15:34 ET Cree (CREE) 34.03 +3.23 (+10.5%): -- Update -- After searching for an hour for reason behind CREE move, we come up with a rumor that company is being eyed by General Electric (GE) as a takeover candidate. That we were forced to beat the bushes for explanation gives some idea of how widely disseminated this rumor is in the market... Other sources calling the CREE move a technical breakout.
15:25 ET Active Power (ACPW) 29.78 +1.03 (+3.6%): -- Update -- Developer of flywheel energy storage systems attempting to stage a late-session breakout to a new 5-month high. Issue faces first test at $29.90, yesterday's high.
15:05 ET Momentum Watch : The following stocks, which historically have been favorites of momentum players, are demonstrating impressive relative strength today: Cree Inc (CREE)... NEON Communications (NOPT)... MRV Communications (MRVC)... Luminent (LMNE).
14:43 ET Gold Rally : In addition to factors mentioned in 13:04 comment, also hearing trading floor speculation that the Bank of England, which has been auctioning its gold reserves, might reduce or eliminate its sales. In today's Bond Brief, Briefing.com noted that the BOE had reduced the size of its gold auction to 20 tonnes this Tuesday from 25 tonnes at the prior 11 auctions; this reduction might have been the trigger for today's speculation.
14:36 ET IPO Calendar : Peabody Energy, the world's largest privately held coal company, is scheduled to make its public debut next week. Company is planning to price 15 mln shares between $22 and $24, in a deal led by Lehman Brothers. Stocks to watch ahead of the IPO include coal mining companies Arch Coal (ACI 36.55 +0.70) and CONSOL Energy (CNX 40.32 +0.36).
14:14 ET MBNA Corp (KRB) 36.52 -0.68 (-1.8%): Morgan Stanley mid-day call; firm recommending that investors swap out of American Express (AXP) into credit card issuer KRB; views KRB as a more defensive way to play credit deterioration.
14:07 ET Sun Microsystems (SUNW) 19.53 +0.71: -- Update -- The strength in Sun noted earlier is being attributed to a pre-open Bernstein note which says that its channel checks with Sun resellers show that availability of UltraSparc-3 servers has improved meaningfully and that this could trigger a major drawdown in the order backlog which could increase yr/yr revenue growth by up to 6 percentage points above Bernstein's current forecast of -20% for Q4. Bernstein has been negative on SUNW this year due in part to UltraSparc-3 delays.
13:47 ET Cablevision (CVC) 60.56 +2.63: Responding to a Wall St Journal article which speculates that AOL Time Warner (AOL) might be interested in acquiring CVC, ABN AMRO says it does not expect such a deal to take place in the near-term and would use today's strength to take profits; says CVC's premium valuation is a concern and that investors should focus on COX and CMCSK.
13:39 ET Market Movers : BCON +38% (fuel cell play-- flywheel energy storage )... SATC +29% (fuel cell play -- major shareholder in BCON)... ORCH +25% (Dow Jones reports buyout rumors)... ESLR +24% (alternative energy play -- solar power panels)... WEBX +22% (momentum favorite lifted by short-covering)... GNLB +20% (recent rally in genomics has ignited interest in small-cap biotechs). |
