Month: April 2012

This is what’s in the news for Thursday April 12, 2012. The Wall Street Journal reports Fed Vice Chairwoman Janet Yellen made a case for sticking to the central bank’s low-interest-rate policies, saying the Fed might need to take additional action to bolster the economy if the recovery falters again. Bloomberg reports while Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) influence on the bull market in U.S. equities is among the biggest ever exerted by one stock, the S&P 500 has almost doubled since March 2009 even when Apple is excluded. Bloomberg also reports State Bank of India plans to buy loans mostly given to Indian firms from banks in the U.S. and Europe to increase its overseas credit assets and profitability. Reuters reports Sony Corp. (NYSE:SNE) CEO Kazuo Hirai outlined a revival strategy built around mobile electronics – phones, games, cameras – and a medical business with annual sales of $1.2B.

Consol Energy (CNX) was downgraded today to neutral from outperform by Credit Suise (CS), as the stock has run up recently and is approaching the target of $40. Shares are lower by almost three percent.

As the saying goes, there are many possible reasons for an insider to sell a stock, but only one reason to buy — they expect to make money. So let’s look at two noteworthy recent insider buys.

Cogeco Cable (NYSE:CCA) reported Q2 EPS of C$0.63 per share, vs. estimates of C$0.98.The company said its Q2 revenues came in at C$317.7 million, vs. estimates of C$336.9 million.The company reported Q2 PSU net adds of 12,280 and says its on track to meet 2012 objectives.

Heineken will acquire Dominican Republic brewer Cerveceria Nacional Domincana for $1.6 billion in a deal that will be signed tomorrow, according to website El Siglo21, citing unidentified sources.Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) is one of the financial advisers of the deal, according to the website.

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Medtox Scientific (NASDAQ:MTOX) reported Q1 EPS of $0.17, topping estimates of $0.13.The company reported Q1 revenues of $28.6 million, vs. estimates of $27.5 million.The company reported gross margin of 41.5%, vs. estimates of 39.8% and the company says it has $7.0 million in cash as of quarter’s end.

The U.S. government is taking matters into its own hands when it comes to the pricing of e-books.The Justice Department and 15 states filed a lawsuit with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and other major book publishers, saying the tech company conspired to raise the prices of electronic books. Attorney General Eric Holder said executives from the conspiring companies wanted to eliminate competition among e-book sellers. The motivation behind fixing the prices was to get Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) to raise its $9.99 limit on e-books. The fed believes publishers wanted a higher price because Amazon’s was substantially lower than their hardcover prices.The Justice Department said the scheme cost consumers more than $100 million in the past two years by adding $2 to $5 to the price of each e-book.A settlement with three of the publishers, Hachette, HarperCollins, and Simon & Shuster has already been reached. No word on Apple’s response.

The largest gain in jobless claims since late January occurred last week according the U.S. Labor Department.Initial jobless claims jumped by 13,000 to 380,000 in the week ended April 7, more than what economists expected of just 359,000. Much of the increase was related to spring break, when many school bus drivers and cafeteria workers around the country are allowed to file claims in their states. However, claims were revised sharply higher from two weeks ago, up by 10,000 to 367,000. This is an unusually sharp adjustment, showing there could be a sliver lining when it comes to job growth in the U.S.The average of new claims over the past week rose as well, up 4,250 to 368,500. This is still relatively high, the highest in a month.

Toyota (NYSE:TM) recalls a total of over 70,000 vehicles citing an issue with engine bolts that could break loose during operation.The company’s Vista, Corona and Nadia models manufactured between December 1996 and December 2001 are covered by the recall.