Month: August 2012

From Fnno.com, This is the financial news network. Here’s what’s in the news for Wednesday August 15, 2012. The Wall Street Journal reports more than a dozen big merchants, including Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) and Target (NYSE:TGT), are expected to announce today plans to jointly develop a mobile-payments network called Merchants Customer Exchange that would battle similar services from Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) and other companies, sources say. The Wall Street Journal also reports investors and companies are increasingly pulling money out of China and its currency in a vote of concern over its growth prospects, a development that could hinder Beijing’s efforts for a turnaround. Reuters reports Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac (FMCC) are increasing efforts to find bad home loans that they can force mortgage lenders to buy back from them, providing an increasingly bigger headache to banks.Finally, Bloomberg reports Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and Vanguard Group increased holdings in Knight Capital Group (NYSE:KCG) during Q2 before the firm lost $440M on a computer malfunction this month. For more financial news and analysis follow us on Twitter @FNNOnline or check out our website at fnno.com.

From Fnno.com, this is the Financial News Network. Here’s a few things to watch for in the financial world today August 15.Target (NYSE:TGT) will be one to watch today after it posted its second quarter earnings. The big box retailer said its adjusted EPS was $1.12, beating the street’s estimate of $1.01. Revenue for the quarter was up to $16.78 billion, also higher than the average analyst estimate of $16.75 billion. CEO of Target Gregg Steinhafel said the strong earnings were due to their focus on bringing an excellent customer experience to its stores as well as execution of its overall strategy. A company in trouble this morning though is Deere & Co. (NYSE:DE). The largest maker of farm equipment posted its third quarter earnings this morning, saying the company had a profit of $788 million or $1.98 a share. This was well below estimates of $2.32. Revenue had modest gains rising 16% year over year to $8.93 billion. But, predictions put that growth at 25% for the quarter. According to Deere CEO Sam Allen, lower demand for farm equipment is the cause of the lower than expected earnings, with the worst U.S. drought in five decades being the main reason for the decrease in demand.Finally, Caryle Group (NYSE:CG) making a big acquisition today to expand its ever growing portfolio. The private equity firm announced an agreement to buy photo archive Getty Images for $3.3 billion from Hellman & Friedman. The agreement will give Caryle a controlling stake in the company with co-founder Chairman Mark Getty selling most of their ownership interests. According to preliminary talks, Caryle got a bit of a deal on the agreement. Hellman & Friedman initially wanted $4 billion for Getty to try and make a bigger profit on the $2.4 billion it bought it for four years ago. Those were a few things to watch out for here on the Financial News Network. For more coverage and analysis of the business world follow us on twitter @FNNOnline or check out our website at fnno.com.

Young illegal immigrants may apply for working papers as early as today through the Obama administration’s new immigration program. The Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals was created by an executive order signed by President Obama in June. It allows immigrants who are in the United States illegally to work without fear of deportation for 2 years.The new program does come with a few stipulations. Applicants must have come to the United States at the age of 16 or younger, and must be no older than 30 upon applying. In addition, individuals taking part in the program must not have a criminal record, and must have completed high school or served in the military.This process does not provide U.S. citizenship, and the forms must be completed by February 28, 2013. There is also a fee of $465 to submit the necessary forms.

Caryle Group (NYSE:CG) making a big acquisition today to expand its ever growing portfolio. The private equity firm announced an agreement to buy photo archive Getty Images for $3.3 billion from Hellman & Friedman. The agreement with give Caryle a controlling stake in the company with co-founder Chairman Mark Getty selling most of their ownership interests. According to preliminary talks, Caryle got a bit of a deal on the agreement. Hellman & Friedman initially wanted $4 billion for Getty to try and make a bigger profit on the $2.4 billion it bought it for four years ago. Getty, a stock-photo business started in 1995, claims it was the first company to license images online. The Seattle-based company also provides other digital media including music and video.

Deere & Co. (NYSE:DE) in trouble this morning with the current U.S. drought hurting its bottom line. The largest maker of farm equipment posted its third quarter earnings this morning, saying the company had a profit of $788 million or $1.98 a share. This was well below estimates of $2.32. Revenue had modest gains rising 16% year over year to $8.93 billion. But, predictions put that growth at 25% for the quarter. According to Deere CEO Sam Allen, lower demand for farm equipment is the cause of the lower than expected earnings, with the worst U.S. drought in five decades being the main reason for the decrease in demand.The company also cut its full-year forecast, saying profit will be $3.1 billion now, down from its previous prediction of $3.35 billion. Analysts also predicted the profit to be higher at $3.33 billion.

Another retailer posting their earnings this morning on news U.S. retail sales jumped in July. Estee Lauder (NYSE:EL) announced their fourth quarter earnings, with a profit of $51.2 million or 13 cents a share. Excluding restructuring costs EPS came in at 17 cents per share, higher then the average analyst estimate of 16 cents.Revenue rose in the quarter to $2.25 billion, also being analyst estimates of $2.21 billion.Estee Lauder showed they experienced strong sales across the product line, with make up seeing the biggest increase of 11%. President and CEO of the company Fabrizio Freda said the company will continue putting more resources into emerging markets, online, and its travel retail segment, parts of their business that has seen big gains.The retailer also announced its forecast for fiscal 2013, saying it sees EPS of $2.44 to $2.56 on revenue of $10.3 billion to $10.5 billion. Analysts are predicting profit of $2.57 per share on revenue of $10.25 billion.

Bob Evans Farms Incorporated (BOBE) announced its quarterly dividend of 27.5 cents per share, an increase of about 10% over its prior dividend in May of 25 cents. The dividend is payable on September 17 to stockholders of record as of September 4.

Bargain hunters are wise to pay careful attention to insider buying, because although there are many various reasons for an insider to sell a stock, presumably the only reason they would use their hard-earned dollars to make a purchase, is that they expect to make money. Today we look at two noteworthy recent insider buys.

This is your Mid-day Market Update for August 14. Stocks showing modest gains Tuesday on news of strong retail sales in July amid global economic woes.The Commerce Department reported retail sales jumped an unexpected 0.8% in July from the previous month. Analysts were expecting a rise of just 0.3%. The news could be seen as a sign the U.S. economy is on the road to recovery. But, with investors still looking to Europe, gains in the market are minimal in today’s session. Oil and Gold trading mixed so far today. Oil is up over $93 a barrel and gold is down $8 on the day to $1,605 an ounce.A big winner so far in today’s session is Michael Kors. The retailer’s stock is up over 13% due to its profits almost tripling for the quarter. One of the biggest losers is Groupon. Its shares are down over 24% on negative revenue results for the quarter.Currently, the Dow is up 48 points to 13,217. The S&P is up by over 5 points and the Nasdaq has gained 10 points so far today.For more market updates and analysis of the business world follow us on twitter @FNNOnline or check out our website at fnno.com

In trading on Wednesday, diagnostics shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 1.2%. Leading the group were shares of Alliance Healthcare Services (AIQ), up about 14.8% and shares of Amn Healthcare Services (AHS) up about 2.9% on the day.