Continue reading Kobe makes 'Final Four' with BUD, ETFC, GM & MCD - NBA still in business

Kobe makes 'Final Four' with BUD, ETFC, GM & MCD - NBA still in business originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• Jarrett Lilien, E-Trade Financial Corporation's (NASDAQ: ETFC) president and COO, who lost out on the CEO job last month to Donald Layton, is going to resign from the online brokerage firm, the Wall Street Journal reported; Layton doesn't plan to fill the position.
• Chinese Internet search firm Baidu.com Inc (NASDAQ: BIDU) is poised for aggressive growth but must also confront a number of obstacles, according to the Wall Street Journal's "Heard in Asia," including a number of lawsuits regarding its music services and a vacancy in the CFO position.
• Alibaba Group, a Chinese Internet company , is in advanced talks with investors to finance its acquisition of Yahoo! Inc's (NASDAQ: YHOO) stake to expand its management independence, the Wall Street Journal reported.

• According to inside sources, the New York Post reported that billionaire Joseph Lewis and former Bear Stearns Companies Inc (NYSE: BSC) CEO Jimmy Cayne are looking for a white knight that could surpass JPMorgan Chase & Co's (NYSE: JPM) takeover offer for Bear Lewis and Cayne have reportedly reached out to several private equity firms and overseas banks, including Barclays Plc (NYSE: BCS) and Credit Suisse Group (NYSE: CS).

• Medical supplies boss Michael Mastromarino, accused of stealing the body parts of around 1,000 corpses, has pleaded guilty to several charges in a deal with prosecutors. The BBC News reported that the Biomedical Tissue Services company shipped bones, skin and tendons to tissue-processing companies such as LifeCell Corporation (NASDAQ: LIFC) and Tutogen Medical Inc (AMEX: TTG), which are in turn facing hundreds of civil lawsuits.

Newspaper wrap-up: Lewis, Cayne reportedly seek new bidder for Bear originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 19 Mar 2008 08:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) won a $40B contract to turn Airbus jets into "flying gas stations" for U.S. military aircrafts, the Wall Street Journal reported, breaking The Boeing Company's (NYSE: BA) lock on the market.
• Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY) is expected to launch the first covered bond from the country next week, the Financial Times reported. The bank is targeting a benchmark-sized issue worth $1.4B-$4.2B.
• The Financial Times also reported that Indian conglomerate Tata has concluded an agreement with Virgin Mobile USA Inc (NYSE: VM) to launch a cellular phone brand in India. The brand, called Virgin Mobile in India, would target young Indians under a franchise agreement with Tata Teleservices.

• Bloomberg reported that former JP Morgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) Vice Chairman Donald Layton is expected to be named E*Trade Financial Corporation's (NASDAQ: ETFC) new CEO. In an interview, Layton said he may consider a sale of the troubled online brokerage if it "made sense" for shareholders.

Newspaper wrap-up: E*Trade expected to name Layton as its CEO originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

No joke, does E*Trade Financial (NASDAQ: ETFC) have a purpose? I recently received an offering from E*Trade Financial promoting stock and options trading per transaction of $6.99 to $9.99. It offered 100 free trades to open an account. The problem is that I am already getting free trading from several bank brokerage accounts.

If I was not getting the free trades from my current accounts, there are competitors with better rates anyway. What is E*Trades competitive advantage? If it's not price, or size, or breadth of services, or physical branches or branch locations, how does it intend to distinguish itself? It does not offer in-depth research or anything not readily available elsewhere. In fact, if I was to go by what I received, it offers far less.

I have read many stories that question E*Trade's survival. In the literature that I received soliciting my business, I think it did a very poor job of convincing me it has a purpose for existing. Its beginnings as a web-based company were cool, but now every financial institution is online.

Continue reading Does E*Trade have a purpose?

Does E*Trade have a purpose? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 11 Dec 2007 07:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: The U.S. banking sector, HSBC Holdings, Trans World and Mips Technologies were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• CIBC downgraded the U.S. Banks sector to Underweight from Market Weight as they see another leg down as investors shift focus away from write-downs to the impact the write-downs will have on risk-weighted assets and capital ratios.
• Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of HSBC Holdings Plc (NYSE: HBC) to Equal Weight from Underweight, as they believe the company may have to set aside more money for bad loans in the U.S.
• B. Riley downgraded shares of Trans World Entertainment Corporation (NASDAQ: TWMC) to Neutral from Buy, as they believe the downside risk should the Bob Higgins acquisition proposal fall through outweighs the potential upside should the bid be raised or should another bidder emerge.
  
• B. Riley also downgraded Mips Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: MIPS) to Neutral from Buy following the company's Q1 results to reflect the company's deteriorating balance sheet and licensing business softness.

• Lehman downgraded Federal National Mortgage Association (NYSE: FNM) and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (NYSE: FRE) to Equal Weight from Overweight.
• Bear Stearns downgraded Wyeth (NYSE: WYE) to Peer Perform from Outperform.
• Concur Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: CNQR) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Piper.
• Citigroup downgraded shares of E-Trade Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: ETFC) to Hold from Buy.

Analyst downgrades: U.S. banking sector, HBC, TWMC and MIPS originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 12 Nov 2007 09:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.