of the new president. It may be the finest hour of any president since FDR. Let’s hope.

Where to make the most money in ‘09: beaten up, high quality, dividend-paying stocks [like General Electric (NYSE:GE), Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY), Verizon (NYSE:VZ), AT&T (NYSE:T), Lorillard (NYSE:LO) and Altria (NYSE:MO) etc.)].

Also, corporate bonds at a discount, look at banking, aluminum and other metals, consumer goods, tobacco, insurance, just stay in the short maturities, three years or less and investment grade only. This is not the time to be in junk bonds.

As promised here are two bond ideas. As I tell everyone in The Bond Trader, no matter how good these look to you, don’t load up on them. You should have 10 to 20 bonds in your portfolio not one or two with high coupons.

The first is a pure income play. It is about a ten-month maturity with a yield of 7.35. It is perfect if you want to get a good return on money you don’t know what to do with right now. It’s a Goldman Sachs bond of 10/1/2009, cusip 38141GAD6.

The second is what I call a total return bond, at a discount and a good coupon. The total return is about 22.2%. It is an Alcoa bond of 1/15/12. The coupon is 6 percent and you should be able to buy it around 94. The cusip is 013817AF8.

A return of 7.35 percent for the income folks and 22.2 percent for the total return folks, Merry Christmas.

Source: A Few Freebies To Get 2009 Off To A Good Start

• Standard & Poor’s yesterday (Monday) reduced the credit rating of Royal Bank of Scotland PLC (ADR: RBS), lowering the rating of both the Edinburgh-based bank’s long-term and short-term debt. “The rating actions reflect Standard & Poor’s expectation that RBS’s financial profile may continue to weaken,” the analysts said, citing a “combination of mixed earnings prospects, deteriorating credit risk in its key geographies, and difficult market conditions” in which to shore up its capital, Bloomberg News reported. RBS stock sank over 20% on the downgrade.

• Shares of biotech firm Dendreon Corp. (DNDN) soared 33% yesterday (Monday) on news of a good drug trial. Provenge, Dendreon’s experimental prostate cancer drug, reduced the risk of death in 20% of trial participants, Reuters reported. Dendreon shares gained $1.73 to close at $6.93.

• Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) announced yesterday (Monday) that it plans to buy ImClone Systems Inc. (IMCL) for $6.5 billion in a deal that values the biotech firm at about $70 share. This latest offer from Eli Lilly beat out Bristol Myers Squibb Co.’s (BMY) competing bid of $62 per share. However, Bristol Meyer’s will receive approximately $1 billion in cash for its 17% stake in ImClone, The New York Times reported.

• AgFeed Industries Inc. (FEED) announced yesterday (Monday) a $10 million share repurchase program to commence immediately. AgFeed, which does most of its feed and hog production business in China, will fund the share buyback with current cash reserves, Trading Markets reported.

• Bank of America Corp. (BAC) yesterday (Monday) reported third-quarter results earlier than planned, and revealed a 68% drop in profit, as well as plans to boost capital by selling stock and halving its dividend. Profit fell to $1.18 billion, or 15 cents per share, for the July-to-September period from $3.7 billion, or 82 cents per share, in the same period last year.

• U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson selected Neel Kashkari, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) executive and current assistant secretary to be the interim head of Treasury’s new Office of Financial Stability, The Associated Press reported. Kashkari will be in charge of the office created by the emergency legislation enacted Friday to fund the largest government bailout. Paulson was the head of Goldman before joining the Bush administration in 2006.

Source: Global Investing Roundups Tuesday, October 7th, 2008

• Eli Lilly and Co. (LLY) is in advanced talks to acquire ImClone Systems Inc (IMCL) for $70 a share, topping a rival bid from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY), the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday (Wednesday). Bristol already owns about 17% of ImClone and has submitted an unsolicited $62-a-share bid of its own for the biotech company.

• CarMax Inc. (KMX) said yesterday (Wednesday) that it will layoff more than 600 employees, or 4% of its total work force, as it struggles with harsh credit conditions and low sales, The Associated Press reported. CarMax shares fell 64 cents, or 4.6%, to close at $13.36.

• Shares of IBM Corp. (IBM) tumbled 6% yesterday (Wednesday), their biggest drop in three years, on speculation that the company failed to meet third-quarter expectations. “There’s unconfirmed speculation that they are going to bring down their numbers for the quarter, that they are going to warn,” Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer at Solaris Asset Management, told Reuters.

• Micron Technology Inc. (MU) yesterday (Wednesday) posted its seventh consecutive quarterly loss with a net loss of $344 million or 45 cents per share for the fiscal fourth quarter. “The global memory market continues to experience severe oversupply and price degradation,” said the memory-chip maker’s Chief Executive Steve Appleton, The Wall Street Journal reported.

• A study released yesterday (Wednesday) by Consumer Reports found that cereals marketed to children in the U.S. often have more sugar and sodium than their foreign-sold counterparts. Post Golden Crisp from Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT) and Kellogg Co.’s (K) Honey Smacks are both 50% sugar by weight, Reuters reported.

• Auto sales in Canada increased 1.7% in September, Bloomberg News reported. Toyota Motor Corp. (ADR: TM) had a 14% increase, which helped offset declines from both General Motors Corp. (GM) and Ford Motor Co. (F). Car sales climbed 5.1% while light truck sales slipped 2.2%.

Source:Global Investing Roundups Thursday, October 2nd, 2008

• Nationwide home prices fell a record 5.3% in July compared with a year ago, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said yesterday (Tuesday). Prices were down 0.6% from June on a seasonally adjusted basis, and are now at October 2005 levels.

• Chrysler LLC yesterday (Tuesday) unveiled three prototype electric cars, including a Dodge sports car, a four-door Jeep Wrangler, and a Chrysler minivan, The Associated Press reported. The company hopes to put one of them on sale in the United States sometime in 2010 to compete with General Motors Corp.’s (GM) much-hyped Chevrolet Volt.

• Oil prices pulled back more than 2% yesterday (Tuesday) after Monday’s record setting rally. Light, sweet crude for November delivery fell $2.76 to settle at $106.61 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after as low as $104.05 earlier in the day. The contract jumped $6.62 to settle at $109.37 on Monday.

• Lennar Corp. (LEN) yesterday (Tuesday) reported a loss of $89 million, or 56 cents per share, compared with a loss of $513.9 million, or $3.25 per share, a year ago. The loss was less than the 63 cents per share expected, according to Reuters Estimates. Lennar’s revenue plunged 53% to $1.11 billion in the quarter, beating estimates of $1.07 billion.

• E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. (DD), more commonly known as DuPont, yesterday (Tuesday) announced Ellen Kullman as its new president and chief executive officer. Kullman is the first woman to hold the chief post in DuPont’s 206-year history, Reuters reported. Kullman, who has been with DuPont since 1988 was seen as the likely successor to the retiring Charles Holliday.

• ImClone Systems Inc. (IMCL) stock shot up almost 7% yesterday (Tuesday) after a late-night Monday bid boost from Bristol Myers Squibb Co. (BMY). The latest offer of $62 per share for ImClone is a $2 boost over Bristol’s prior offer. Bristol also went hostile with the offer, taking the new bid directly to ImClone shareholders, Forbes reported.

• The Wall Street Journal yesterday (Tuesday) reported that Electricite de France SA (PINK: EICFF) would pay $23 billion (12.4 billion pounds) for British Energy Group PLC. EDF refused to comment on the report, but has scheduled a press conference for today (Wednesday), BusinessWeek
  reported.

Global Investing Roundups Wednesday, September 24th, 2008

• Oil prices extended their decline yesterday (Tuesday), falling $10 a barrel in a dramatic, two-day slide as the outlook for U.S., as well as global, energy demand grew weaker. Light, sweet crude for October delivery fell $4.56 to settle at $91.15 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after earlier falling as low as $90.51 – the lowest level since Feb. 8.

• The Food and Drug Administration is closing U.S. borders to more than 30 generic drugs made by India’s Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. (OTC: RBXLY), citing poor quality in two of the company’s factories, The Associated Press reported. However, Ranbaxy can continue selling medicines made at any of its other factories.

• Best Buy Co. (BBY) said yesterday (Tuesday) that its second-quarter profit fell 19%, to $202 million, despite a 12% jump in revenue. Same-store sales jumped 4.2% and total revenue came in at $9.8 billion. A sluggish U.S. economy will continue to challenge the retail giant the second half of the year.

• Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) said yesterday (Tuesday) that it might drop its $4.5 billion offer for the 83% of ImClone Systems Inc. (IMCL) it doesn’t already own. “There are situations in which we are willing, and we’ve disclosed that, we’re willing to walk away,” Jean-Marc Huet, Bristol’s Chief Financial Officer, said response to a question at a pharmaceutical investors conference, The Associated Press reported.

• Citigroup Inc. (C) Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit sent an e-mail to all 300,000 Citi employees reassuring them of the bank’s stability during this troubled time in the financial sector. “We can all be proud to represent Citi, an extraordinary institution, which has and will continue to play a critical role in global financial markets,” the e-mail read, BusinessWeek reported.

• General Motors Corp. (GM) officially unveiled its plug-in hybrid car the Volt yesterday (Tuesday) as part of the automaker’s 100th anniversary celebration. GM hopes the Volt will play a key role as it shifts to a more fuel-efficient line-up away from its previous reputation of large trucks and high horsepower vehicles, MarketWatch reported.

• Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) managed to beat Wall Street analyst expectations despite a slip in fiscal third-quarter profit. Net income for the San Jose, Calif.-based software maker for the period ended Aug. 29 dropped to $191.6 million, or 35 cents a share, compared with $205.2 million, or 34 cents a share, in the same period a year prior, MarketWatch reported. “We’re particularly impressed with Adobe’s profitability levels, which were higher than expected,” said Edward Jones analyst Andy Miedler.

• Constellation Energy Group Inc. (CEG) shares plunged $17.23, a decline of over 35%, to close at $30.76 yesterday (Tuesday) on investor concerns that banks would pull the utility’s credit lines, Reuters reported. The cost to insure Constellation’s long-term debt soared 60%, a record high, according to Markit Intraday.

Source: Global Investing Roundups Wednesday, September 17th, 2008