MARKET CURRENTS
real-time news and commentary for investors
MARKET CURRENTS
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Today - Thursday, May 23, 2013
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2:29 PM Sempra Energy (SRE -3%) digs out of session lows but remains the S&P 500's worst performer after cutting the top end of guidance for 2013 and offering a weak outlook for 2014. SRE says it is seeking to further optimize its capital structure through additional subsidiary debt and equity issuances, including a possible MLP using Cameron liquefaction as a foundation. [Energy, On the Move] Comment!
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2:18 PM Shanda Games (GAME +16.4%) rips higher despite a subdued Q1 earnings report. During an earnings call, the company highlighted its mobile game launch progress, saying Million Arthur launched already in Korea, and in Taiwan on the Android and iOS platforms and will hit Mainland China and Singapore this summer. (transcript) [Tech, On the Move] Comment!
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2:09 PM "We think the impact will be between €5B and €10B," the Bank of Spain tells FT, in the first official estimate of the additional provisions Spain's banks will need to take against bad loans as the government prepares to do away with "extend and pretend." Although the extra provisioning will no doubt weigh on results, expectations are that Banco Santander (SAN -0.2%) and BBVA +1.86% will have no trouble absorbing the hit, though it isn't clear that the same can be said of smaller banks. [Global & FX] Comment!
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2:07 PM Boeing (BA +1.7%) updates its Orders and Deliveries page for the week, saying that since its last update it has received 107 new orders consisting of six 777s and 101 737s. In the Changes category, it reduced 737 net orders by 24. Additionally, the company says that Chinese regulators have cleared local airlines to fly the 787 Dreamliner, and are expected to allow them to launch overseas flights within a matter of months. [On the Move, Global & FX, Consumer] Comment!
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2:06 PM The NYSE rules to let stand all trades in American Electric Power (AEP -1%) and NextEra Energy (NEE -1.2%) but prices for certain "aberrant" trades will be excluded from the high and low prices in data feeds. There were hundreds of trades early this morning in AEP at or below $46.03 and in NEE at or below $76.19, more than 50% below yesterday's closing prices. [Energy] 4 Comments
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2:03 PM Starbucks (SBUX -1.4%) takes the news of a potentially cooling China economy a little worse than other large service/consumer product companies with future growth prospects in China increasingly part of its valuation. SBUX in China by the numbers: The company's 800 China outlets in 58 cities grew same-store sales by 8% and brought in over $200M last quarter. The brand claims 61% of the China coffee market and sees opening 1.5K stores by 2015. [Consumer] Comment!
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2:00 PM On the hour: Dow -0.12%. 10-yr +0.06%. Euro +0.59% vs. dollar. Crude -0.99% to $93.35. Gold +1.71% to $1390.75. Comment!
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1:55 PM Topeka initiates InvenSense (INVN +0.2%) at Buy and assigns a $16 price target, representing a 29% upside from yesterday's close. Analyst Suji De Silva cites the company's market leading position in motion sensing functionality. (See also: Pac Crest says INVN to gain AAPL as client) [Tech] 1 Comment
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1:55 PM Omeros (OMER +1.6%) trades up today after saying its investigational new drug application for the evaluation of OMS824, its treatment for Huntington's disease, has been cleared by the FDA. [Healthcare, On the Move] Comment!
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1:48 PM BioTime (BTX -0.2%) says its shareholders have overwhelmingly approved the planned acquisition of stem cell-related assets from Geron (GERN). The green light was given at a special meeting of shareholders, with at least 32.5M votes coming in favor from the 34.5M shares represented and voted. [Healthcare, M&A] Comment!
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1:45 PM Hydrogenics (HYGS +13.3%) soars as SA Pro contributor Joe Springer calls it one of the most undervalued stocks in the market due to its first-to-market position in the power-gas arena. The article comes out of embargo tomorrow at 11 a.m. [Energy] 2 Comments
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1:36 PM VeriFone (PAY +2.9%) trades higher after SunTrust Robinson Humphrey chimes in with an upgrade on the company to Buy from Neutral. The company is two months into its tenure under a new CEO with sentiment gradually improving after a FQ1 earnings warning caught everyone napping and decimated share price. [Consumer] Comment!
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1:33 PM "Everyone has to have big eyes, big ears, know what's going on around them and be policemen for the organization," says Goldman Sachs (GS) CEO Blankfein to employees as part of the annual meeting. Among the reforms after a 3-year review of bank practices: Proposed transactions need to be run through "technological matrixes" to check for appropriateness. Don't me afraid to call me, says Blankfein, as the risk of reputational damage outweighs the cost of wasting his time. (Video to be posted to website later) [Financials] 1 Comment
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1:26 PM Stanley Black & Decker (SWK -2.4%) Chairman John Lundgren made an interesting revelation during his chat at the Electrical Products Group Conference yesterday. The exec says the company will keep an eye on the spinoff from Ingersoll Rand of its security business to see if a similar move would make sense for SWK with its security business. On strategy: "Because if we are convinced a year or two years from now that we have got a 12x EBITDA business trapped in a 7 or 8x business, we will make it bigger." [Consumer] Comment!
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1:25 PM Elan's (ELN +3%) board has rejected the sweetened takeover bid from Royalty Pharma, saying it "continues to grossly undervalue" the company, with board chairman Robert Ingram adding that it's "no more than an opportunistic attempt to acquire our company at a substantial discount at our shareholders' expense." It urges shareholders to reject the offer, noting also that it's reducing the acceptance threshold to 50% plus one share from 90%. [Healthcare, On the Move, M&A] 1 Comment
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1:14 PM Overdue student loans reached an all-time high of 11% during Q3 of last year, according to the DOE. The news comes just as the House approved a Republican-led proposal to allow interest rates on student loans to float. Still up for debate is whether or not a two-year extension of the 3.4% rate for subsidized Stafford loans will be legislated. Sector watch: APEI, APOL, CECO, COCO, ESI, STRA, LINC, LOPE, BPI, DV, CPLA, EDMC, NAUH. [Consumer] 2 Comments
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1:13 PM Revett Minerals (RVM -20.3%) plunges after providing an update on the Troy Mine. RVM says the "unexpected discovery of ground fall" in the "A Drive" and the projected time frame for establishing alternative development have necessitated an "immediate and significant reduction" in the Troy Mine workforce."The realization that the recommencement of underground mining operations will not resume by the end of the second quarter as planned has forced us to take difficult cost reduction measures," CEO John Shanahan says. (PR) [Commodities, On the Move] Comment!
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