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Monthly Archives: July 2011

Americans Are Borrowing From Their Retirement

It is bad enough that many are surviving on credit cards, forgoing medical insurance, in addition to balance sheet repair, but it seems America is not saving for retirement and in some case raiding their 301ks…..

Full article

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Man’s Worst Enemy

That would be his greedy side. Design flaws of this importance should not be ignored for any reason….especially money.

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Upgrades and Downgrades This Morning

Upgrades

SCCO – Southern Copper resumed with Neutral at Goldman

VRTS – Virtus Investment Partners upgraded to Outperform at Keefe Bruyette

PPO- Polypore Intl initiated with a Buy at Capstone

WBK – Westpac Banking Corp. upgraded to Buy at UBS

FL – Foot Locker initiated with an Outperform at BMO Capital

MUR – Murphy Oil upgraded to Neutral at JPMorgan

ARTC – AtriCure tgt raised to $17 at Barrington

APOL – Apollo Group target raised to $47 at FBR Capital

NTAP – NetApp upgraded to Outperform at Atlantic Equities

Downgrades

RVBD – Riverbed Technology downgraded to Neutral from Buy at SunTrust

TQNT – TriQuint Semi initiated with Neutral at UBS

CGV – CGGVeritas downgraded to Neutral at Goldman

SONS – Sonus Networks initiated with a Hold at Capstone

ABCO – Advisory Board downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank

GIS – General Mills downgraded to Hold at Argus

SREV – ServiceSource Intl downgraded to Sell from Hold at Capston

DAR – Darling Intl downgraded to Equal Weight at boutique firm

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Gapping Up and Down This Morning

Gapping Up

BBBB +12.8%, NBG +3.5%, SWHC +3.3%, FRO +2.3%,OSK +8.2%,  KBH +2.2%, MBI +3.7%, RBS +2%, LYG +2.6%, CTIC +6.4%, HBC +1.6%,  OSK +8.2%, APOL +3.1%, CS +1%.3, DNDN +6%, AREX +3.7%,

Gapping Down

DAR -2.8%, EK -14.8%,DRI -1.6%, PHG -1.4%, SI -1.2%, IRET -4.7%, MEA -1.7%, APOL -1.6%,  CETV -2.2%, XRTX -5.4%, CLSN -6.5%, RVBD -1.5%, 

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Minnesota government shuts down

MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) – Minnesota’s state government began a broad shut down on Friday going into the July 4 holiday after Democratic Governor Mark Dayton and Republican legislative leaders failed to reach a budget deal.

Parts of the government had already begun to shut down on Thursday ahead of the midnight budget deadline, including some websites and dozens of highway rest stops on one of the biggest travel days of the year.

The budget impasse means that some 23,000 of the roughly 36,000 Minnesota state employees will be furloughed and state parks and campgrounds closed ahead of what is usually their busiest stretch of the year for the July 4 holiday.

Dayton and Democratic legislative leaders Senator Tom Bakk and Representative Paul Thissen met for more than a week with Republican leaders including House Speaker Kurt Zellers and Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch. The leaders met several times on Thursday in the governor’s office.

Neither Dayton nor the Republican leaders gave any indication when they would meet next to discuss the budget.

“I deeply regret that the last week of intense negotiations between the Republican legislative leaders and Senator Bakk, Representative Thissen and myself have failed to bridge the divide between us,” Dayton said in a speech.

He said his last proposed two-year general fund budget was $35.7 billion, but the differences between his approach and the Republican leaders had not changed since January. The gap between the two sides stood at $1.4 billion, he said.

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Missouri American Water files for rate increase, consolidation

This has a lot to do with fuel prices; water doesn’t flow freely.

The company is asking to hike rates $19 per quarter, or $6.33 per month, for an average residential customer using 22,500 gallons of water per quarter in St. Louis County, and about $8.20 per month for an average residential customer using 7,000 gallons of water monthly in St. Charles County.

The Missouri PSC approved a $28 million rate increase for Missouri American Water last June.

The company said its rate filing Thursday also included a request for a consolidated rate structure, under which all customers in the same rate class pay the same rate for the same service.

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