Daily Highlights: 11.23.2010

• Asian shares traded down amid nervousness China may introduce further tightening.
• Billionaire Carlos Slim acquires stake in New York money Mmanager BlackRock
• BMW &Mercedes cut back on Christmas breaks as demand for new models booms
• China allows yuan to start trading against ruble.
• Eurozone consumer confidence improves to -9.5 in Nov from revised -10.9 in Oct.
• Irish PM said the government will resign after passing the country’s budget.
• SKorea scrambled fighter jets and returned fire after NKorea lobbed shells into its territory.
• Treasury yields are near one-week low before existing-home sales report.
• Analog Devices Board authorized repurchase of an addln $1B of common stock.
• Analog Devices' Q4 net rises 113% to $225M as revs rise 34.7% to $770M.
• Brocade beats by a cent; reports Q4 EPS of $0.14. Revs rose 5.4% to $550M.
• Dundee Corp. to sell its stake in DundeeWealth Corp. to Bk of Nova Scotia for C$21/sh.
• Dycom beats by $0.08, posts Q1 EPS of $0.18. Revs up 1.0% at $261.6M.
• Glencore, Xstrata lead list of possible buyers of Drummond Co.’s Colombian coal assets.
• Hess acquires additional Bakken acreage from TRZ Energy, LLC for $1.05B cash.
• HP reported strong fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and a better-than-expected outlook.
• Humana agrees to acquire health-care provider Concentra for $790M.
• J&J recalls children's Benadryl, Motrin from wholesale, retail locations.
• La-Z-Boy Inc.'s Q2 net drops 35% to $3.9M as revs fell 2.6% to $293M.
• Medtronic's Oct. net income doen from $868M to $566M.
• Medtronic Inc. is acquiring privately held Ardian Inc. for $800M.
• News Corp. to buy 90% of privately held Wireless Generation for about $60M cash.
• Oxford Industries raises Q3 EPS view to $0.33 vs. cons $0.30.
• PE firms close to deal to acquire J. Crew Group for $43.50/sh in cash, or about $3B.
• Potash Corp. plans to sell $1B of debt to help pay for its planned stock buyback.
• Private-equity firms to acquire Novell for $2.2B or $6.10/sh.
• Prysmian offer for Draka trumped by $1.4B offer from Tianjin Xinmao.
• Statoil agrees to sell 40% Alberta Oil Sands stake to PTT for $2.3B.
• Tech Data Corp. posted Q3 earnings of $1.07, beating the $0.95 avg analyst est.
• Teradyne announces $200M stock repurchase program.

Economic Calendar: Data on GDP, Existing Home Sales-Oct, Minutes of FOMC Meeting to be released today.

Earnings Calendar: BWS, CPB, DAKT, DLIA, DSW, EV, GCO, HI, JCG, MDT, TIVO, ZLC.

RECENT RATING ACTIONS
GERMANY (3413Z GR)
BUNGE LTD (BG)
TYCO INTERNATIONAL LTD (TYC)
INGRAM MICRO INC (IM)
TECH DATA CORP (TECD)
ALLIED IRISH BANKS PLC (AIB)
TRINITY INDUSTRIES INC (TRN)
DOVER CORP (DOV)
REGIONS FINANCIAL CORP (RF)
SARA LEE CORP (SLE)
HJ HEINZ CO (HNZ)
FOOT LOCKER INC (FL)

Data provided by Egan-Jones

Comments

[Anarchist]

South Korea launches an unannounced live fire exercise and fails to notify the nearby North Korean military base. North Koreans ask South Koreans to stop and they refuse. North Koreans assume they are under attack and respond. Morons...

[snowball777]

Uh huh....because SK has a strong desire to be obliterated by known nutters.

Riiiiggghht.