U.S. Equity Preview: ZUMZ, RT, PSMT, PLCM, P , GALE, BBBY, ANGO, SPPI, & ALTH

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Allos Therapeutics Inc. (ALTH) surged 27 percent to $1.82. The biopharmaceutical company agreed to be bought by Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc. (SPPI) for $1.82 a share, plus rights worth 11 cents a share tied to European regulatory approval and sales of its Folotyn cancer drug. Spectrum declined 14 percent to $10.40.

AngioDynamics Inc. (ANGO) : The maker of devices to treat cancer and heart disease forecast fourth-quarter earnings may be as low as 9 cents a share, compared with the average analyst estimate of 11 cents.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (BBBY) rose 4.6 percent to $69.28. The retail-chain operator posted a fourth-quarter profit of $1.48 a share, beating the average analyst estimate of $1.32.

Galena Biopharma Inc. (GALE) slid 16 percent to $1.57. The developer of late-stage oncology drugs said it plans to sell stock to raise working capital and fund clinical trials.

Pandora Media Inc. (P) : The Internet radio pioneer is in a pact with Nissan Motor Co. (7201)(7201 JP) to allow for in-car streaming in the auto company’s 2013 Altima. Suzuki Motor Corp. (7269) (7269 JP) will also integrate Pandora into its vehicles.

Polycom Inc. (PLCM) dropped 16 percent to $10.47. The maker of videoconference systems forecast first-quarter earnings of 23 cents a share at most, missing the average analyst estimate of 30 cents a share.

PriceSmart Inc. (PSMT) : The owner of warehouse-shopping clubs reported second-quarter earnings were 67 cents a share, trailing analysts’ average estimate by 1 cent.

Ruby Tuesday Inc. (RT) slid 12 percent to $7.85. The casual-dining chain forecast same store sales may fall 4.5 percent in 2012.

Zumiez Inc. (ZUMZ) : The sports-apparel retailer said comparable store sales increased 14 percent in March, exceeding the average analyst estimate of 10 percent.

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On the Wires 

Continuing claims 3.35mil

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“NEW YORK (AP) — Retailers are reporting warm weather and demand for new spring fashions helped push March sales up.

Target Corp, Macy’s, Limited Brands Inc., which owns Victoria’s Secret and Bath and Body Works, and outdoor sports retailer Zumiez reported better-than-expected sales for March.

Still, there were some patches of weakness as worry over high gas prices and unemployment kept some spending muted.

Teen retailers The Buckle and Wet Seal missed expectations. Costco Wholesale Corp.’s results also came in just shy of expectations as currency fluctuations hurt sales.

The figures are based on revenue at stores opened at least a year and are considered a key indicator of a retailer’s health. Economists closely watch consumer spending since it accounts for more than 70 percent of all economic activity.”

“Employers in the U.S. announced fewer job cuts in March than a year earlier, another sign of healing in the labor market.

Planned firings fell by 8.8 percent from March 2011 to a 10-month low of 37,880, according to figures released today by Chicago-based job placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. Job cuts at government and nonprofit agencies were down 86 percent last quarter compared with the same period in 2011, the report showed.

Dismissals are waning as employers become more optimistic about the economic outlook. At the same time, rising gasoline prices pose a risk to consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the world’s largest economy.

“Both consumer products and transportation saw fewer job cuts in March after experiencing heavy cuts in February,” John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in a statement. “These are key indicators of the economy’s health.”

Compared with February, announcements fell 27 percent. Because the figures aren’t adjusted for seasonal effects, economists prefer to focus on year-over-year changes rather than monthly numbers.

Telecommunications firms led all industries with 4,089 announced job cuts in March, with almost half coming from T- Mobile USA Inc., followed by 3,733 dismissals in education….”

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“Gold traders are bearish for the first time this year after the Federal Reserve signaled it may refrain from more monetary stimulus and jewelers in India, the world’s biggest bullion market, shut to protest a new tax.

Fifteen of 29 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expect prices to decline next week and five were neutral, the highest proportion since Dec. 30. Imports by India may have plunged as much as 81 percent in March and could drop 40 percent in the second quarter, the Bombay Bullion Association said April 2. Indian jewelers, who sell more gold than Australian and U.S. mines produce in a year, were closed today for a 20th day….”

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“Bank of England Governor Mervyn King and his committee voted today to complete their current round of stimulus as they get ready to debate next month whether to bring the program to a halt.

With some on the nine-member Monetary Policy Committee toughening their stance about the threat of inflation and King insisting the U.K.’s predicament still feels “like a crisis,” the panel backed finishing their 325 billion pounds ($516 billion) of quantitative easing. That sets the stage for a showdown in May, when officials will have new forecasts and data on first-quarter gross domestic product…”

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“China’s (IFB1) stocks rose, driving the benchmark index to the biggest advance in almost two months, after the government said it will more than double the amount foreigners can invest in equities, bonds and bank deposits.

Citic Securities Co. jumped more than 5 percent, leading a rally for brokerages, after the China Securities Regulatory Commission increased quotas for qualified foreign institutional investors to $80 billion from $30 billion. Suning Appliance Co. and Kweichow Moutai Co. paced gains for consumer companies after Credit Agricole CIB said borrowing costs will be cut this month. Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. added 3.7 percent after the 21st Century Business Herald said the parent company plans to boost investment in rare earth production in Guangxi province….”

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Sounds like some stockpiling will be going on….

“European stocks fell for a third day, the euro weakened and Spanish bonds declined on concern that slowing growth will exacerbate the region’s debt crisis. The Swiss franc breached the central bank’s exchange-rate limit.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index (SXXP) slid 0.5 percent at 7:10 a.m. in New York, having earlier risen as much as 0.5 percent. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures dropped 0.4 percent. Spanish bond yields rose 11 basis points to 5.80 percent, German note yields fell to a record, and the euro weakened 0.5 percent to $1.3071. The franc touched 1.19995 per euro, prompting the central bank to say it will defend its currency cap….”

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The Euro is down 0.0069 @ 1.3071

“U.K. (UKX) stocks fell, with the FTSE 100 Index heading for its lowest close since January, as the country’s manufacturing output unexpectedly contracted and concern about the euro-area debt crisis resurfaced.

Halfords Group Plc (HFD) sank 3.2 percent after saying that its underlying costs will rise.Barclays Plc (BARC) and Lloyds Banking Group Plc (LLOY) led declines among lenders.

The FTSE 100 slid 17.75 points, or 0.3 percent, to 5,686.02 at 12:59 p.m. in London. The benchmark measure fell 2.3 percent yesterday after the Federal Reserve damped expectations of more monetary stimulus and demand declined at an auction of Spanish debt. The FTSE All-Share Index lost 0.3 percent today, while Ireland’s ISEQ slipped 0.2 percent.

“The euro crisis is still the greatest concern,” said Thomas Tilse, head of global portfolio strategy at Allianz Global Investors in Frankfurt. “The question, and what will be the answer to all this, is: will we be able to buy enough time to consolidate the budgets across Europe? Everything we have seen is all about buying time.” He spoke in a Bloomberg Television interview with Owen Thomas.

U.K. factory output fell 1 percent in February from January, the Office for National Statistics said today in London. The median forecast of 24 economists in a Bloomberg News survey had called for an increase of 0.1 percent.”

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LIBOR, EURIBOR, 10 year yields for Italy, Spain, France, and Germany

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgrjbFofM-s&feature=player_embedded

By Eric Pfeiffer

A new study from researchers at Jay W. Forrester’s institute at MIT says that the world could suffer from “global economic collapse” and “precipitous population decline” if people continue to consume the world’s resources at the current pace.

Smithsonian Magazine writes that Australian physicist Graham Turner says “the world is on track for disaster” and that current evidence coincides with a famous, and in some quarters, infamous, academic report from 1972 entitled, “The Limits to Growth.“

Produced for a group called The Club of Rome, the study’s researchers created a computing model to forecast different scenarios based on the current models of population growth and global resource consumption. The study also took into account different levels of agricultural productivity, birth control and environmental protection efforts. Twelve million copies of the report were produced and distributed in 37 different languages.

Most of the computer scenarios found population and economic growth continuing at a steady rate until about 2030. But without “drastic measures for environmental protection,” the scenarios predict the likelihood of a population and economic crash.

However, the study said “unlimited economic growth” is still possible if world governments enact policies and invest in green technologies that help limit the expansion of our ecological footprint.

The Smithsonian notes that several experts strongly objected to “The Limit of Growth’s” findings, including the late Yale economist Henry Wallich, who for 12 years served as a governor of the Federal Research Board and was its chief international economics expert. At the time, Wallich said attempting to regulate economic growth would be equal to “consigning billions to permanent poverty.”

Turner says that perhaps the most startling find from the study is that the results of the computer scenarios were nearly identical to those predicted in similar computer scenarios used as the basis for “The Limits to Growth.”

“There is a very clear warning bell being rung here,” Turner said. “We are not on a sustainable trajectory.”

Read the rest here.

By Susan Antilla

Mark L. Morze knows a good investment opportunity when he sees one, but he hasn’t pursued his fortunes quite the way the rest of us have. Morze, 61, hung his hat for 4 1/2 years at federal prisons in Lompoc and Boron, California, after pleading guilty to two counts of fraud for cooking the books at the infamous carpet-cleaning company ZZZZ Best (ZBSTQ) in the 1980s.

He says he’s baffled that President Barack Obama plans to sign a law tomorrow that amounts to an open invitation for fraud. “I wish legislators would consult with people like me before they write something like this,” he says, sounding dead serious about the offer. “I could tell them, ‘I know what your intent was with this wording, but we can get around it so easily, it cracks me up.”’

I’m sure the last thing U.S. lawmakers were looking for in their zealous bipartisan push for the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act was the inconvenient feedback of a seasoned investment fraudster — albeit one who says he’s rehabilitated and now lectures on the techniques scammers use. Though the JOBS Act was packaged as a plan to streamline rules to help small companies crank out jobs, even its cheerleaders have come up with scant evidence the law will boost employment much, if at all. In an election year when pragmatic politicians are laboring to come off as allies of deep-pocketed business donors, the JOBS Act is a slapdash attempt at securities-law deregulation, plain and simple.

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The evidence suggests that corporations might encourage people to think and act more anti-socially. What does owning stock do to our brains?

For decades in art circles it was either a rumour or a joke, but now it is confirmed as a fact. The Central Intelligence Agency used American modern art – including the works of such artists as Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko – as a weapon in the Cold War. In the manner of a Renaissance prince – except that it acted secretly – the CIA fostered and promoted American Abstract Expressionist painting around the world for more than 20 years.

The connection is improbable. This was a period, in the 1950s and 1960s, when the great majority of Americans disliked or even despised modern art – President Truman summed up the popular view when he said: “If that’s art, then I’m a Hottentot.” As for the artists themselves, many were ex- com- munists barely acceptable in the America of the McCarthyite era, and certainly not the sort of people normally likely to receive US government backing.

Why did the CIA support them? Because in the propaganda war with the Soviet Union, this new artistic movement could be held up as proof of the creativity, the intellectual freedom, and the cultural power of the US. Russian art, strapped into the communist ideological straitjacket, could not compete.

Read the rest here.