SMFStreet's Blog – November 2010 Archive (44)

Consumer Watchdog says it "welcomed the European Union's antitrust investigation of Google and reiterated its call for the U.S. Justice Department to launch its own investigation of the Internet giant." Consumer Watchdog called on the Justice Department to launch an antitrust investigation of Google in April.



Mario Marciano

CEO, StockMarketFunding.com

Chief Technical Analyst

www.stockmarketfunding.com…

The following are today's most active stocks ranked by volume and relative volume, categorized by sectors (over $300 mln market cap and 100K average daily volume).

Today's top 20 volume

Technology: MSFT (31.92 mln +0.1%), STX (25.92 mln -3.1%), CSCO (21.02 mln -1.03%), S (19.21 mln -1.57%), INTC (17.91 mln -0.84%), RIMM (17.11 mln +6%), MU (12.12 mln -3.83%)

Services: SIRI (19.93 mln -1.07%), EBAY (12.27 mln -3.8%)…

Biggest point gainers: BEZ (63.24 +18.13), CVOL (105.00 +4.10), CMG (260.97 +3.96), RVR (21.86 +3.10), RBC (61.33 +3.05), RIMM (61.82 +2.83), ISRL (60.32 +2.77), AOS (39.12 +2.05), DECK (75.00 +1.97), HTWR (92.97 +1.80), WLL (111.10 +1.75), HDB (178.09 +1.72), CALL (26.00 +1.71), BH (391.33 +1.56), NFLX (200.46 +1.54), CDTI (17.50 +1.50), CVCO (35.95 +1.42), AEM (79.75 +1.37), GLTR (82.96 +1.33), TZOO (40.16 +1.17), SHLD (66.60 +1.16).

Biggest point losers: ALX (384.66…

Caris believes that Google presents a compelling risk-reward profile at current levels. Firm says paid search trends are getting healthier, especially in the retail, travel, auto, and CE verticals, and Google Instant is delivering higher CTR and CPC. As far as non-core search is concerned, the business is now material enough to move the needle, especially YouTube, display, and mobile Internet advertising (a growing installed base of Android devices…

The major European indices have moved off their worst levels, but still trade lower on the session as debt fears remain front and center. Selling of sovereign debt continues to produce higher yields for some of the more troubled countries (Portugal, Spain, Italy), and weakness is weighing on the euro. Financial shares across Europe are once again under pressure. Looking at the currencies...the euro is weaker to 1.2980 while the pound is lower to 1.5510. In Britain, the FTSE is -0.5%…

Contagion concerns continue to drive selling, such that futures for the S&P 500 have tested the 1175 line, which is on level with the low of the prior session. Europe's major bourses are down with varied losses, though the euro has fallen 1.1% against the dollar as yield spreads widen among the debt issues of countries in the eurozone periphery. Germany's DAX is currently down 0.2%. BMW and Volkswagen have provided the leadership necessary to offset losses among Deutsche Post and…

Asian markets closed mostly lower on European debt fears, and the possibility that a rate hike in China could slow the region's growth. China's State Council announced it would announce new measures to control price speculation, leading many to believe an interest rate hike may soon be in the cards. The Shanghai Composite ended trading at a seven-week low. India announced Q2 GDP registered 8.9%, better than the year ago 8.7%. Looking at the currencies...the yuan closed weaker at 6.6673…

Following a strong final reading in the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index, where the November figure reached a five-month high, the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Survey is also expected to show significant improvement in consumer attitudes about the economy. The Briefing.com consensus calls for the Confidence Index to increase from 50.2 in October to 52.0 in November. The gains in the Consumer Sentiment Index were mostly driven by the strong performance of…

U.S. futures are hovering around morning lows, down after Asian stocks sold off and as European debt worries remain rampant. S&P futures are -5 vs. fair value and DJ futures are -40. The early losses follow a sharp rebound in yesterday's session, which left the major averages with a -0.1% to -0.4% close, after dropping as much as ~1.5% at yesterday's open. A downtick in the dollar helped energy and materials stocks rebound, while financials showed relative strength…

Upgrades:

Integrated Silicon (ISSI 7.57) resumed with a Buy from Hold Auriga U.S.A; tgt $9 saying the co has reduced its commodity memory exposure and is focused on driving differentiation through providing specialty products to thousands of customers.

Research in Motion (RIMM 58.99) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies

Downgrades:

Shanda Interactive (SNDA 40.00) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Auriga U.S.A; tgt lowered to $41 from $51 following earnings.…

Seagate Technology Terminates Private Equity Discussions and Announces Share Repurchase Authorization; Announces $2 bln share repruchase; Sees Q4 revenue of $2.7 bln, consensus $2.698 bln (13.86 -0.03) -Update-

Co announced its board of directors terminated discussions with private equity firms regarding a going private transaction, principally because it determined that the indications of the valuation range were not in the best interest of the company and its shareholders. As…

Actively Traded Leading Global, Regional, & Domestic Sector & Commodity ETFs:

CBOE VIX- VXX +3.0%, VXZ +1.5%, cotton- BAL +1.75%, Vietnam- VNM +1.5%, Thailand- THD +1.25%, commercial banks- KBE +1.0%, US Dollar- UUP +0.75%, WTI crude oil- USO +1.0%, OIL +1.0%, regional banks- KRE +0.75%, RBOB gasoline- UGA +0.75%.

Actively Traded Lagging Global, Regional, & Domestic Sector & Commodity ETFs:

Turkey- TUR -3.75%, iShares France- EWQ -3.25%, iShares Italy-…

Energy markets are holding up well given the strength in the dollar index this morning, which is 0.8% higher today and up 3% from a week ago. Grains were up overnight (Wheat +0.8%, Corn +0.5%, Soybeans +0.2%), while soft commodities are mixed.

January crude oil popped back into positive territory in recent trade after trending lower from overnight highs of $85.03 over the last seven hours. Crude is currently 0.7% higher at $84.38 per barrel.

January natural gas hit current…

Biggest point gainers: CVOL (102.46 +11.21), GNI (149.67 +3.55), OYOG (73.90 +3.09), NFLX (194.26 +2.36), MPD (12.96 +2.32), SHI (49.81 +2.31), PTR (122.76 +2.29), VOLT (8.65 +2.22), AMRN (5.75 +2.20), STRA (142.23 +2.17), AMAG (15.99 +1.94), FDX (88.77 +1.27), THRX (23.91 +1.06), Y (302.96 +0.99), KB (46.45 +0.90), SHG (76.25 +0.88), TFM (33.38 +0.86), SPN (32.22 +0.83), AMZN (178.00 +0.80), IAAC (23.20 +0.79), IX (42.92 +0.76), WBK (102.81 +0.76), BCSB (10.88…

European mkts are lower, with the Eurostoxx 600 down 1.2%. European markets opened slightly higher as the 85 bln euro Irish bailout package was made official over the weekend. The rally proved short-lived, however, as European markets and the euro sold off from the open. Contagion fears continue as bond yields rise in Portugal, Spain and Italy. The latter sold 5.5 bln euro in auctions today, meeting weak dollar demand on yields that increased more than 50 bps from October's…

Stocks are headed for a lower open as European debt worries remain front and center. Contributing to the weakness is the uncertainty surrounding the situation on the Korean Peninsula as South Korea has pushed forward with joint naval exercises with the U.S. even as China calls for six-party talks to diffuse the tensions. Retailers are in focus as results from Black Friday begin to trickle in, and online retailers gear up for today's Cyber Monday. Amazon.com (AMZN) is higher in…

RBC notes that the PDUFA for VRX's Potiga is tomorrow, 11/30. While their outlook may be unnecessarily conservative, they see a less than 50% chance Potiga is approved tomorrow and instead call for approval and launch in Q1. Firm says a Potiga approval tomorrow would be a positive event but they do not call for this to occur until Q1 2011 as this FDA division has been very busy of late and consequently has a poor track record relating to review timeliness. In the event final…

AMRN + 20.6% (AMR101 meets pivotal phase 3 study endpoints with highly statistically significant reductions in triglycerides at 4 gram and 2 gram doses in MARINE trial with no statistically significant increase in LDL-C and safety profile similar to placebo), AMAG + 20.1% (enounces Update to Feraheme Label; reached agreement with the FDA), SGMO + 10.6% (still checking), NLST +10.5% (announced that Compellent Technologies qualified and selected its NetVault NV for production…

NTSP +5.1% (initiated with a Buy at Suntrust, initiated with a Buy at Goldman, initiated with a Buy at Duncan Williams, initiated with Outperform at Wells Fargo), MTL + 2.1% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman), TSO + 1.5% (upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Macquarie), DE + 1.3% (upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo), FDX + 1.3% (upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse ), AKAM + 1.0% (upgraded to Buy from Hold at Lazard Capital).

Mario…