| US futures decline on Amazon, Merrill
US stock futures fell today as Merrill Lynch reported its first quarterly net loss in nearly six years and as earnings by Amazon disappointed some investors. The world's largest brokerage reported write-downs of $7.9 billion from leveraged loans from corporate takeovers and bad bets on mortgage securities. It had a net loss of $2.3 billion. Merrill's shares fell 1.1 per cent to $66.40 before the open. "I don't think the Merrill's number going to do too much even, though it's a significantly larger write-off," Owen Fitzpatrick, head of US Equity Group at Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management, in New York, said."This is a sector that has been reporting some pretty poor numbers, so this isn't too big of a surprise." S&P 500 futures were down 8.10 points and below fair value, a mathematical formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract.
TradeStation Group (TRAD) Reports In-Line Q4 Earnings; Guides Q1 EPS ...
TradeStation Group Inc. (Nasdaq: TRAD) reports Q4 EPS of $0.21, in-line with the analyst estimate of $0.21. Revenues for the quarter were $40.2 million, versus the consensus of $40.92 million. The Company expects to report Q1 EPS of $0.16-$0.19, versus the consensus of $0.20. Revenues are expected to be $39-$42 million, versus $37.12 million. TradeStation sees FY08 EPS of $0.69-$0.86, versus $0.84 and revenues in the range of $158-$177 million. compared to the Street consensus of $167.18 million. TradeStation Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as an online brokerage firm covering equities, equity options, futures, and forex transactions. Related Categories Earnings Guidance Stocks Mentioned .
Sensex slips in early trade
At 10:05 am, the Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex was down 216 points or 1.19 per cent at 17,859.92
Bharti Airtel (down 2.53%), BHEL (2.48%), ICICI Bank (2.2%), HDFC (2.08%) and NTPC (1.91%) were the biggest index losers. Bajaj Auto (up 1.61%), Satyam Computer (1.61%), Infosys Technologies (1.17%), Wipro (1.02%) and Tata Consultancy Services (0.47%) were the major gainers. The National Stock Exchange's Nifty was down 61 points or 1.15 per cent at 5220.25.
“We had a gap up opening Tuesday, but lost around 1 per cent from the day's high. The discount in the Nifty February futures also widened to 20 points from 4 points. We will see profit booking coming at these levels, but Nifty might find support at 5150 levels," UTI Securities said in a note.
The brokerage recommends buying HCL Tech, Mphasis, Sasken, and Tech Mahindra expecting them to outperform the market in the near term.
TradeKing CEO to Offer Perspective on the Growing Opportunity in ...
BOCA RATON, Fla., Nov. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- TradeKing (www.tradeking.com), a nationally licensed online broker dealer, today announced that its Chairman and CEO Donato Montanaro will be a featured speaker on "The Retail Business" panel during the 23rd Annual Futures and Options Expo taking place November 27-29 in Chicago. Montanaro and the panel participants will discuss the growth of options trading among individual investors and the various approaches brokerage firms are taking to offering options to the retail trader, comparing traditional business models with those of new entrants. He will be joined on his panel by brokerage executives from TD Ameritrade, Merrill Lynch, Optionshouse and OptionsXpress. For more information, visit: http://www.futuresindustry.org/expo-2007.asp.
Swan blames inflation rise on previous govt
Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan has used today's inflation figures to attack the previous Howard Government's economic record. The Consumer Price Index has risen a slightly higher than expected 0.9 per cent, driven by petrol prices, banking costs, rising rents and domestic holidays. That takes annual inflation to 3 per cent, which is right on the Reserve Bank's upper limit. Perhaps more importantly, the central bank's own two underlying measures have surged to 3.8 and 3.4 per cent. Today's cost of living figures from the Bureau of Statistics are seen as crucial ahead of next month's interest rates decision from the Reserve Bank. Mr Swan says elevated inflation is the Liberal Party's parting gift to Australian families. "Now it's pretty clear when you look at underlying inflation that these pressures have taken a long time to build," he said.
Pressure mounts for new controls on oil futures speculators
Sean Cota runs a family-owned fuel oil business in Bellows Falls, Vt., and has been active in the futures markets for 20 years, locking in prices to protect both himself and his customers. But over the past five years, he has watched in amazement -- and growing anger -- as speculators flooded into the market. It has created tremendous volatility and, he believes, driven up prices for crude oil, heating oil and a host of other commodities. As prices hover near record levels this year, his customers are bearing the brunt -- turning down their thermostats, taking longer to pay their bills and even using credit cards to pay for home heating. "All of these things are having a huge impact on people for something that is just not justified by supply and demand," Cota said.
Multigrain Announces Production, Processing Acquisition
SAO PAULO, Brazil, Nov. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The owners of Multigrain, a leading Brazil-based agricultural commodity business, announced today the company has acquired 100,000 hectares (247,000 acres) of farmland and related processing operations intended to strengthen its ability to serve customers around the world. CHS Inc. of St. Paul, Minn., PMG Trading of Brazil, and Mitsui & Co. Ltd of Japan are owners of Multigrain AG, the holding company for Multigrain. The purchase consists of land in the western Bahia, western Minas Gerais and southern Maranhao. The operations, known as XinguAgri farms, include production of soybeans, corn, cotton and sugarcane, as well as cotton processing in four locations. Multigrain currently is exploring opportunities for ethanol manufacturing in conjunction with its sugarcane production.
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