Filed under: Government

As if the Bernie Madoff scandal was not enough…  The Securities and Exchange Commission has just announced this Tuesday that it has new fraud charges as well as an emergency asset freeze against a Denver-based company.  The SEC charges include Bridge Premium Finance LLC, as well as two individuals (Michael J. Turnock of Denver and William P. Sullivan II of Highlands Ranch).

The SEC allegations noted that they sold promissory notes to investors through Bridge Premium Finance LLC,...

Ponzi Scheme Taken Down in Denver originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-08-15T13:31:00Z.

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Filed under: Telecom

While the Samsung Electronics (OTC: SSNLF) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) continue to fight in court over mobile technology, both companies are preparing to release new products. We've already noted the coming release of Apple's iPhone 5, but Samsung is stealing a little of the Cupertino company's thunder today with its Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet.

How the new device measures up against the iPad is the subject of a long review in today's New York Times. Here's the basic conclusion:

But over all, the...

Samsung Galaxy Note Tablet for Sale Tomorrow (SSNLF, AAPL, MSFT, ADBE, BKS, GOOG, BBY, AMZN) originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-08-15T13:17:00Z.

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Filed under: Company News, Technology, Media, Netflix

Netflix (NFLX) has identified its next foreign market.

The popular video service revealed on Wednesday morning that it will roll out its premium streaming platform through Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland later this year.

There won't be any optical discs or distribution centers to open across Scandinavia. There won't be the option to rent movies on DVD or Blu-ray discs the way that stateside customers can. Holding to Netflix's strategy when it entered Canada two years ago, Latin America...

Netflix Goes Full Stream Ahead With a Scandinavian Invasion originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-08-15T12:52:00Z.

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Filed under: Telecom

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has currently scheduled an 'event' for September 12th that is widely rumored to be the company's official launch date for the latest version of the iPhone, known at least currently as the iPhone 5. It is also believed that Apple will release the phone for sale a couple of weeks before the end of September. If both these events occur as rumored, then Apple's fourth quarter earnings could get a boost of as much as 12%.

That, at least, is the view of an Apple analyst at...

September iPhone Launch Could Boost Apple's Q4 Take (AAPL) originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-08-15T12:35:00Z.

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ABC News
Autistic Man Denied Heart Transplant
ABC News
It was hard enough for Karen Corby to hear that her autistic son would need a heart transplant to survive, but it was even harder to take the news that doctors wouldn't give him one. "I was numb at first," Corby, of Pottsville, Pa., told ABCNews.com, ...
Should autism block a heart transplant?Philadelphia Inquirer
Use "Remove" or "Turn off" toKYW Newsradio
Denial of Heart Transplant For Autistic Man Sparks OutrageCare2.com (blog)
Los Angeles Daily News -Philadelphia Magazine (blog) -Daily Local News
all 15 news articles »

Filed under: Real Estate

Positive signals continue to issue forth for US home builders. The National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo housing market index rose 2 points in August, to 37, the highest index reading since February 2007. An index reading below 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as poor than view them as good. Still, the reading is much better than expected.

The August gain follows a 6-point increase in July, and led the NAHB's chairman to note:

This fourth consecutive...

Home Builders' Confidence at Another Five-year High (KBH, LEN, ITB) originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-08-15T11:58:00Z.

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Filed under: Retail, Government, International

The top-ranking Democratic members of two House committees have sent a letter to Michael Duke, CEO of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT), offering the company one last chance to comply with requests for information related to the bribery allegations that were leveled against Walmart and its Mexican subsidiary Walmex in April. If the allegations are proved to be true, Walmart faces prosecution under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and could face a fine of up to $5 billion.

From the Congressmen's...

US House Committee Getting Tough with Walmart originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-08-15T11:23:00Z.

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Filed under: Technology, Google , Mergers & Acquisitions

Google (GOOG) is beefing up its portfolio.

The leading search engine is acquiring Frommer's travel guide business, giving Google content and a recognized brand.

The deal apparently isn't making a dent in Google's balance sheet. Reports indicate that Google is paying roughly $25 million for Frommers.

Some will argue that Big G doesn't need to make content purchases. Google is a search engine. It makes money by sending folks elsewhere through its industry leading Google AdWords...

Why Seach Giant Google Bought Frommer's Little Travel Guides originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-08-15T11:07:00Z.

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Filed under: Investing

British-based Standard Chartered PLC, which agreed yesterday to a settlement with the state of New York that cost the bank $340 million, is seeking a speedy, collective resolution to outstanding investigations being conducted by four other agencies: the U.S. Treasury Department, the U.S. Justice Department, the Federal Reserve and the Manhattan District Attorney's office. A spokesman for the bank's law firm is cited by Reuters:

Negotiations are going on between the other agencies, and we are...

What's Hitting the Fan at Standard Chartered originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-08-15T10:55:00Z.

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Filed under: Earnings

Stocks opened mixed today, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.04%, the Nasdaq up 0.16% and the S&P 500 up 0.07%. Today's market winners include a company who beat quarter four earnings expectations, and another who missed in the second quarter but increased its share buyback program. Meanwhile, today's loser missed Wall St. earnings estimates and cut its full-year sales outlook.

Here are Wednesday's market winners and loser.

Biggest Winners

Shares of Abercrombie & Fitch Co....

Today's Market Winners and Losers originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-08-15T10:47:00Z.

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Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) is testing an advertising service that allows companies to place more promotional messages in the News Feeds of users, even if those members or their friends have not signaled they like the advertiser. Until now, these types of ads only showed up on PCs, walled off the Facebook News Feed, and included only companies or groups a user has "liked."

More and more users of the world's most popular social network have been accessing the service from wireless devices, where...

More Ads Coming to Facebook originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-08-15T10:12:00Z.

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Filed under: Economy

Industrial production in the United States increased 0.6% in July, after rising just 0.1% in May and June, according to data released Wednesday by the Federal Reserve.

Manufacturing output rose 0.5%, mining output rose 1.2% and utilities output rose 1.3%, according to the Federal Reserve data.

The production of consumer goods increased 0.6% in July after decreasing 0.4% in June, the data shows. The output of durable consumer goods rose 1.5% in July, which included a 1.9% increase in the...

U.S. Industrial Output Rises 0.6% in July originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-08-15T09:57:00Z.

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Filed under: Economy

New York State manufacturers have faced deteriorating business and have scaled back expectations for the second half of 2012, according to August's Empire State Manufacturing Survey.

About 22% of manufacturers said business improved during the month, while about 28% said business weakened. The remainder, 50%, said business stayed the same.

The survey, citing index numbers, pointed to slower business as of late. The general business conditions index dropped below zero for the first time...

Manufacturers in New York Increasingly Pessimistic originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-08-15T09:18:00Z.

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Filed under: Economy

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported this morning that the U.S. consumer price index (CPI) did not change in July due to lower energy costs offsetting slightly higher food costs. Energy prices fell by 0.3% in July while the food index rose by 0.1%. Excluding food and energy, the core index rose 0.1% over the June reading.

The CPI rose 1.4% year-over-year, which is the smallest 12-month gain since 2010, and the core rate rose 2.1% compared with a year ago, the smallest change since...

Consumer Prices Steady in July originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-08-15T09:11:00Z.

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Filed under: Rumors

Updated throughout the day on the 24/7 Wall St. Wire:

Several of the largest retailers in the country, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) and Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT), will launch a program called Merchant Customer Exchange to compete with Google Inc.'s (NASDAQ: GOOG) mobile payment platform. (WSJ)

Greece will ask for a two-year extension of its austerity plans. (FT)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Rumors Tagged: GOOG, TGT,

Today's Best Market Rumors (8/15/2012) Payment System to Compete with Google originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-08-15T09:07:00Z.

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Filed under: Earnings

Bank of America downgraded Entergy (NYSE: ETR) to Underperform from Neutral and cut its price target to $70.

Piper Jaffray downgrades Cache Inc. (NASDAQ: CACH) to Neutral from Overweight.

AAII Journal sets Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW) as its "sell of the week."

JP Morgan upgrades The Coopers Companies (NYSE: COO) to Overweight from Neutral.

RW Baird improves Jive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: JIVE) from Neutral to Outperform.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls...

Today's Analyst Calls: Buys, Sells, Price Targets originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-08-15T09:06:00Z.

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Filed under: Investing

Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HPQ) thinks it can dethrone Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) in the enterprise tablet market. Seriously.

HP, which sold the failing TouchPad in 2011, will be releasing more information on the tablet soon, said John Solomon, senior vice president of Americas sales for HP's printing and personal systems division.

"We will be very focused on the commercial tablet opportunity, which is completely under penetrated,"  Solomon told CRN recently.

Other companies that...

HP Looks for Second Chance to Take on Apple Tablets originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-08-15T09:03:00Z.

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Filed under: Earnings, Retail

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) reported second-quarter earnings per share (EPS) of $0.19 and $951.4 million in revenues before the markets opened this morning. In the same period a year ago, the clothing retailer reported EPS of $0.35 on revenue of $916.8 million. Second-quarter results compare to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimates for EPS of $0.17 and $994 million in revenue.

The company's chairman and CEO said:

The second quarter results we are reporting today are disappointing...

Abercrombie Shares Rising on Plans, Not Results (ANF) originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-08-15T08:51:00Z.

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Filed under: General Electric , Intel, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft Foods, Berkshire Hathaway, Wells Fargo & Co, Bank of New York Mellon, Market News

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) (BRK.B) came out with its quarterly portfolio update on Tuesday afternoon, and apparently Warren Buffett was in a selling mood during this year's second quarter.

The iconic investor's spring cleaning involved dumping Berkshire Hathaway's entire investment in Intel (INTC) and nearly two thirds of the holding company's stake in Johnson & Johnson (JNJ).

Sponsored Links...

Wall Street Watch Wednesday: Warren Buffett's Spring Cleaning originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-08-15T08:36:00Z.

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Filed under: Technology

The end of the Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) lockup is quickly approaching.

More than 270 million shares of the social network will become free to trade on Thursday. Following the initial public offering in May, trading by company insiders has been forbidden. Lockup periods, which usually last between 90 and 180 days following an IPO, prevent the market from being overburdened with too many shares of the company.

Thursday's end to the lockup will constitute one of several dates in the coming...

Facebook Lockup Ends Soon originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-08-15T08:31:00Z.

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