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Notable Mergers and Acquisitions of the Day 05/22: (PFE)/(ZTS) (MBND) (CLWR)/(S) (GAGA)

Wed, 22 May 2013 10:19:56 -0400

* Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) announced its intention to split off its remaining interest in Zoetis Inc. (NYSE: ZTS), through an exchange offer. Zoetis, formerly Pfizer’s animal health business, completed its initial public offering (IPO) in February 2013. In the exchange offer, Pfizer shareholders can exchange all, some or none of their shares of Pfizer common stock for shares of Zoetis common stock owned by Pfizer. The exchange offer is anticipated to be tax-free for participating Pfizer shareholders in the United States, except with respect to cash received in lieu of a fractional share. The completion of the full

StreetInsider.com Pre-Open Movers 5/22: (ZLC) (SKS) (TOL) Higher; (UAN) (TGT) (SODA) Lower (more...)

Wed, 22 May 2013 09:36:35 -0400

Zale Corp. (NYSE: ZLC) 31% HIGHER; reported Q3 EPS of $0.13, $0.15 better than the analyst estimate of ($0.02). Revenue for the quarter came in at $443 million versus the consensus estimate of $443.83 million. Comparable store sales up 1.4 percent; up 2.6 percent on a constant currency basis and excluding February 29, 2012. Saks, Inc. (NYSE: SKS) 18% HIGHER; reports from the New York Post the company hired Goldman Sachs to explore strategic alternatives, including a possible sale. Oncolytics Biotech, Inc. (Nasdaq: ONCY) 10% HIGHER; announced preliminary results from its U.S. Phase 2 clinical trial in patients with

Streetinsider.com After-Hours Movers 05/21: (SKS) (NTAP) (LO) Higher; (UAN) (ADI) (BALT)

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:37:33 -0400

Saks, Inc. (NYSE: SKS) 18% HIGHER; reports from the New York Post the company hired Goldman Sachs to explore strategic alternatives, including a possible sale. CVR Partners, LP (NYSE: UAN) 5% LOWER; announced that Coffeyville Resources, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CVR Energy, Inc., will sell, subject to market conditions, 12,000,000 common units representing limited partner interests (the "common units") in the Partnership in a registered public offering. In connection with the offering, the Selling Unitholder is also expected to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,800,000 common units. The Partnership will not

Market Wrap: Sprint Ponies Up for Clearwire; Herbalife Engages Auditor; 'One' for Microsoft

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:21:33 -0400

Market wrap for May 21st End of the Day: S&P 500 up 2.9 to 1,669.16; Dow Jones up 52.3 to 15,387.58; Nasdaq up 5.7 to 3,502.12 * Sprint (NYSE: S) submitted an increased offer to the Board of Directors of Clearwire (Nasdaq: CLWR) to acquire the approximately 50 percent stake in the company it does not currently own for $3.40 per share. This increased offer represents a 14 percent premium to Sprint’s previous offer of $2.97 announced on Dec. 17, 2012. * Microsoft Corp. unveiled its new Xbox One gaming console, which it dubbed "the all-in-one

Trading Radar for 05/22: Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Target (TGT), Toll Brothers (TOL), Guess? (GES) Report

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:50:22 -0400

The Trading Radar highlights key earnings and economic announcements for tomorrow's trading session: Before Markets Open: Economics: 7:00am EDT

MBA Mortgage Index - no Street consensus

Earnings: Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE: BAH) - consensus EPS $0.37 Citi Trends, Inc. (Nasdaq: CTRN) - consensus EPS $0.56 Eaton Vance Corp. (NYSE: EV) - consensus EPS $0.52 Harvest Natural Resources (NYSE: HNR) - consensus loss $0.06 LTX-Credence Corp (Nasdaq: LTXC) - consensus loss $0.06 MakeMyTrip (Nasdaq: MMYT) - consensus EPS $0.00 Staples, Inc. (Nasdaq: SPLS) - consensus EPS $0.27 Syneron Medical Ltd (Nasdaq: ELOS) - consensus EPS $0.02 Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) - consensus EPS $0.87 Toll Brothers, Inc. (NYSE: TOL) - consensus EPS $0.07 Intraday or Not Specified: Economics: 10:00am

Notable 52-Week Highs and Lows of the Day 05/21: (JPM) (HD) (SNE) High; (IGTE) (RAX) Low

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:23:13 -0400
52-Week High:
JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) $53.67. JPMorgan ticking higher today as shareholders showed support for Jamie Dimon in dual roles as CEO and Chairman.
The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE: HD) $79.47. The rebound in U.S. housing gave Home Depot a boost last quarter. The company topped Q1 EPS views by 6 cents and boosted its outlook for FY13. For more color, click here.
Saks (NYSE: SKS) $13.60. Saks up nearly 11 percent after reporting in-line Q1 EPS of 19 cents while comps rose 5.9 percent.
Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) $22.98. Sony at

Unusual 11 Mid-Day Movers 05/21: (SDBT) (FXEN) (SCOK) Higher; (IEC) (BVX) (RSOL) Lower

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:23:56 -0400
SoundBite Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: SDBT) 22.9% HIGHER; announced a definitive agreement to be acquired by Genesys for $5 per share. Click here for more color. FX Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq: FXEN) 56.6% HIGHER; reported that the Tuchola-3K well flowed gas at rates ranging from 3.8 to 5.5 million cubic feet of gas per day with no water during a production test. The Company plans to collect the final data from the downhole pressure gauges and finish completing the well for production. SinoCoking Coal and Coke Chemical Industries, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOK) 33.3% HIGHER; Fenwei Energy Consulting noted that

Streetinsider.com's Hot Lunchtime Reads 05/21: (DIS) (JCP) (VOD) (PNR)

Tue, 21 May 2013 12:31:50 -0400
The following is a list of notable articles to help get you through the lunch hour:
Disney (DIS) to Cut Jobs at ESPN - Bloomberg -> Read this!
Pentair (PNR) Sales Growth Accelerating as Synergies w/ Flow Control Pan Out - Analyst -> Read this!
Healthcare Trust of America (HTA) Has Growth Drivers in Sight - Cramer -> Read this!
Goldman Sachs Maintains Sell on Microsoft (MSFT) -> Read this!
Vodafone (VOD) Probably Not Interested in Selling Stake in Verizon Wireless -> Read this!
Moody's Sees No Impact on JCPenney (JCP)

Notable Analyst Rating Changes 05/21: (CNQ) (CBST) (WTSL) Upgraded; (CCL) (DB) (COH) Downgraded

Tue, 21 May 2013 10:51:07 -0400
UPGRADES FirstEnergy Capital upgrades Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE: CNQ) from Outperform to Top Pick. Cantor Fitzgerald boosts Cubist Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: CBST) from Sell to Hold. KeyBanc boosts Wet Seal (Nasdaq: WTSL) from Hold to Buy with a price target of $6.50. Click Here for more color. Macquarie raises American Tower (NYSE: AMT) from Neutral to Outperform. For daily real-time Upgrades go to http://www.streetinsider.com/Upgrades DOWNGRADES Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL) cut by several firms:
UBS from Buy to Neutral with a modified price target of $36. Click Here for more color;
HSBC from Overweight to Neutral with a price

Notable Mergers and Acquisitions of the Day 05/21: (CLWR)/(S) (PM)

Tue, 21 May 2013 10:08:17 -0400
* Sprint (NYSE: S) submitted an increased offer to the Board of Directors of Clearwire (NASDAQ: CLWR) to acquire the approximately 50 percent stake in the company it does not currently own for $3.40 per share, valuing Clearwire at $10.7 billion. This increased offer represents a 14 percent premium to Sprint’s previous offer of $2.97 announced on Dec. 17, 2012 and a 162 percent premium to Clearwire's closing share price the day before the Sprint-SoftBank discussions were first confirmed in the marketplace on Oct. 11, 2012 when Clearwire was also speculated to be a part of that transaction. The

StreetInsider.com Pre-Open Movers 5/21: (YGE) (SDBT) (ACRX) Higher; (HGG) (CCL) (BBY) Lower (more...)

Tue, 21 May 2013 09:34:18 -0400
SoundBite Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: SDBT) 52% HIGHER; announced a definitive agreement to be acquired by Genesys for $5 per share. Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited (NYSE: YGE) 29% HIGHER; announced its preliminary financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2013. Based upon preliminary data, the Company expects its PV module shipment in the first quarter of 2013 to decrease by 6% to 7% from the fourth quarter of 2012, better than its previous guidance of a low-to-mid teen percent decrease from the fourth quarter of 2012. The Company expects its overall gross margin in the first quarter

Streetinsider.com After-Hours Movers 05/20: (SDBT) (TIVO) (REN) Higher; (HGG) (CIMT) (CCL) Lower (more...)

Mon, 20 May 2013 17:59:42 -0400
SoundBite Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: SDBT) 52% HIGHER; announced a definitive agreement to be acquired by Genesys for $5 per share. hhgregg, Inc. (NYSE: HGG) reported Q4 EPS of $0.31, $0.01 better than the analyst estimate of $0.30. Revenue for the quarter came in at $597.6 million versus the consensus estimate of $622.57 million. Comparable store sales decreased 9.8%. Sees FY2014 EPS of $0.75-0.90, versus the consensus of $0.79. Company expects comparable stores sales decrease of 2.5% to flat. Cimatron Limited (NASDAQ: CIMT) 4% LOWER; announced that certain of its shareholders, who had sold ordinary shares of Cimatron in an underwritten

Market Wrap: Yahoo, Tumblr Make it Official; New CEO at Chesapeake; SAC's Cohen Subpoenaed

Mon, 20 May 2013 16:55:12 -0400
Market wrap for May 20th End of the Day: S&P 500 down 1.2 to 1,666.29; Dow Jones down 19.1 to 15,335.28; Nasdaq down 2.5 to 3,496.43 * Actavis, Inc. (NYSE: ACT) and Warner Chilcott plc (Nasdaq: WCRX) entered into a definitive agreement under which Actavis will acquire Warner Chilcott plc in a stock-for-stock transaction valued at approximately $8.5 billion. Under the terms of the Transaction Agreement, at closing Warner Chilcott shareholders will receive 0.160 shares of New Actavis for each Warner Chilcott share they own, which equates to a value of $20.08 per Warner Chilcott share

50-Day SMA Crossers 05/20: (ELN) (ACI) (AAPL) Above; (MRK) (TLAB) (CLSN) Below

Mon, 20 May 2013 15:03:53 -0400
Crossing and above:
Elan Corp. (NYSE: ELN) up 3.4 percent. Popping as Royalty Pharm raised its bid for the company to $12.50 per share.
Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI) up 6.0 percent. Bouncing higher as Coal India reported a 90 percent gain in standing net profit to Rs 2,320.61 crore for its fiscal fourth quarter.
Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) up 2.2 percent. Could be seeing a move higher today on reports its retail operation is still head-and-shoulders above the competition.
Crossing and below:
Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) down 1.7 percent. An analyst

Trading Radar for 05/21: Home Depot (HD), Best Buy (BBY), Analog Devices (ADI), Saks (SKS) Report

Mon, 20 May 2013 14:39:22 -0400
The Trading Radar highlights key earnings and economic announcements for tomorrow's trading session: Before Markets Open Economics: Earnings: AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE: AZO) - consensus EPS $7.23 Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE: BBY) - consensus EPS $0.25 Diana Containerships (Nasdaq: DCIX) - consensus EPS $0.03 Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc. (NYSE: DKS) - consensus EPS $0.48 Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE: HD) - consensus EPS $0.77 Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT) - consensus EPS $1.03 Monro Muffler, Inc. (Nasdaq: MNRO) - consensus EPS $0.25 Navios Maritime Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: NM) - consensus loss $0.19 Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc. (Nasdaq: RRGB) - consensus EPS $0.66 Saks, Inc. (NYSE: SKS) - consensus EPS $0.19 TJX Cos. (NYSE: TJX) -

Notable 52-Week Highs and Lows of the Day 05/15: (JASO) (RSOL) (TSO) High; (AU) (AUY) Low

Mon, 20 May 2013 14:26:51 -0400
52-Week High:
JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (Nasdaq: JASO) $8.50. JA ripping over 50 percent after posting a narrower-than-expected Q1 loss of 85 cents per share on strong revs.
Real Goods Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: RSOL) $6.84. Real Goods Solar moving higher again today along with peer SolarCity (Nasdaq: SCTY). No firm news is out on the name, but one analyst suspects some retractement might be in the works.
Tesoro Corporation (NYSE: TSO) $65.74. Tesoro getting a little boost today as Barclays raised its price target from $92 to $120 today, while maintaining an Outperform

Unusual 11 Mid-Day Movers 05/20: (AQ) (MEAD) (RSOL) Higher; (NBG) (TISI) (IEC) Lower

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:41:21 -0400
Acquity Group Ltd (NYSE: AQ) 115.1% HIGHER; Accenture (NYSE: ACN) announced a deal to acquire Acquity for $13 per ADS, or a total of approximately $316 million, in cash. Meade Instruments Corp. (Nasdaq: MEAD) 103.4% HIGHER; Meade and Jinghua Optics & Electronics Co., Ltd. announced that Meade and JOC's wholly-owned subsidiary, JOC North America LLC and JOCNA's wholly-owned merger subsidiary, have signed a definitive merger agreement for JOCNA to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Meade for approximately $4.5 million or $3.45 per share. The acquisition will be paid with cash and is expected to be completed by

Streetinsider.com's Hot Lunchtime Reads 05/20: (AAPL) (MKTO) (ELN) (CAT)

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:16:11 -0400
The following is a list of notable articles to help get you through the lunch hour:
Apple (AAPL) Said to Evaluate OLED Screen Sizes for Rumored 'iWatch' -> Read this!
Friday's Hot IPOs Get Even Hotter (MKTO) (DATA) -> Read this!
Boeing's (BA) Flagship 787 Will Return to Service, United (UAL) to Make First Flight -> Read this!
Royalty Pharma Raises Elan (ELN) Bid to $12.50/share -> Read this!
Caterpillar (CAT) April Sales Viewed as Neutral -> Read this!
OSI Systems (OSIS) Likely to Reach Agreement With DHS - Analyst ->

Notable Analyst Rating Changes 05/20: (DANG) (P) (ACN) Upgraded; (LEAP) (LOW) (RHT) Downgraded

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:36:57 -0400
UPGRADES BOC International raises Dangdang (NYSE: DANG) from Hold to Buy. Barclays boosts Pandora (NYSE: P) from Underweight to Equalweight, adjusting its price target from $10 up to $17. Goldman Sachs lifts Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN) from Neutral to Buy with a price target of $90. Click Here for more color. NetEase.com (Nasdaq: NTES) upgraded by two today:
Citi from Neutral to Buy; and
HSBC from Neutral to Overweight with a price target of $68.
For daily real-time Upgrades go to http://www.streetinsider.com/Upgrades DOWNGRADES Deutsche Bank downgrades Leap Wireless (Nasdaq: LEAP) from Hold to Sell with a price target of $4.

Notable Mergers and Acquisitions of the Day 05/20: (ACT)/(WCRX) (YHOO) (ACN) (WBSN)

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:12:04 -0400
* Actavis, Inc. (NYSE: ACT) and Warner Chilcott plc (Nasdaq: WCRX) announced they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Actavis will acquire Warner Chilcott plc in a stock-for-stock transaction valued at approximately $8.5 billion. If successfully completed, the transaction will create a leading global specialty pharmaceutical company with approximately $11 billion in combined annual revenue, and the third-largest U.S. specialty pharmaceutical company with approximately $3 billion in annual revenues focused on core therapeutic categories of Women's Health, Gastroenterology, Urology and Dermatology. The proposed transaction has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of Actavis, Inc. and

StreetInsider.com Pre-Open Movers 5/20: (AQ) (WBSN) (SCTY) Higher; (XNPT) (KMX) (SNV) Lower (more...)

Mon, 20 May 2013 09:39:58 -0400
Acquity Group Ltd (NYSE: AQ) 116% HIGHER; Accenture (NYSE: ACN) announced a deal to acquire Acquity Group for $13 per ADS, or a total of approximately $316 million, in cash. Pactera Technology International Ltd. (Nasdaq: PACT) 33% HIGHER; announced that its board of directors has received a non-binding proposal letter dated May 20, 2013 from an affiliate of funds managed or advised by Blackstone (NYSE: BLK), the Company's non-executive Chairman, Chris Chen, its Chief Executive Officer, Tiak Koon Loh, and its Executive Committee members, David Chen, Sidney Huang and Jun Su (collectively, the "Buyer Consortium") to acquire all of

Top 10 News for 05/13 - 05/17: Tesla Can't be Stopped; Tepper Still Bullish; Sony Gets in Play

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:01:47 -0400
1. Tesla Motors (Nasdaq: TSLA) had another crazy week following last week's earnings report. The company filed to raise funds via an equity and convertible debt offering. More, CEO Elon Musk committed an investment of $100 million of his personal funds, truly a sign of confidence by the lauded exec. For more on Tesla, click here. 2. On CNBC this week, hedge fund giant David Tepper of Appaloosa said he remains bullish although he does expect the Fed to taper down. Tepper said short sellers better have a shovel to dig themselves out. "There

Notable 52-Week Highs and Lows of the Day 05/15: (RAD) (SCTY) (TSO) High; (SHZ) (AU) Low

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:09:20 -0400
52-Week High:
Rite Aid Corp. (NYSE: RAD) $2.77. Rite Aid announced electing Bruce G. Bodaken to the Board, saying he would be appointed to the Nominating and Governance committee. He was former Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Blue Shield of California.
SolarCity Corporation (Nasdaq: SCTY) $46.50. Solar City ripping on positive sentiment behind having Elon Musk as Chairman. Despite recent gains, both Raymond James and Goldman Sachs raised questions about the company. Click here for Goldman or here for Raymond James.
Tesoro Corp. (NYSE: TSO) $62.66. Tesoro popping higher on

Unusual 11 Mid-Day Movers 05/17: (RSOL) (SCTY) (VNDA) Higher; (ARUN) (UNXL) (COSI) Lower

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:06:59 -0400
Real Goods Solar (Nasdaq: RSOL) 91.7% HIGHER; possibly moving higher on a bullish blog post today. Only 1.3 percent of float is being held short currently. Aruba Networks (Nasdaq: ARUN) 27.2% LOWER; getting crushed after issuing Q4 guidance with Q3 results. For more color, click here. Multiple analysts also downgraded the stock today. SolarCity Corporation (Nasdq: SCTY) 26.6% HIGHER; continuing higher. As previously mentioned, Elon Musk is chairman of the company. Goldman Sachs issued cautious commentary on the company today. Click here for more color. Vanda Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: VNDA)

Trading Radar for 05/20: Campbell Soup (CPB), TiVo (TIVO), Qihoo (QIHU), JA Solar (JASO) Report

Fri, 17 May 2013 12:07:51 -0400
The Trading Radar highlights key earnings and economic announcements for tomorrow's trading session: Before Markets Open
Earnings: Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB) - consensus EPS $0.56 JA Solar Holdings (Nasdaq: JASO) - consensus loss $1.20 Qihoo 360 Technology (Nasdaq: QIHU) - consensus EPS $0.14 hhgregg, Inc. (NYSE: HGG) - consensus EPS $0.30 Earnings: TiVo, Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO) - consensus loss $0.15 ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc. (Nasdaq: ZIOP) - consensus loss $0.23 Check out our Earnings Insider for news and updates on earnings as they happen!

Notable Analyst Rating Changes 05/17: (RKUS) (GM) (SPF) Upgraded; (ARUN) (DIS) (DE) Downgraded

Fri, 17 May 2013 10:53:06 -0400
UPGRADES Goldman Sachs raises Ruckus Wireless (NYSE: RKUS) from Neutral to Buy with a price target of $19. Click Here for more color. CLSA raises General Motors (NYSE: GM) from Underperform to Buy, moving its price target from $31 up to $40. CRT Capital lifts Standard Pacific (NYSE: SPF) from Fairly Valued to Buy with a price target of $11. Avondale Partners upgrades Southwest (NYSE: LUV) from Market Perform to Market Outperform. For daily real-time Upgrades go to http://www.streetinsider.com/Upgrades DOWNGRADES Aruba Networks (NASDAQ: ARUN) received multiple downgrades following Q3 results and guidance:
Wells Fargo from Outperform to Market Perform, moving

Notable Mergers and Acquisitions of the Day 05/17: (YHOO) (PRFT)

Fri, 17 May 2013 10:24:39 -0400
* Shareholders of Yahoo, Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) are taking in stride reports the company is in talks to acquire Tumblr for $1 billion. The move by Yahoo is an apparent attempt to get "cool again," AllThingD reported, especially with the all-important 18-to-24 demographic. Earlier in the week, Yahoo CFO Ken Goldman said,"one of our challenges is we have had an aging demographic." He continued, "Part of it is going to be just visibility again in making ourselves cool, which we got away from for a couple of years." Tumblr, by all accounts, is "cool." The company boasted worldwide traffic of 117 million

StreetInsider.com Pre-Open Movers 5/17: (HALO) (ORMP) (CLSN) Higher; (ARUN) (ADSK) (BRCD) Lower (more...)

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:31:44 -0400
Aruba Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARUN) 27% LOWER; reported Q3 EPS of $0.11, $0.04 worse than the analyst estimate of $0.15. Revenue for the quarter came in at $147.1 million versus the consensus estimate of $154.59 million. Sees Q4 revenue of $148 to $150 million vs estimate of $152.8 million. Sees Q4 EPS of $0.10 to $0.12 vs estimate of $0.16. 10 downgrades Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: HALO) 14% HIGHER; continued upside ahead of ASCO Oramed Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: ORMP) 14% HIGHER; announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the Company's Investigational New

Streetinsider.com After-Hours Movers 05/16: (KSU) (VSAT) (TSLA) Higher; (ARUN) (ADSK) (BRCD) Lower (more...)

Thu, 16 May 2013 17:31:05 -0400
Aruba Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARUN) 14% LOWER; reported Q3 EPS of $0.11, $0.04 worse than the analyst estimate of $0.15. Revenue for the quarter came in at $147.1 million versus the consensus estimate of $154.59 million. Sees Q4 revenue of $148 to $150 million vs estimate of $152.8 million. Sees Q4 EPS of $0.10 to $0.12 vs estimate of $0.16 Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) 6% LOWER; reported Q1 EPS of $0.42, $0.03 worse than the analyst estimate of $0.45. Revenue for the quarter came in at $570 million versus the consensus estimate of $583.4 million. Autodesk, Inc. sees

Market Wrap: Housing Starts Slump; S&P Cuts Berkshire; Change Atop NetApp?

Thu, 16 May 2013 17:29:53 -0400
Market wrap for May 16th End of the Day: S&P 500 down 8.3 to 1,650.47; Dow Jones down 42.5 to 15,233.22; Nasdaq down 6.4 to 3,465.24 * Housing starts for the month of April fell 16.5 percent to a seasonally-adjusted 853,000 units. The Street was looking for starts of 970,000 units. Building permits came in at 1.017 million, versus expectations of 950,000 permits. * Wal-mart Stores (NYSE: WMT) reported Q1 EPS of $1.14, $0.01 worse than the analyst estimate of $1.15. Revenue for the quarter came in at $113.4 billion versus the consensus estimate of