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To: Return to Sender who wrote (43595)	3/2/2009 8:33:36 PM
From: Return to Sender	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95580

From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : Stocks fell for the fourth straight session as a sweeping selling effort took the S&P 500 down to levels not seen since October 1996. The downward move slowed late in the session as the S&P 500 approached the 700 level. Though unable to forcefully break below that key level, the stock market still finished just above 700, which will likely represent a closely watched level again tomorrow. AIG (AIG 0.42, +0.00) fed fears about the health of the financial system by posting a fourth quarter loss exceeding $60 billion, which is being reported as the largest quarterly loss in U.S. corporate history. To help prop up AIG, the government will give the insurance giant an additional $30 billion. European financial giant HSBC (HBC 28.25, -6.55) will issue a discounted rights offering to existing shareholders, pare its U.S. consumer operation, cut jobs, and reduce its dividend. HSBC also reported lower lower profits. The announcements came after Citigroup (C 1.20, -0.30) announced late last week that it has reached a deal in which the government will end up with a 36% stake in the company. Financial stocks finished the session with a 6.8% loss, which was in-line with declines seen in the materials (-6.9%), industrials (-6.7%), and energy (-6.4%) sectors. With 98% of the companies in the S&P 500 posting a loss, investors pursued the relative safety of Treasuries. The benchmark 10-year Note climbed roughly 38 ticks this session. That lowered its yield to roughly 2.89%. Though also considered a safe-haven, gold prices fell 0.3% from the prior session's closing price, finishing at $940.00 per ounce. In other commodities trading, crude oil contracts closed pit trading at $40.15 per barrel, down 11.6% from Friday's close. Economic data continues to do little to lift investor sentiment, though January personal income and spending were better than expected. Personal income for January was up 0.4% after declining 0.2% the prior month. Economists were calling for a 0.2% decline in January. Core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) for January increased 0.1% month-over-month, in-line with expectations. The prior reading was flat. The February ISM Manufacturing Index inched up to 35.8 from 35.6 in January. Economists expected a reading of 33.8 for February. Since the reading remains below 50, the slight month-to-month improvement merely indicates the rate of contraction has slowed. The reports were also largely relegated as famed value investor Warren Buffett stated he believes the economy is in shambles, and that it will likely remain that way beyond 2009. January pending home sales are due tomorrow morning (10:00 AM ET). Meanwhile, Fed Chairman Bernanke testifies on the U.S. economy and budget before the Senate Budget Committee tomorrow (10:00 AM ET). Treasury Secretary Geithner will testify to the House Ways and Means Committee on the federal budget later in the day (12:30 PM ET).DJ30 -299.64 NASDAQ -54.99 SP500 -34.27 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 2435/304/2.15 bln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 2934/185/1.98 bln 4:17PM Altera sees Q1 revs of $251.6-267 mln vs $253.84 mln First Call consensus (ALTR) 14.56 -0.77 : The co announces its mid-quarter update for the first quarter of 2009. First quarter sales are now expected to be down 15-20% compared with the fourth quarter of 2008. Prior guidance for first quarter sales was for sequential sales to decline in the range of 15 to 25%. The improved outlook is largely attributable to better than expected demand from OEMs providing equipment for Chinese 3G wireless networks. Overall, the first quarter sales outlook remains muted as a result of slowing global business conditions. Altera remains on track to sell more than $1 million of 40-nm FPGAs in the first quarter including sales of the Stratix IV GX and the just introduced Stratix IV GT families. 4:15PM First Solar agrees to acquire multi gigawatt utility scale photovoltaic pipeline (FSLR) 103.97 -1.77 : Co announces it has entered into an agreement to significantly expand its penetration within the U.S. utility solar power market with the acquisition of OptiSolar's solar project pipeline. First Solar will acquire all of OptiSolar's project development business in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $400 mln. The transaction is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2009. The acquisition includes a 550 megawatt AC solar development project under a power purchase agreement with PG&E, a project pipeline of additional 1,300MW AC which are in negotiation with Western region utilities for solar development projects , strategic land rights of approximately 136,000 acres with the potential to deploy up to 19 gigawatts AC of utility-scale solar power projects. First Solar expects to construct solar power plants developed under the acquired solar power project pipeline over the next several years and sell them to a combination of regulated utilities, diversified energy companies and other independent power producers. time. Project development is planned to begin as early as 2010. 9:02AM Corning says first two weeks of February appear positive; co reiterates that its 2009 revenue expectation of $5 bln requires an increase in overall LCD panel sales in 2H09 (GLW) 10.55 : Co announces that its COO Volanakis will share updates on key topics relevant to the company's Display Technologies segment and other businesses today. "The data points we are seeing for both LCD television retail sales and panel makers are encouraging and continue to give us confidence that the supply chain is on the right track... Retail sales of LCD TVs have continued to be strong, panel inventories on average remain healthy, and panel prices are stabilizing. The current trends look positive." The first two weeks of February appear positive as well with U.S. sales up 40% year over year. As a reminder, the company is forecasting worldwide LCD TV unit sales to increase by 9% for the full year. "We continue to be encouraged by news coming out of the panel makers. In fact, for 19-inch and 32-inch TVs -- the most popular sizes -- we have seen panel price increases this month." The company is also seeing an increase in Taiwanese and Korean panel maker utilization rates from January to February. "In this type of environment, where panel makers are generating cash, there could be less pricing pressure on component suppliers... This is why we continue to have confidence that the display supply chain will stop contracting at the end of the first quarter." Additionally, he will reiterate that Corning's 2009 revenue expectation of $5 billion requires an increase in overall LCD panel sales in the second half of this year. No new information will be presented on the company's environmental business, which continues to be impacted by the recession. In the telecommunications segment, "we remain cautious" as the business has yet to feel material impact from the economy. 7:37AM SIA says January chip sales declined year on year, month on month : Worldwide sales of semiconductors were $15.3 billion in January, a decline of 28.6% compared to January 2008 sales of $21.5 billion, the Semiconductor Industry Association reported. Sales declined by 11.9% from December 2008 when sales were $17.4 billion. "Worldwide semiconductor sales in January, historically a relatively weak month for the industry, reflected a continuing erosion of consumer confidence and the effects of the global economic recession," said SIA President George Scalise. "Sales declined across the entire range of semiconductor products, as sales of important demand drivers such as personal computers, cell phones, automobiles and consumer items remained under pressure. "Inventory levels are very low and there are some signs that forward visibility is improving," Scalise concluded.

To: Return to Sender who wrote (43595)	3/3/2009 11:34:24 AM
From: Donald Wennerstrom	3 Recommendations Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 95580

I was reminded today, as I am watching the S&P 500 drop thru the 600 mark, of the Elliott Wave theory discussed by Amateur Investors Weekend on 2/14. Message 25414155 <<Finally for those that follow Elliott Wave Theory it appears the S&P 500 may be starting its final 5th Wave down especially if it drops below the 804 level. By definition the length of Wave 5 can range from 38% to 62% of the distance from the initial starting point to the bottom of Wave 3. The S&P 500 peaked at 1576 in October of 2007 while the bottom of Wave 3 was 741 (11/21) which is 835 points. So if you take 38% of 835 that yields 319 points while 62% of 835 yields 516 points. Next if you subtract those numbers from the peak of Wave 4 (944) that would yield a potential target price from 625 to 428 before the final 5th Wave down would complete. At this point I believe the 428 level is a bit extreme however a drop into the 600’s is certainly plausible.>> The "plausible" has happened.