MARKET UPDATE
Stocks are trading marginally higher this morning on a light-data day. DJIA and S&P futures are up 0.3% in early indications. FTSE was up 0.1% while Germany's DAX and France's CAC were up 0.35%. Asia was lower with Japan's NIKKEI down 1% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng down 0.4%.
Treasury prices are firm this morning with the 10-Year yield at 3.515% and the 30-Year yield at 4.316%.
NYMEX Crude is up about 1% in early trading this morning.
ECONOMIC & MACRO EVENTS
These are today’s top economic data:
no major data today
The talk of D.C. is still hovering around the cap and trade passage that came on Friday by a vote that was almost too close to be considered a win.
Earnings: H&R Block (HRB)
ANALYST UPGRADES & DOWNGRADES
Upgrades
Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) Started as Buy at Wedbush Morgan.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A) Started as Outperform at KBW.
Discover Financial (DFS) Raised to Outperform at KBW.
Lloyds Banking Group plc (LYG) Raised to Conviction By List at Goldman Sachs.
SolarWinds (SWI) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan; Started as Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
TRW (TRW) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Zebra Technologies (ZBRA) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
Downgrades
ALCOA (AA) Cut to Underperform at FBR.
Sanofi-Aventis (SNY) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
BULLISH EVENTS
Wendy's/Arby's was given a positive article in Barron's over the weekend. The publication said, " looks appetizing after a selloff, despite skepticism about the fast-food chain's recent bond offering. The daughter of Wendy's founder, Dave Thomas, gives management a thumbs-up."
Magal Security (MAGS) was recently awarded about $8.5 million in new orders to protect airports and several nuclear power stations in South East Asia. Also part of it was an order to reconstruct a border in Israel and to extend an existing airport project in Eastern Europe.
Novo-Nordisk (NVO) traded higher by 6% overseas. This is on the heels of news from Sanofi-Aventis having increased risks of cancer in its diabetes drug. NVO said it has seen no such evidence as its drugs are a different class of drugs.
Sangamo BioSciences (SGMO) announced achievement of key milestone criteria in a cell engineering agreement with Genentech for the generation of cell lines with novel characteristics for pharmaceutical protein production purposes using Sangamo's proprietary zinc finger DNA-binding protein nuclease technology.
CDC Corp. (CHINA) said that it expects launch of 'The Lord of the Rings Online' in China during the second half of 2009 from its CDC Games unit. This is an attempt to get a fraction of the World of Warcraft revenues.
BEARISH EVENTS
Patterson Companies Inc. (PDCO) was hit with a cautious article in Barron's. The publication said that the dental products company looks overextended as non-essential dental products could continue to see a soft market for another year or so.
SIRIUS XM Radio (SIRI) was reconfirmed Friday as one of the top stocks that was getting booted out of the Russell indexes due to its sub-$1.00 share price and possibly due to its fully diluted ownership if notes were to convert. The reverse split won't create an exception.
State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) has said that its State Street Bank and Trust Company subsidiary has been served an SEC Wells notice as part of an ongoing SEC investigation into disclosures and management by State Street Global Advisors of its active fixed-income strategies during 2007 and prior periods.
Phoenix Tech (PTEC) announced a 5.8 million share common stock offering. This offering was made to new and existing institutional investors at a price of $2.25 per share. This is a substantial discount to Friday's closing price.
Sanofi-Aventis (SNY) was down on analyst downgrades after data associated with a retrospective follow-up of four patient registries increased the risks of cancer. The company said it does not believe this data supports that thought. Shares were lower by over 10% last week, but shares are actually trading higher this morning by about 3%.
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