Stocks News

The Euro lost its earlier gains from a five-day upward trend against the dollar and German 10-year bonds rose while the majority of European stocks fell ahead of tomorrow’s EU summit. Industrial metals turned out to be the leaders in growth among trading instruments. The 17-nation unified currency fell 0.2% to $1.3905 as of 8:11AM in London. Yields on 10-year German bonds dropped 2 basis points to 2.10%. Approximately two stocks fell for each stock that rose on the Stoxx Europe 600 Index; the index as a whole lost 0.2%. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.2%, while copper rose 1.1%, continuing its biggest two-week growth trend since 2009. Rice rose to its highest level in over a month. DT Trading analysts think that the world-wide growth in demand for products from Asian auto manufacturers is the main driving factor behind the growth in commodities prices, in spite of the market’s overall incredulity toward equity instruments and...

US stocks rose during trading in New York yesterday, forming a peak in the best eight-day growth for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index since 2009 amid expectations that the economy will continue to recover. However, DT Trading analysts observed that such growth still didn’t prevent speculation arising as a result of the antitrust suit the US Justice Department brought against AT&T Inc (T). Shares of the Ford Motor Co (F) and Alcoa Inc went up 2.3% each since the companies most tied to the real economy experienced growth. Joy Global Inc (JOYG) added 1.3% growth after the mining equipment producer published its income forecast which exceeds analysts’ expectations. Shares of AT&T fell 3.9%, limiting the growth of the Broad Market Index. This occurred after the US government filed a suit to prevent the company’s planned purchase of competitor T-Mobile USA Inc. The government said that the purchase would hinder competition on the wireless communications market. DT Trading analysts noted that...

Stocks   Global equities were lower on Monday as traders are worried about the financial conditions of European banks. Stress tests last week revealed that many banks may need to raise additional capital due to falling sovereign debt bond prices. Debt worries were also headlining losses in the US, traders continue to worry about the lack of political agreement for raising the US’s debt ceiling. As such, financial stocks were the big losers today. Bank of America was lower by 2.8% while Deutsche Bank fell over 3.2%. Overall, the S&P 500 was 0.8% lower while the Dow lost 0.76%, while in Europe the CAC 40 was slightly more than 2.0% lower with the FTSE and DAX both losing 1.55%. Looking ahead, tech stocks will be in the spotlight tomorrow as bellwethers IBM and CSCO both released earnings after the close. Commodities With the exception of precious metals commodities were lower across the board. Agricultural and Soft commodities were especially hit hard as cotton fell 2.5%,...

The euro recovered some of its recent losses on Wednesday, in spite of Ireland being downgraded to junk by Moody's. At the moment, the euro added 0.82% to its value against the U.S. dollar to trade around $1.4091. At the same time, the euro surged against the Japanese yen as well. Currently, the euro is trading around ¥111.65, up 0.84%. The big question is where do traders find optimism about the troubled European currency? The focus of investors quickly shifted from Italy to Ireland on Wednesday, as Moody's downgraded Ireland to junk. In fact, it seems incredible how investors can follow all the debt problems in the Eurozone. A week ago it was all about Greece, yesterday it was Italy, today it is Ireland. Every day a new country it seems. Ireland, only a shadow of once mighty Celtic Tiger, has been the second Eurozone member to ask for a bailout, right after Greece. Ireland's bond spread over Germany has been growing...

A European court ruled Tuesday that internet auction website eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) may be liable for trademark infringement committed by its users. eBay and French cosmetics manufacturer L'Oreal have been locked in legal proceedings for years. The cosmetics company previously sought $4.8 million in damages in 2009, accusing eBay of allowing counterfeit goods to be traded on its site. This year's ruling may translate to further legal action by L'Oreal, especially if eBay is determined to have an 'active role' in the criminal act. "When the operator has played an 'active role'..., it cannot rely on the exemption from liability which EU law confers, under certain conditions, on online service providers such as operators of Internet marketplaces," the court said in a statement. According to a Reuters report, "The court found that under EU law, member states had to ensure that national courts could order market operators to take measures that help to end trade mark infringements by users of a marketplace such as...

Bull Market or Blow Off Top for Stocks and ETFs? Recent stock market action has been remarkable, to say the least, confounding bulls and bears alike.  The former say it’s a new leg higher while the latter say the end of the world is nigh. Can the stock market and ETFs go higher or is this a blow off top like so many others that have preceded significant declines? Our view is that both the fundamental and technical picture point to significant downside risk for investors ahead. On My Wall Street Radar Below are two charts of the S&P 500 (SPY) with varying views and time frames.    Chart courtesy of www.stockcharts.com The above chart is a year to date view comparing three strong advances that were followed by significant downturns and you can also see how the 50 Day Moving Average has curled over from its previous upward trend. Chart courtesy of www.stockcharts.com This chart goes back to the March, 2009, lows and shows the uptrend that was just...

The following stocks hit new 52-week highs in Wednesday's trading session (listed from highest total volume to lowest): 1) Wendy's/Arby's Group (NYSE: WEN): Shares of Wendy's/Arby's hit a 52-week high of $5.45 in Wednesday's trading session. The stock closed at $5.41. The year-to-date performance of Wendy's/Arby's has been a gain of 17.1%. 2) Halliburton (NYSE: HAL): Shares of Halliburton hit a 52-week high of $52.72 in Wednesday's trading session. The stock closed at $52.66. The year-to-date performance of Halliburton has been a gain of 29.4%. 3) Kinetic Concepts (NYSE: KCI): Shares of Kinetic Concepts hit a 52-week high of $67.38 in Wednesday's trading session. The stock closed at $66.20. The year-to-date performance of Kinetic Concepts has been a gain of 58.1%. 4) Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT): Shares of Kraft Foods hit a 52-week high of $35.87 in Wednesday's trading session. The stock closed at $35.85. The year-to-date performance of Kraft has been a gain of 15.8%. 5) Cablevision Systems (NYSE: CVC): Shares o Cablevision hit...

K3 Business Technology (LON:KBT), the AIM listed company has sells enterprise resource planning software, hosting and managed services to the supply chain industry, has snapped up the Retail Merchandising Division of Azurri Computer Solutions Ltd. K3 is paying an initial £1.0 million in cash for the business with a further £0.5 million payable dependent on increases in gross margin generated by Azurri Retail over the next two years. Shares in K3 were unmoved at 222.5p. K3 said Azurri Retail was a highly complementary fit with its own retail software operations, adding further specialist skills, and would be readily integrated into the group. The deal is in line with K3’s strategy to build recurring revenues and acquire profitable user bases with significant cross-selling opportunities, in particular for its hosting and managed services offering. Andy Makeham, the chief executive of K3, said: “I am delighted to have completed the acquisition of Azurri Retail. We continue to strengthen recurring revenues by acquiring new user...

Horizonte Minerals (LON:HZM), the AIM and TSX quoted exploration and development company working in Brazil, has begun a 3,000m diamond drilling programme at its Falcao gold project in the southern part of the Carajas mining district in northern Brazil, in joint venture with industry giant AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU). The news pushed the Horizonte share price up by 2.5% to 15.5p. Broker FinnCap said it expected the results of the drilling to be announced towards the end of Q3 and reiterated its valuation of 36 pence per share. Falcao lies over a structurally complex window on the eastern end of the Serra da Inaja Greenstone Belt. The initiation of the 3,000m drilling programme follows detailed soil sampling, geologic mapping and an aeromagnetic and radiometric survey conducted in October 2010, which confirmed a 300m to 600m wide zone at greater than 50ppb with isolated results as high as 13.5 grams per ton of gold. The current drilling programme has the objective of testing the...

The following stocks hit new 52-week highs in Tuesday's trading session: 1) Caliper Life Sciences (NASDAQ: CALP): Shares of Caliper Life Sciences hit a 52-week high of $7.73 in Tuesday's trading session. The stock closed at $7.58. The year-to-date performance of Caliper Life Sciences has been a gain of 19.5%. 2) Crosstex Energy (NASDAQ: XTXI): Shares of Crosstex Energy hit a 52-week high of $11.87 in Tuesday's trading session. The stock closed at $11.60. The year-to-date performance of Crosstex has been a gain of 32.1%. 3) Ecolab (NYSE: ECL): Shares of Ecolab hit a 52-week high of $55.53 in Tuesday's trading session. The stock closed at $55.14. The year-to-date performance of Ecolab has been a gain of 9.7%. 4) Magellan Health Services (NASDAQ: MGLN): Shares of Magellan Health Services hit a 52-week high of $54.10. The stock closed at $53.82. The year-to-date performance of Magellan has been a gain of 13.8%. 5) ValueVision (NASDAQ: VVTV): Shares of ValueVision hit a 52-week high of $7.99 in...