Notable Analyst Rating Changes 8/6: ELN, FTI, WMS Upgraded; EAT, N, VZ, VMC Downgraded Aug 6, 2008 10:28AM

StreetInsider.com Notable Analyst Rating Changes:

UPGRADES:
Lehman Brothers upgrades Elan (NYSE: ELN) from Underweight to Equal-weight with a $14 price target.

UBS upgrades FMC Tech (NYSE: FTI) from Sell to Neutral with a $60 ...


Lehman Brothers Upgrades Elan (ELN) to Equal-Weight Aug 6, 2008 07:48AM

Lehman Brothers upgrades Elan (NYSE: ELN) from ...


Pre-Open Movers 7/11: Fannie, Freddie (FNM, FRE) Sink on U.S. Bailout Talk; Anheuser-Busch (BUD) Up On Higher InBev Bid Jul 11, 2008 09:30AM

StreetInsider.com Pre-Open Movers:

Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) 49% LOWER; very loud talk that the U.S. will bailout the company

Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) 42% LOWER; very loud talk that the U.S. will bailout the company

Hercules Inc. (NYSE: HPC) 35% HIGHER; Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH) acquires the company for $18.60 per share in cash and 0.093 of a share of Ashland common stock for each share of Hercules common stock. The total transaction value is approximately $3.3 billion, or $23.01 per Hercules share based on Ashland's July 10 closing stock price.

UAL Corporation (Nasdaq: UAUA) 15% LOWER; expects financial results for the second quarter of 2008 to be impacted by several largely non-cash accounting charges totaling between $2.6 billion and $2.7 billion. The largest portion of those charges relates to the impairment of goodwill, which will result in a non-cash special charge of between $2.2 billion and $2.3 billion.

Wynn ...


David Moenning's Daily State of the Markets: 4/16 Apr 16, 2008 09:30AM

Is It Official?

Here’s a link to listen to an Audio Version of the report:
http://PlayAudioMessage.com/play.asp?m=497524&f=EMGMZA&ps=13&c=FFFFFF&pm=2&h=25 

There is an old saw that says the best time to invest in the stock market is when the U.S. Government announces that the economy is in recession. The thinking here is that since the government doesn't exactly move swiftly, by the time they announce a recession, we’ve probably already seen the worst. So, given that Lehman Brothers (LEH) stated publicly yesterday that the worst is now over in the credit crisis and that Goldman Sachs (GS) made a similar proclamation last week, should we apply the same type of thinking? Or, since these two firms reside in the anything-butslow moving world of trading, should we perhaps take the contrarian view and go the other way with these announcements?

A cynic might argue that the market's recent move up to the top of the trading ...