In trading on Friday, television & radio shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 2.3%. Helping drag down the group were shares of Ubiquiti Networks (UBNT), down about 40% and shares of Liberty Interactive Interactive (LINTA) down about 8.7% on the day.
GM CEO Dan Akerson announced that subsidiary Envia Systems has made progress on the development of a battery that could allow an electric car to go up to 200 miles on a single charge. The company believes that such an advance could happen within the next four years, and become a game changer in the electric car business.
Fallout from the Knight Capital Group mishap continued this week. Many of you will remember that a mere forty five minute computer glitch almost brought down the prominent financial services firm. Last Wednesday Knight lost a stunning four hundred and forty million dollars in bad trades. Their stock slid sixty three percent on Thursday following the glitch and speculators said the company would not last more than forty eight to seventy two hours unless it could secure a substantial loan.This weekend, Knight executives were able to broker a deal and shore up the company’s losses. Sources involved in the discussions reported that Knight saw multiple offers, but on Sunday evening, Knight was wrapping up an agreement for a four hundred million dollar capital infusion lead by Jefferies Group. Other big names attached to the deal are the Blackstone Group, Getco, which is a rival market maker, TD Ameritrade Holding Corp and Stifel Nicolaus. Jefferies will get a twenty two point eight percent stake in Knight out of the deal, but in total, Knight handed over seventy three percent of its worth.Investors and financiers alike are shocked by the magnitude of Knight’s loss and the short amount of time during which the trades transpired. This scandal comes on the heels of Nasdaq’s Facebook IPO debacle in May. In this case, market makers had lost upward of five hundred million dollars when Nasdaq failed to confirm many pre-market orders due to a software malfunction.Most trades are conducted by computer software that implements complicated algorithms on a mass scale. But in the wake of these recent failures, some are calling for a change in the way we rely on these systems on a regulatory, or even trading, level.
American Electric (AEP) was upgraded by Bank of America/Merrill Lynch (BAC) to buy from neutral with a price target of $46 as the new Ohio rate plan should boost earnings. Shares are higher by about 2.4 percent.
It was a mixed day for the markets as investors considered the latest economic data from the Labor Department which showed some signs of recovery in the job market. On the economic front, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 361,000, according to the Labor Department.
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.
In trading on Thursday, advertising shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 2.4%. Leading the group were shares of Millennial Media (MM), up about 24.6% and shares of Interpublic Group Companies (IPG) up about 3.5% on the day.
Tata Motors (TTM) announced that first quarter profits increased by 12 percent, mainly due to a sales jump at its Jaguar Land Rover subsidiary that offset lower profits in its domestic business. Net profit was 22.45 billion rupees, or $406 million and revenue was 433.2 billion rupees, about 30 percent higher than the same period last year.
From Fnno.com, This is the financial news network. Here’s what’s in the news for Wednesday August 8, 2012. The Wall Street Journal reports Deutsche Bank”s (NYSE:DB) attempt to sell its huge real-estate fund group–known as RREEF–is taking its toll on one of the world’s largest property investment businesses. The bank’s lack of clear direction is putting its real estate fund group at a competitive disadvantage, some investors and consultants say. The Wall Street Journal also reports Best Buy (NASDAQ:BBY) founder Richard Schulze sees a turnaround plan that involves cutting prices to better compete against Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) and other online retailers while ensuring that the in-store customer-service experience is as good as Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL). Reuters reports Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) may close brokerage offices, laying off support staff and requiring some branch managers also to generate revenue as advisers under a cost-cutting drive, sources say. Bloomberg reports stocks in the U.K. fell from a four month high before Bank of England Governor Mervyn King presents his outlook for the country’s economy today. King will cut forecasts for growth and inflation as policy makers stay open to adding more stimulus for the U.K. economy, economists say. The bank will predict inflation to slow further below its 2% target than previously projected and forecast lower growth this year and next. Finally, Bloomberg reports Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) is considering acquisitions in France and Germany as Europe”s debt crisis creates more demand for services that lower costs. For more financial news and analysis follow us on Twitter @FNNOnline or check out our website at fnno.com.
Content and social-media company Demand Media Inc. (NYSE: DMD) has a new president and Chief Operatering Officer. Michael Blend was named to both positions yesterday, having been promoted from elsewhere in the company.Blend’s history with Demand Media began with the acquisition of Hotkey, where he served as CEO. He went on to lead the companies eNom domain registration team, before most recently heading Demand Media’s content and media services.Blend will continue to report to Demand Media’s current CEO and co-founder Richard Rosenblatt.
