David Moenning's Daily State of the Markets: 5/2 May 2, 2008 10:49AM

Who Needs Vigilance?

Here's a link to listen to an Audio Version of the report:
The excuse given for Wednesday's tank job following the announcement that the Fed was cutting rates for the seventh time since September was that Mr. Bernanke and Co. weren’t showing enough vigilance toward the evils of inflation. And while the inflation hawks may have a point in the big picture, it would appear to more sensible folks that the Fed might just have its hands full at the moment now trying to (1) keep the banking system from collapsing and (2) keeping the economy from heading straight into the toilet.

While we had very little proof, we felt that a more likely reason for the 150 point swing was that boys and their computers do like to have their fun on occasion. So, with the bond market in a tizzy, the sell programs seemed to ...


David Moenning's Daily State of the Markets: 2/1 Feb 1, 2008 10:13AM

Mr. Softie Gets Hostile

Thursday started off like most other days so far this year with bad news on the subprime and economic fronts causing stocks to dive nearly 200 points right out of the gate. The rather surprising increase in weekly jobless claims coupled with a report from S&P saying that we should expect something
like $70B in additional writedowns appeared to give the ball back to the bears. And after Wednesday's big reversal following the Fed's big news, it felt like the retest of the lows was on.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the slaughter - it just didn't happen. A conference call with bond insurer MBIA Inc (MBI) appeared to turn the tide against our furry friends as the company said that it expects to maintain its triple-A rating. This news, coupled with the Fed's big bang, some short-covering ...


Pre-Open Movers 1/31: Audible (ADBL) Higher On Buyout; BladeLogic (BLOG) Falls On Results/Guidance Jan 31, 2008 09:28AM

StreetInsider.com Pre-Open Movers:

Accuray Incorporated (Nasdaq: ARAY) 30% LOWER; reports Q2 EPS of $0.04, 5 cents lower than the analyst estimate of $0.09. Revenues for the quarter were $52 million, versus the consensus of $58.22 million. Sees FY08 revs of $210 to $230 million, versus the consensus of $264.8.

Audible Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBL) 22% HIGHER; Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) has reached an agreement to acquire Audible for $11.50 per share.

Cadence Design Systems (Nasdaq: CDNS) 22% LOWER; reports Q4 EPS of $0.46, in-line with the analyst estimate of $0.46. Revenues for the quarter were $458 million, versus the consensus of $470.33 million. Sees Q1 EPS of $0.03-$0.05, versus the consensus of $0.30. Sees FY EPS of $1.11-$1.19, versus the consensus of $1.35.

TurboChef Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: OVEN) 19% LOWER; Hearing customer Starbuck's will stop selling hot breakfast sadwiches.