“Intel Corp. (INTC), the world’s largest semiconductor maker, reduced its third-quarter revenue forecast and withdrew previous full-year projections, citing weaker demand in a challenging macroeconomic environment.

Third-quarter sales will be $13.2 billion, plus or minus $300 million, compared to a prior projection of $13.8 billion to $14.8 billion, the Santa Clara, California-based company said in a statement today. Analysts on average had estimated sales of $14.2 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.”

Full report

“LinkedIn plans to roll out a redesigned version of its company pages today, part of a broader attempt to redesign and simplify everything, including its homepage.

I went down to the LinkedIn office yesterday to get a preview of the new design. As Senior Product manager Mike Grishaver jumped back-and-forth between the old company page and the new one, there were some clear differences. The old company page consisted almost entirely of text, and it was packed with different widgets. The new page (pictured above), on the other hand, is dominated by a single image chosen by the business, there’s now a big “follow” button visible at the top right, and a lot of the clutter has been removed.”

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Gapping up 

PSTI +14.6%, GWRE +13.1%, DG +7%, PBY +4.6%, FB +2.7%, SRPT +2.5%,

RYAAY +2%, HIG +0.8%, NVS +0.8%, GPOR +0.7%, GDOT +10.6%, UBS +1.5%,

ARO +1.4%, LLY +0.6% ,

Gapping down

URRE -7%, FRAN -4.9%, BLMN -4.8%, TGP -3.9%, BP -3.9%, NS -3.7%, RPRX -3%,

FDX -2.9%, MT -2.8%, BHP -2.7%, DCT -2.6%, NOK -2.5%, UPS -2.3%, CLF -2%,

COF -1.8%, TOT -1.7%, FNSR -1.6%, FTE -1.3%, LYB -0.4%, STM -4.3% ,  CAH -1%,

PT -2.8%

“BEIJING—The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged China Sky One Medical Inc. with falsely inflating its earnings, a rare action by the regulator almost two years after doubts about the accuracy of disclosures by small Chinese firms sent U.S. investors fleeing their stocks.

In a statement published on its website Tuesday, the SEC said that Sky One Medical, which makes Chinese medicine and was once listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market, created about $19.8 million worth of phony export sales over the course of 2007 and 2008.”

Full article

“FedEx Corp. FDX -0.10% on Tuesday said a sharp decline in manufacturing activity would harm its profits, a sign of how declining Chinese output is ricocheting across economies around the world.

The world’s largest air-cargo shipper by revenue said earnings in the August-ended quarter came in below its already reduced expectations. FedEx shares fell 3.1% to $84.85 in after-hours trading, with rival United Parcel Service Inc. UPS -0.15% down 1.9% at $72.31.

“It looks bad,” said David Vernon, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. He said the global economy has decelerated faster than even FedEx anticipated.”

Full article

“(Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department is ramping up its rhetoric against BP PLC for the massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, describing in new court papers examples of what it calls “gross negligence and willful misconduct.”

The court filing is the sharpest position yet taken by the U.S. government as it seeks to hold the British oil giant largely responsible for the largest oil spill in U.S. history.”

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$FB is up this am upon last nights announcement of a $2 billion share buy back program.

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“ING Groep NV (INGA) will sell a stake of more than 9 percent in Capital One Financial Corp. that the biggest Dutch financial-services firm acquired in the sale of its U.S. online bank this year.

Bank of America Corp. (BAC), Morgan Stanley (MS) and Citigroup Inc. (C) will jointly manage the public offering of about 54 million shares, McLean, Virginia-based Capital One said in a statement yesterday. Pricing is expected before regular trading opens today in New York, with settlement on Sept. 10, ING said in a separate statement.”

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Expectations were for a 6% increase…..

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“It is David Ebersman’s fault. There is just no way around it. Mr. Ebersman is Facebook’s well-liked, boyish-looking 41-year-old chief financial officer. He’s not as well known as Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder and chief executive, or Sheryl Sandberg, its chief operating officer and recently appointed director.

But when it came to Facebook’s [FB  18.058       ]catastrophe of an initial public offering — the stock reached a new low on Friday, closing at $18.06 — it was Mr. Ebersman, not Mr. Zuckerberg or Ms. Sandberg, who was ultimately the one pulling the strings.

Now, three months after the offering, the company has lost more than $50 billion in market value. Let me say that again for emphasis: Facebook’s market value has dropped more than $50 billion in 90 days.”

Full article

“Which matters more, next week’s rumored iPhone 5 launch or the European Central Bank rescue plan expected this Thursday? Speculation about an iPad Mini or the worsening economic slowdown in China?

Only a wild-eyed camper queuing all night outside an Apple [AAPL  665.24        ] store could argue the tech company’s plans mattered more to the economy. But in purely financial terms, the market value of Apple makes the question less silly.

Apple became the world’s most valuable-ever company two weeks ago. It is worth $624 billion, more than all the listed companies in Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain together. The employer of 63,300 people – each valued at $10 million – is more valuable than all the shares available to investors in the MSCI China index [MCHI  39.75  —  UNCH    ], the international benchmark.”

Full article

Gapping up

NLP +60.6%, STEM +15.2%, VRX +9.2%, TEF +3.5%, BUD +3%, DEO +2%,

UN +1.2%, KO +1.1%,  TIVO +6.7%, GME +3% , MS +2.1%,  MT +1.4% ,

MRVL +1.4%, IBM +0.6% ,  QCOR +10.5%,  CPB +9.2%, MRX +37.5%, VRX +9.7%

Gapping down 

ARMH -3.8%, SFD -2.7%, ANR -2.4%, GOLD -1.5%, GSK -1.3%, BBL -1.1%, NVS -0.7%,

SWKS -1.5%, VOD -1.4%,  GIS -0.8%, NVDA -0.6% , ALJ -2.6%,  DDMG -17.9%,

MNKD -12.2%, ACI -2.6%, WLT -1.9%, BTU -1.8%, ANR -0.7%, GOLD -1.5%,  BBL -1.1%,

GFI -1.0%, BHP -0.7%,

Gapping up 

SPLK +13.1%, SAI +13%, OVTI +8.1%, DB +3.8%, ING +3.5%, MT +3.5%,

SAP +2.9%, RIO +2%, GOLD +2%, MRK +1.6%, UBS +1.6%, TOT +1.5%,

FSLR +1.4%, RCL +1.3%,  TSYS +4.9%,  GLW +3.3% ,  TKC +3.3% , FFN +11.9%

Gapping down

ZUMZ -10.6%, GMAN -6.1%, GFI -3.4%, HMY -2%,  LAYN -0.5%, ESL -0.1%.

“Those 401(k) programs that became 201(k) plans during the financial meltdown in 2008 are back in vogue, with employer participation returning to pre-crisis levels.

Some 73 percent of companies are offering matching contributions into the popular retirement programs, which saw savings rates and employer participation wane along with the plans’ value during the financial crisis.

Gallows humor at the time featured jokes that the 401(k) nest eggs had shrunk so much that they should be called 201(k) plans.”

Full article

“Spain is considering pumping its own money into Bankia group to re-capitalize the country’s biggest nationalized lender rather than use the emergency portion of a 100 billion-euro ($125 billion) bailout from the European Union, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

This would allow Spain to put off forcing Bankia group’s junior debt holders to bear part of the rescue cost, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are private. European officials backed burden sharing in the talks because it would limit the need for public money, the people said.

“The EU is telling the Spanish government that if they don’t produce this haircut, the money will have to put up by” Spain, said Alejandro Ruyra, an analyst at Kepler Capital Markets inMadrid, speaking on Bloomberg TV’s The Pulse. “The question is, does the Spanish government have that much money?”

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Obey and Spend…

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” (AP) SAN FRANCISCO – Yelp’s (YELP) early backers apparently still have a high opinion of the online business review service, much to Wall Street’s relief, after insiders at several other Internet companies dumped some of their shares at the first opportunity.

A Wednesday increase of more than 22 percent n Yelp’s stock price signaled the company’s major shareholders are holding on to their stakes instead of seizing on a chance to reap the gains that have accumulated from investments made before the 8-year-old service went public in early March.”

Full article

Gapping up

P +13.1%, FLOW +6.1%, TIVO +5.8%, CBK +5.1%, LYB +4.7%, EXEL +4.1%,

ING +3.1%, CHUY +2.3%, PPO +1.7%, WFD +1.1%, GERN +3.7% , VC +1.5% ,

BCOV +1.2%, LXK +0.6%, PSTI +1.5%,  G +2%, SRPT +11.1%, EXEL +4.1%,

Gapping down

VRA -11.1%, SHLD -3.9%, BNS -2.7%, BHP -2.3%, RIO -2%,  KLAC -2.8% ,

ERIC -2.1%,  LPX -0.2% , TEVA -1%,  AMPL -31.9% ,  GENE -5.9% ,

ALU -1.8%, FNSR -1.4%, JDSU -1.5%, JNPR -1.5%,

In business as usual on Wall St. Citigroup settled a lawsuit for $490 million. $C was accused of not writing down losses in a timely fashion and hiding risks from shareholders.

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