“(Reuters) – Toys R Us Inc said it will hire 45,000 seasonal employees across the United States to cope with the upcoming holiday season.

Toys R Us, which hired about 40,000 seasonal workers last year, said it retained about 15 percent of the holiday workforce after the season ended.”

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Gapping up

LEN +5.7%, SCCO +5.1%, KTOS +3.1%, CTB +5.3%, RDWR +1.4%, RHT +2.3%,

TIVO +7.2%, HEB +6% , MET +2.4%,  SVNT +1.6%

Gapping down

QCOR -19.3%, ASMI -5.2%, FB -4.4%, AG -3.7%, GOLD -3.4%, RIO -2.7%,

X -2.2%, SLV -2.2%, MT -2.1%, ASML -1.9%, RIG -1.6%, SI -1.1%, BAX -1.4%,

MU -2.5%, RF -1.6%,  WLT -2.6% ,  AKS -4.8%,  FNSR -6.8%

Demand for new homes has $LEN shareholders happy this morning. Profits more than quadrupled.

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MCD, TXN, COV, LII, AGX, YUM, CAG

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Gapping up 

WMC +8.3%, IBN +6.2%, TTM +4.3%, KORS +3.4%, GRPN +2.5%, RIG +1.6%, SAP +1.5%, CTAS +1.2%,

PSO +2.1%, MO +1.3%, MA +1.3% , EMC +1% , EXPE +0.5%,

Gapping down 

ASTX -4.2%, AI -2.3%, TIBX -2.2%, GT -1.3% , WLT -1%,  RIMM -3.5%,  VVUS -13.6% ,

GFI -1.2%, RIO -1.0%, HMY -0.7%, KBH -2%,

“DETROIT (AP) — General Motors is recalling nearly 474,000 Chevrolet, Pontiac and Saturn cars to fix a transmission problem that can cause the cars to roll away unexpectedly.

The recall affects 2007-2010 Chevrolet Malibus, Pontiac G6s and Saturn Auras in the U.S., Canadaand Mexico as well as a small number of exports. All the cars have four-speed automatic transmissions.

GM says part of the transmission cables can break. When this happens, the shifter can show that the car is in park when it’s really in gear. GM says it knows of four crashes from the problem but no injuries.”

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“NEW YORK (AP) — Darden Restaurants Inc. said Friday that its fiscal first-quarter net income rose 4 percent even as it struggled to grow a key revenue figure at its flagship Olive Garden and Red Lobsterchains.

Its earnings beat Wall Street expectations, and its shares rose more than 4 percent in premarket trading.”

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“(Reuters) – MasterCard Inc said revenue growth in the second half of the year would be lower than its second-quarter levels, which had disappointed investors.

The credit and debit card network’s revenue grew 9 percent in the last quarter, but missed analysts’ estimates as worldwide purchase volume growth slowed to its lowest level in five quarters.

Analysts expect the company to report revenue of $1.94 billion in the third-quarter, up 7 percent from a year ago, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.”

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Gapping up

APOG +16.3%, SCS +6.8%, AIR +5.4%, PRAN +5.2%, QCOR +4.4%, CIM +3.7%, ACOM +2.9%

PNK +1.7%, AWK +0.9%,

Gapping down 

ASTI -7.6%, MLHR -7.3%, HZNP -7.2%, XPO -5.6%, NSC -5.1%, BBBY -5.1%, CQP -4.8%,

CSX -4.2%, KSU -3.5%, BBL -3.2%, TCRD -3%, BHP -2.7%, TOT -2.7%, RIO -2.6%,

UNP -2.4%, MT -1.8%, DB -1.5%, RDS.A -1.4%, JCP -1.2%,

“(Reuters) – Nike Inc is beefing up its capacity to use its cash to purchase its own shares, with the board of the world’s largest sportswear maker approving an $8 billion buyback program.

The new $8 billion four-year repurchase program for Nike’s class B stock will follow the company’s current $5 billion buyback plan once that program is completed during the second quarter of fiscal 2013, Nike said on Wednesday.

“Over the past 10 years, Nike has returned $10 billion to shareholders through the repurchase of more than 167 million shares,” Chief Executive Mark Parker said in a statement, adding that share buybacks are a prudent use of Nike’s cash.”

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“NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — ConAgra Foods Inc. CAG +0.04% said Thursday its first-quarter profit nearly tripled to $250.1 million, or 61 cents a share, from $93.8 million, or 23 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted profit rose to 44 cents a share from 31 cents a share. Sales increased by 6.7% to $3.31 billion. Wall Street analysts expected the food producer to earn 35 cents a share on sales of $3.24 billion, according to a survey by FactSet. ConAgra raised its adjusted fiscal 2013 profit outlook to $2.03 to $2.06 a share, ahead of the analyst forecast of $1.98 a share. ConAgra hiked its quarterly dividend by a penny a share to 25 cents a share.”

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The company says their low end targets will be hard to achieve as the global landscape has changed for the worse…

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“(MoneyWatch) Today’s the day: Apple’s (AAPL) latest mobile operating system, iOS 6, is available for your existing iPhones and iPads. (If you want iOS 6 wrapped in a shiny new iPhone 5, you’ll still have to wait until September 21.)

But what exactly is under the hood? Is iOS 6 worth the time and trouble (no cost; it’s free) to install if you don’t have a faster processor and larger screen to take advantage of the flashier features? Here’s a roundup of all the most interesting stuff Apple packed into the new iPhone operating system — read it and then decide for yourself:

New maps. Perhaps the biggest news is that Apple has implemented its own mapping software and given Google Maps the boot. Industry competition aside, this is a pretty nice deal for iPhone users, since Apple’s map app includes free turn-by-turn driving directions — a first for the iPhone. That said, Apple’s maps aren’t as polished as Google’s (GOOG) offerings, with the search giant having about a decade head start in this arena.  ”

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“NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Yahoo says it will return $3 billion to shareholders after selling back about half of its 40% stake in Chinese company Alibaba for $7.1 billion, according to documents filed with the SEC.

Alibaba Group Holding, an online marketplace based in China, repurchased its 523 million shares from Yahoo for $7.1 billion.”

Full article

“Salesforce.com is setting up the next big battle in the market with a new service they are calling Facebook style identity for the enterprise.

The new service, which Marc Benioff first discussed on stage at Disrupt San Francisco 2012, is being called a single, social, trusted identity in the cloud across all enterprise apps.”

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Gapping up

APPY +7.1%, CTRP +3%, GLW +2.1%, NYMT +1.9%, RIG +1.4%, ASNA +1.1%,

MON +1.2%,  VRA +2.2%,  FIO +1.9%,  GLW +2.4%, DCTH +19.9%, ACHN +11.1%,

NPSP +5%, CLSN +3.6% , AGN +1.5%,  GG +0.6%, PSTI +2.5%, GIS +1.5%, D +0.2%

Gapping down 

AGNC -4.6%, HOV -2.9%, ASML -2.8%, IDIX -2.7%, THR -2.2%, AREX -1.2%, LRCX -1.2%,

MT -1.4%,  CSX -1.1%, UNP -0.9% , BRCM -1.5%,  IDIX -2.7%, BONT -2.8% ,  ASNA -5.9%, AZO -3.6%,

“General Mills Inc. (GIS), the maker of Cheerios cereal, reported first-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates as sales gained in Europe and Canada.

Net income rose 35 percent to $548.9 million, or 82 cents a share, from $405.6 million, or 61 cents, a year earlier, the Minneapolis-based company said today in a statement. Excluding some items, profit totaled 66 cents a share. Analysts projected 62 cents, the average of 17estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

International sales increased 27 percent to $1.09 billion. On a constant-currency basis, sales gained 51 percent in Europe and 28 percent in Canada. Results were helped by its Yoplait International acquisition, General Mills said. Total sales rose 5.3 percent to $4.05 billion.”

Full report

“Intel’s mobile chipsets have popped up in a handfulof devices over the past few months, but Motorola — arguably the biggest of Intel’s smartphone partners — has been content to keep quiet about the fruits of its efforts longer than others.

Well, that wait is finally over. Motorola officially revealed the Intel-powered RAZR i at a (relatively brief) press event in London today, and as early rumors foretold it looks nearly identical to the recently-released RAZR M.

Seriously, not even Motorola could tell them apart — the two phones look so similar that Motorola Europe erroneously used an image of the Verizon phone in its announcement photo on Facebook. Way to go, guys.”

Full article 

Gapping up

OXGN +40.3%, DOLE +9.5%, NBS +3.6%, DEO +1.6%,  BRCM +0.3% ,

VOD +1.4%, TYC +1.1%,  OCZ +2.0%,  LNG +7.2%,  AZN +0.6%, SNY +0.4%,

SHF +3.8%,

Gapping down

OCZ -8.7%, AMD -6.5%, CLWR -5.2%, BCS -3.8%, DB -3.2%, CLF -2.9%,

FTE -2.8%, CNDO -0.8%, LL -1.3% ,  BBBY -0.8%, HNT -1.8%, MOH -2.8%,

WMS -3.1%,

Apple is trading above $700 per share in pre-market trade on news thay sold a record amount of iPhone 5s since their release.

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