Multifamily REITs are toxic in today’s market. Don’t expect their declining share prices to turn around any time soon.

Single home sales are slipping everywhere. Even here in Baltimore City where values had been holding firm, prices began dropping hard and fast in the past month.

Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISIS) is a biopharmaceutical company that focuses entirely on RNA-based technologies and primarily, on antisense therapies.

Here’s my take on what that means…

Revenue for Penn National Gaming Inc. (NASDAQ:PENN) in Q3 slowed (see conference call transcript), as it did at most casino operations. But due to the termination of an attempted acquisition deal, the company received a settlement of a cool $225 million. In addition, the (intended) acquisition group purchased 12,500 shares of Series B Redeemable Preferred Stock due 2015 for $1.25 billion.

As a result, Penn reported a net income of $147.5 million. That’s $100.9 million more than the same quarter last year.

General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) is seeing dramatic trading volume today. After a quick bump this morning the share price has descended below its close on Friday of $21.50.

This kind of action is not terribly surprising when you consider GE’s third quarter results (ending September 30)…

Was it that Stewart Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:STEI) was too unreasonable in insisting that Service Corporation International (NYSE:SCI) accept all financing risk in the transaction, as SCI claims? Or was it the declining state of the credit market, as Stewart claims?

In any case, SCI has withdrawn its buyout offer of $11 per share.

Founded in 1910, Stewart Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:STEI) is the second largest provider of services in the death-care industry in the U.S.

I first told Today’s Financial News readers about this stock back in February (Smart Stock Investing: The ultimate contrarian play). At the time, it was trading at around $6.40 a share.

Ford Motor Company's (F) share price has defined the word volatile in recent months. Should investors take advantage of the bargain rates, especially now that the company is selling an additional 500 million in new shares to make up for debt incurred by its financial arm?

Ford expects to have an electric car on the market by 2014. Toyota (TM) is working on an electric car to have ready by 2010. Even GM (GM) has its Chevrolet Volt that it thinks it's going to have 100,000 cars on the road by 2012. How come Ford has dropped so far behind in this kind of technology?

Back in April, I recommended AeroGrow International Inc (AERO). After listening to the company-hosted investor conference call yesterday, I’ve lost faith.

The company has grown enormously in the past year, yet, as stated on this call, the financial systems and capabilities the management had in place were unable to keep up.

As the big energy providers desperately seek more untapped sources of oil and natural gas, there has been an epic jump in demand for drilling services providers.

The TFN Hot Stock Pick for this week is a Houston-based driller that operates 28 land rigs in ten countries and 18 barge rigs in the inland waters of Mexico, the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, and the Caspian Sea.

Back on February 28 of this year, I recommended Stewart Enterprises, Inc. (STEI) to TFN readers as a long-term hold. Check out my initial research report here.

Slowly but surely, we’ve seen our stock value increase about 5% for this national supplier of “death care services”.

Since the beginning of this year, the price for this fuel source has increased by almost 50% — though compared to crude oil, it’s positively cost-efficient and currently accounts for around 40% of the electricity generated in the U.S.

In December of 2005, natural gas reached its peak price of $15 per million BTUs (British Thermal Units). This was due to many factors including unusually high temperatures over that summer and the devastating hurricanes that marked that year.

The company I’ve selected for this week is a Maryland-based biotechnology firm working on treatments for conditions as varied as Crohn’s disease, knee arthritis, tissue damage, life-threatening Graft-versus-host disease and acute radiation syndrome.

Osiris Therapeutics, Inc. (OSIR) creates therapeutic drugs from human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) retrieved from bone marrow donated by healthy adult volunteers.

Dry bulk shipping has come into its own in the past decade – spurred primarily by demand from China.

Green thumb envy

On my way to work, through a second story window of a lovely old rowhouse, I have glimpsed disembodied hands gently tending overflowing herbs sprouting from a futuristic black planter with a bright grow lamp.

The following was taken from the transcript of this week’s TFN Smart Trading video featuring Ian Cooper.

Laura Cadden: Economists are still at least another quarter away from being able to call the current economic downturn a recession proper. But the mainstream newsmakers believe that the U.S. is already in a recession, maybe even heading toward a depression. My guest today is Ian Cooper. One of the few analysts who accurate predicted the full extent of the sub-prime mortgage crisis back in early 2007 and forecasted a climb in the Dow as well as the real estate crisis in Britain. So Ian, by definition, the beginning of a recession can only be called retrospectively. What indications do you see right now that could say for sure we’re in a recession?

Diversifying your stock holdings by adding companies with well-developed overseas interests and revenues sources is a wise decision for U.S. investors – especially in current market conditions.

Just as valuable is a steady track record of profits – and dividends.

The following was taken from the transcript of this week's TFN Smart Trading video featuring Martin Hutchinson:

Laura Cadden: Traders and investors have been turning a concerned eye towards Japan. Housing sales in the Land of the Rising Sun crashed in 2007 and despite a long overdue increase in GDP growth last year, many believe that the country, once again, is at the edge of, or already in, a recession. Japanese business confidence is plummeting amid fears that the rising Yen will damage its crucial exports trade. The Nikkei has experienced its worst drop since 2001. Is it time for investors and traders to move their assets out of Japan? I’ve invited Martin Hutchinson of The Money Map Report to provide some insight.

With the 2008 Beijing Olympics approaching, many travel-related stocks have been predicted to benefit. One of the most promising is the leading Chinese online travel service provider, Ctrip.com (CTRP).

The following was taken from the transcript of this week's TFN Smart Trading Action Alert video featuring Jack Crooks. See this video or read on.

Laura Cadden: Carry traders borrow low yielding currencies, like the Japanese Yen, to buy bonds denominated in higher yielding currencies, like the Australian dollar or the Icelandic krona or the U.S. dollar.

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