Filed under: Before the bell, International markets, Deals, Law, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), Market matters, Citigroup Inc. (C), Economic data, Housing

Wall Street seems bent on finishing 2007 on a high note and after yesterday’s big selloff following Pakistan’s former prime minister and opposition leader Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, futures are up this morning, indicating U.S. stocks could start higher.

Yesterday, U.S. stocks tumbled on the assassination news — fearing further unrest in one of U.S.’s allies in its war on terror in Afghanistan and due to weaker-than-forecast rise in durable-goods orders. The positive consumer confidence report couldn’t offset the news. The Dow industrials dropped 192 points, or 1.42%, the Nasdaq Composite fell 47 points, or 1.75%, and the S&P 500 lost 21 points, also 1.42%.

News that could be moving the market this morning include speak of huge bank asset sales and later some data that’s due out:

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that several banks, including Citigroup (NYSE: C) and HSBC Holdings (NYSE: HBC) are considering sales of any of their assets, from branches to entire units.

Economic data today includes Chicago PMI, a manufacturing sentiment index for December, due out a tiny after the opening bell.
No doubt, though, that investors await the release of November existing and news home sales due out at 10 a.m. EST. The report is expected to show further declines with new home sales in November approaching an 11-year low. What worries economists is that there’s no end in sight to the housing recession that’s threatening to stall growth in 2008. Still, others state that there’s improved consumer sentiment due to the lower prices.

Overseas, and not surprising, Asian markets tumbled following Bhutto’s assassination. Japan’s Nikkei shut down 1.7% also due to report of higher prices and falling factory output. In Europe, several reports indicating slower economies were out and by midday, markets were blended.

In corporate news, seems that Warren Buffett is sprinting towards the new year with yet another deal news Friday: Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) reached a deal to purchase reinsurer NRG from Dutch financial-services giant ING (NYSE: ING) for $433 million (€300 million).

Also, mall retailer The Finish Line Inc. (NASDAQ: FINL) must complete the $1.5 billion purchase of Genesco Inc. (NYSE: GCO), a judge ruled Thursday, saying that Genesco executives didn’t commit fraud during negotiations. GCO shares are up 27% in premarket trading.

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It’s good news if you’re buying a home, terrible if you’re selling one: Housing prices across the country continued their fall in October.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index released on Dec. 26 showed that housing prices across the country dropped 6.7 percent in October. That drop is a signficant one: It ranks as the largest since April of 1991. This is the 10th consecutive month in which housing prices have declined.

The index’s results are more proof that buyers today can find great housing bargains. It’s obvious that sellers are lowering their prices. This is no surpirse. Many of them have been trying to sell their homes for a year or longer. Shrewd buyers should not only be able to get lower prices out of these sellers, they should also be able to nab concessions on closing dates, home fixes and other perks.

In the index’s survey of 20 metropolitan areas, Miami showed the largest price declines in the country, with housing values falling 12.4 percent in October compared with the same month one year earlier. Also in Florida, Tampa saw its housing values plummet 11.8 percent.

The only cities surveyed in the index that posted year-over-year housing gains were Charlotte, N.C.; Portland, Ore.; and Seattle. Charlotte, in fact, posted the largest gain in the entire survey, with its housing prices rising 4.3 percent this October compared to last.

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Is it Vegas? Who knows, but Nevada once again ranks as the fastest-growing say in the country.

This story on the United Press International Web site, quotes U.S. Census data as showing that Nevada’s population climbed 2.9 percent from July 1, 2006, to July 1, 2007. That was the largest population spurt any say saw during this time.

Arizona ranked second in terms of percentage increase.

Michigan and Rhode Island, according to the Census Bureau, were the only states to lose population during this period.

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Filed under: Deals, Coca-Cola (KO)

Coca Cola’s (NYSE: KO) strategy of acquiring premium non-carbonated beverage brands like Glac

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Filed under: Business, World wide web, Video, Office, Productivity, Web services, OpenOffice.org, Shareware, Freeware

Begin out 2008 with a business bang! Get free on the internet tools to help in each day and long-term technology chores. Here are some recommendations for the best free small business tools available for a 2008 launch for your business.

Keep track of your software licenses
Each time you buy a Microsoft Office or Windows software product, or one from Adobe (like Acrobat) or those expensive graphic suites (like CS3), you get a serial number usually attached to the CD case. After installing the software, does the box (with that critical serial number inside) wind up on a shelf somewhere? Resolve to undertake a software licensing program in 2008 and keep track of your serial numbers with a copy of those numbers off-site, perhaps on a portable USB storage device that’s password-protected. Use a spreadsheet and note the software title, date and place of purchase, serial number, on which personal it was installed and where the original or backup copy is. Reasonably-priced shareware is here and some free apps are here. Check out KeyFiler, an on the web solution.

Continue reading Five Small Business Tech Resolutions for 2008

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Filed under: Deals, EMC Corp (EMC), Options, Technical Analysis

EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) stock is falling today after the company stated this morning that it has concurred to acquire Document Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ: DOCX) for $14.75 per share in cash. EMC plans to operate DOCX as a business unit within the EMC Content Management and Archiving division, hoping to strengthen its presence in the transactional content management market. The deal is expected to shut in the first quarter of 2008. If you think this stock won’t be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on TSO.

After hitting a one-year low of $12.74 in March, the stock hit a one-year high of $25.47 in October. This morning, EMC opened at $18.43. So far this day the stock has hit a low of $18.41 and a high of $18.90. As of 11:05, EMC is trading at $18.44, down $0.52 (-2.7%). The chart for EMC looks bearish and steady, while S&P gives the stock a very positive 5 STARS (out of 5) strong buy rating.

For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would think about an April bear-call credit spread above the $25 range. A bear-call credit spread is an options position that combines the buy and sale of call options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn’t do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make a 5.3% return in 4 months as long as EMC is below $25 at April expiration. EMC would have to rise by more than 35% before we would begin to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

EMC hasn’t been above $25 for more than a few days in the past year and has shown resistance around $19.50 recently. This trade could be risky if the technology sector continues to steam ahead, but this position could be protected by resistance EMC might find at its 50 day moving average, which is currently at $21 and falling.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer. DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that might include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in EMC or DOCX.

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Filed under: Deals, EMC Corp (EMC), Options, Technical Analysis

EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) stock is falling this day after the company stated this morning that it has concurred to acquire Document Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ: DOCX) for $14.75 per share in cash. EMC plans to operate DOCX as a business unit within the EMC Content Management and Archiving division, hoping to strengthen its presence in the transactional content management market. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008. If you think this stock won’t be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on TSO.

After hitting a one-year low of $12.74 in March, the stock hit a one-year high of $25.47 in October. This morning, EMC opened at $18.43. So far today the stock has hit a low of $18.41 and a high of $18.90. As of 11:05, EMC is trading at $18.44, down $0.52 (-2.7%). The chart for EMC looks bearish and steady, while S&P gives the stock a very positive 5 STARS (out of 5) strong purchase rating.

For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider an April bear-call credit spread above the $25 range. A bear-call credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of call options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn’t do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make a 5.3% return in 4 months as long as EMC is below $25 at April expiration. EMC would have to rise by more than 35% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

EMC hasn’t been above $25 for more than a few days in the past year and has shown resistance around $19.50 recently. This trade could be risky if the technology sector continues to steam ahead, but this position could be protected by resistance EMC might find at its 50 day moving average, which is currently at $21 and falling.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer. DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in EMC or DOCX.

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Filed under: Deals, Consumer experience, Apple Inc (AAPL), News Corp’B’ (NWS), Technology

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)’s iTunes just got a new video partner in News Corp (NYSE: NWS)’s Fox motion picture studio. The deal is the first of its kind, allowing iTunes subscribers to download Fox movies and watch them for a limited period.

According to The Wall Street Journal, “sales of video through Apple’s iTunes Store have failed to grow at the same pace as the site’s music downloads, analysts state.” So, perhaps offering rentals will be a better model than selling content outright.

But the theory makes tiny sense. Short-term rentals are unlikely to trump sales. Movies sold on iTunes cost as tiny as $9.99, a visit to the Apple site shows. How much less can a rental be? And what’s the incentive for having something that can only be used for a few days?

Nice partnership, but no reason it will increase video revenue at iTunes.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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When it comes to green building, I always ask one question: Does building environmentally friendly residences and commercial properties bring any benefits to developers and builders?

There’s more evidence than ever suggesting that yes, it does.

The latest bit of proof came in the form of a tip by fellow blogger Alison Kriscenski at the the environmental blog Greenerassets.com. She sent me a story from the Web site GreenerBuildings that states energy efficient buildings command higher occupancy and rental rates. At the same time, the story says, sales prices came in as much as 30 percent higher per square foot.

You can read the whole story here.

I’m always glad to read stories like this. I’ve always felt that green building will never truly take off unless developers and builders recognize some financial incentive for building energy efficient homes, office buildings and retail centers. Reports like the one on GreenerBuildings, offer more evidence that building green can, indeed, help developers boost their profits.

We might like to think that developers and builders would go green out of the goodness of their hearts, but we all know that’s not the case. If building environmentally friendly homes and commercial properties didn’t make economic sense, there’d always be only a small number of builders and developers who’d commit to green construction methods.

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Filed under: Deals, Industry, Merrill Lynch (MER)

In a move that may represent a victory of hope over reason, Davis Selected Advisers has disclosed that it now owns 5.1% of MBIA, Inc. (NYSE: MBI).

On paper, the stock does look cheap, and Davis could claim to be something of an expert on financial shares having just put money into Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MER). But, Merrill is almost certainly the safer bet. Its business is spread across a number of sectors of the industry, from retail brokerage to mergers and acquisitions (M&A) work. MBIA is a bond insurer in a perilous bond market. And, it is a company which faces potentially ruinous downgrades from major credit agencies.

According to TheStreet.com “Fitch stated MBIA needed to shore up $1 billion in capital in the next four to six weeks to avoid a downgrade. That’s on top of the $1 billion investment from the private-equity firm Warburg Pincus that MBIA secured earlier this month.” If mortgage-related securities write-offs continue at big banks and investment houses that $1 billion might be hard to come by, or, it could represent significant dilution for MBIA’s current shareholders. The firm’s market cap is already below $3 billion.

The Davis investment looks like a loser, at least in the short term. MBIA shares are down by two-thirds from their 52-week high. A downgrade of its “AAA” rating by a bond agency would seem possible, if not probably.

Davis may have to sit on its MBIA shares for a very long time.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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