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Monthly Archives: April 2011

Mi. judge rules 2010 retirement healthcare law unconsitutional

There’s another $300 million deficit for the state of Michigan.

Wouldn’t be a problem if the retirement benefits weren’t all but guaranteed. The argument is basically that because some defer the benefits, it’s unconsitutional (not much different than the national argument against Obamacare).

But, of course, the teacher’s unions still want the benefits they aren’t paying for.

David Hecker, president of the American Federation of Teachers Michigan, said if the new law is struck down, the state should not reduce funding for retired teachers’ health care.

“Retiree health care needs to be provided, and the state needs to step up and provide it,” Hecker said.

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Daniel Gross says QE fear over rated

The crux of his argument is that the Federal Reserve takes cash out of circulation all the while it has been releasing liquidity to the market, so much of the total magnitude of what they’ve done is being counteracted.

Unfortunately, he attempts to downplay the amount of money that has been made by comparing the number of notes in circulation today to the number in circulation in 2009.

A better reflection would be to compare the number of notes in circulation before the crisis started to today, but then that would absolutely destroy his argument. Needless to say, the commodity markets haven’t been interested in hearing his remarks.

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Flash: Walgreens March Store Sales Up 3%

Walgreens reports March sales in comparable stores increased 3.0% () 40.83 : Co reports March sales of $6.28 bln, an increase of 7.6% from $5.83 bln for the same month in 2010. Duane Reade stores, acquired in April 2010, contributed 2.8% points to the total sales increase for the month. Calendar year-to-date sales were $17.98 bln, an increase of 9.1% from $16.48 bln in 2010.

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Upgrades, Downgrades, and On The Wires This Morning

In Play & on the wires

Upgrades

NFLX -Netflix tgt raised to $280 from $240 at Piper Jaffray

AMRS – Amyris upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Raymond James

HOG – Harley-Davidson: Effects of tsunami could lead to market share gains for H-D – Wedbush

TXN – Texas Instruments upgraded to Outperform at Pacific Crest

NSTC – Ness Tech: Takeout rumors resurface; stock up on speculation and improving fundamentals – BGB Securities

PNR – Pentair upgraded to Outperform at Wedbush; tgt raised to $47

CBST – Cubist Pharma upgraded to Outperform at Wedbush; tgt raised to $32

OLN – Olin also trading modestly higher with move attributed to tier 1 firm upgrade

MCP – Molycorp: A Small acquisition that should produce large returns – Dahlman Rose

CME – CME Group: March ADV trends continue y/y improvement; estimates raised – Stifel Nicolaus

CSTR – Coinstar upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Northland Securities; tgt $56 saying redbox 1Q performance is tracking ahead of numbers

ZION – Zions Bancorp upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Suntrust

FWRD – Forward Air upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Suntrust

COF – Capital One ests and target raised to $64 at Stifel Nicolaus

GEOY – GeoEye initiated with Outperform at Raymond James

JPM – JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo (WFC) initiated with Outperforms at Macquarie

BP – BP target ests and raised to $70 at The Benchmark Company

HCA – HCA initiated with a Buy at UBS; tgt $40

C – Citigroup upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Bernstein

CTRP – Ctrip.com upgraded to Positive from Neutral at Susquehanna

Downgrades

AXP – American Express: Less credit leverage with more interchange risk – Stifel

CREE – Hearing downgraded at tier 1 firm

MAR – Marriott downgraded to Hold at Argus

CLR, WLL, GEOI – Global Hunter downgrades all

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Gapping Up and Down This Morning

Moving Higher

QCOR +18%, SCHN +1.5%,NSM +71.8%, ISIL +7.3%, MRVL +3.7%, ONNN +3.4%, TSEM +2.8%, TSM +2.6%, STM +2.4%, BRCM +2.4%, MXIM +2.3, SMH +2.2%, UMC +2.2%, MU +1.9%, NVDA +1.8%, LLTC +1%, NVS +1.0%, GSK +0.9%, NAVR +20.9%, CBST +15.4%, PPHM +8.2%, JASO +2.3%, IVAN +6.5%, EXPE +1.6%, FOSL +0.7%, CTRP +2.2%, CSCO +1.4%, INTC +1.1%, JNPR +0.9%, COP +0.8%.

Gapping Down

LEDS -13.9%, IRE -12.7%, DGW -12%, AIB -9.7%, TISI -8.1%, PSEC -7%, KYN -5.5%, TGP -4.2%, CREE -3.0%, TXN -2.4%, TM -2.4%, AAPL -1.7%, IL -1.3%, PHYS -1.3%, CS -1%.

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