Morgan Stanley shares jumped 8.6% to $27.36 in morning trading Wednesday, while Goldman shares rose 43 cents to $149.34.

Goldman (GS 148.10, -0.81, -0.54%) said Tuesday that its equity-trading operations generated net revenue of $235 million in the second quarter. That was down 84% from the first quarter. The drop was partly caused by the firm's inability to hedge against a spike in stock-market volatility.

What’s more, Goldman’s employees are on track for what could still turn out to be a very good year. Goldman has set aside $9.3 billion for bonuses and other compensation so far this year — down 18 percent from the first half of 2009 — but enough to equal more than $500,000 per employee at the firm, which has a work force of 34,100.

Goldman’s traders have long aroused envy across Wall Street for their ability to prosper in markets good and bad, but they lost the Midas touch in the spring, especially when it came to trading stocks. As clients bet on rising volatility, Goldman took the other side of the trade, leaving it on the losing end when volatility did in fact surge.

source: mysmartrend.com
Comex Gold for August delivery closed 1% lower Tuesday, pressured by a stronger euro and gains among equities.

The front month contract fell $12.60 to $1,195.10 per troy oz. on the NYMEX, the precious metal's lowest close since the 21st of May and the first decline below the $1200 level since May.

In other resources action, silver turned around on early weakness to close 0.8% higher at $17.86 an ounce.As a result of Gold action, Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) is trading 1.7% lower to $40.69 while Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) is down over 1% to $42.79.

If shares of NV Energy climb above the resistance line, the trend of the stock may change. The stock might become bull or neutral and traders may need to rely on other indicators as part of their strategy to determine what action to take concerning the stock.

Shares of NV Energy closed at $11.79 in the previous trading session and opened today at $11.89. NVE is currently trading at $11.95, up $0.16 (+1.36%) in today's trading session. The shares of the stock are trading between the range of $11.88 - $12.16. Today's price change was accompanied by a volume of 2,074,736 shares which is greater than the average volume of 2,015,820 shares. (via marketintellisearch)

Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (FAS) gained some ground during trading yesterday, but it appears there is some bearish pressure building up in the background. Looking at yesterday's money flows, $1.04 million left the stock. Only $135.94 million flowed into the stock on uptick trades while $134.91 million flowed in on downtick trades---giving FAS an up/down ratio of 0.13.

The question is, will FAS continue rising or will increasing bearish sentiment help turn things around and start pushing the stock price lower? FAS has lost 24.78% during the past month and is currently trading below its 20-day, 50-day and 200-day moving averages.(via learningmarkets)

Shares of Direxion Daily Energy Bull 3X Shs gained $0.69 (+2.97%) to $23.94. The stock closed at $23.25 in the last trading session and today the shares of ERX opened at $24.40. So far today, the stock has hit a low of $23.20 and high of $25.14. The current trading volume of 4,737,475 is greater than average volume of 4,424,630 shares. ERX is trading below the 50 day moving average and lower than the 200 day moving average. The stock's 52 week low is $22.08 and 52 week high is $54.54. (via marketintellisearch)

According to our valuation methodology, the telecom sector has begun to look more underappreciated of late. In fact, as of this week we see that sector as having the second most attractive valuation behind Healthcare . More specifically, Sprint Nextel (S) has become one of the more interesting stocks to us in the telecom sector, as it finally appears to have some things headed in its direction.

The last time we wrote about Sprint was in early March after their CFO spoke about their plan to reignite growth as well as their ability to get serious about paying down debt. Over the next two and a half months Sprint vaulted more than 60% while the rest of the market of US stocks slipped nearly 6%. Although, over the last month the stock has reversed fortune falling almost 13%, a rate that was nearly six-times worse than the overall market during that time. What is an investor to make of the situation?(via beforeitsnews)

Sprint Nextel Corp.: 90-Day Insider Net Sell Amount US$1.84 Million.

Oilfield services giant Halliburton Company (HAL) saw its rating and price target upgraded on Tuesday by analysts at Barclays Capital.

The firm boosted its rating on HAL to “Overweight” from “Equal Weight,” noting that better pricing and increased pressure pumping utilization should help bolster earnings results. Barclays also raised its price target to $35 from $28. That new target would represent a 36% upside from HAL’s Friday closing price of $25.74.(via Dividend.com Staff)

source: mysmartrend.com
When Taser International (NASDAQ:TASR) reported earnings 70 days ago on April 23, 2010, analysts, on average, expected the company to report break-even results on sales of $23 million.

The company actually reported a loss of $0.01 on sales of $24 million, missing EPS estimates by $0.01 and matching revenue estimates.

Since the company's report, share of Taser International have fallen from $4.90 to $3.72, representing a loss of 24.08% in the past 70 days.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has reiterated `Buy’ on Asian Paints and has also increased EPS estimates for FY11-12 following the announcement of 2.8% price hike by the paint major. The price hike of decorative paints is effective from 1st July and is over and above the 4.15% price hike taken from 1st May.

The brokerage believes that this fits with the possibility of margin surprise by Asian Paints contrary to management guidance of a possible margin decline. Post this price hike, it now expects flat margins for Asian Paints over FY11-12E against the earlier estimate of a 70-basis point decline. (via indiatimes.com)

Shares of Bank of America Corp (NYSE: BAC) traded down 1.28% on Friday hitting $13.84.

Bank Of America Home Loan Refinancing–Bank Of America Mortgage Rates Stay Low For Homeowners. Homeowners with a Bank of America home loan may be able to take advantage of low mortgage interest rates that are currently available to homeowners for whom refinacing is an option. There have been homeowners who are able to use refinancing to a lower mortgage rate to get a lower monthly mortgage payment also, which has helped many who were struggling financially.

source: hexus.net
The spectre of a double-dip recession remained foremost in investors' minds as Western stock markets fell to their lowest levels since last autumn.

The FTSE 100 ended the week below 5,000 and the Dow ended below 10,000. This is the first time the two indexes have spent a significant period below those psychological thresholds since last September and November, respectively.

The biggest drag on stocks seems to be gloomy data coming from the States. The Telegraph reports one of the sharpest ever jumps in US unemployment in June and has the following comments from former US labour secretary Robert Reich: "The economy is still in the gravitational pull of the Great Recession. All the booster rockets for getting us beyond it are failing."

Read the full article in americanbankingnews
Citigroup, Inc (NYSE: C)’s Taiwan business said on Thursday that it would be hiring more than 300 new employees by the end of the year.

Citibank Taiwan Chairman Victor Kuan said that Citigroup, Inc (NYSE: C) has been in Taiwan for more than 46 years and it’s determine to create new jobs and offer more opportunities to younger generations.

Kuan said that the bank currently has about 5,000 employees, making it the largest single foreign employer in the banking sector, adding that the new hires will focus on professionals in enterprise banking and private banking.

Kuan, who recently became Chairman of the unit, said that the bank’s Taiwan unit made $211 million in pretax profits through may and that he expects the bank’s 2010 profits to exceed its 2009 profits of NT$13 billion as the company continues to invest in the country.

Read the full article in kansascity
YRC Worldwide Inc. shareholders approved the company’s revamped board of directors, an equity incentive plan and a second union stock option plan at its annual meeting.

At a meeting held earlier this week, shareholders approved a new nine-member board that was proposed as part of YRC’s restructuring when $470 million of debt was converted into stock for noteholders.

The elected directors are Eugene L. Davis, Dennis E. Foster, Marnie S. Gordon, Beverly K. Goulet, Mark E. Holliday, John A. Lamar, William L. Trubeck, Carl W. Vogt and Bill Zollars.

Oil companies like BP and Transocean, the company that owned the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico, reap about $4 billion a year in tax breaks by taking advantage of provisions in U.S. laws "available at virtually every stage of the exploration and extraction process," according to the New York Times.

Transocean has been ably to significantly reduce its taxes by moving its headquarters from Houston to the Cayman Islands in 1999 and then to Switzerland two years ago. It also reduced the taxes it paid by registering the Deepwater Horizon under the flag of the Marshall Islands.

BP realized big tax benefits by using a break that allowed it to deduct 70 percent of the rent it paid to Transocean for the use of Deepwater Horizon, according to the story.

The Times said the oil ndustry is lining up to oppose a proposal under consideration by federal officials to impose a new tax on it to help pay for the Gulf clean-up. Read the full article in politicsdaily

(via zacks.com) Reason 1 to look at selling Apple is the market. If you believe my former employer's research, William O’Neil & Co. and founder of Investor’s Business Daily, then 3 out of 4 stocks follow what the market does. This is true but our research shows that the numbers are much higher than 75% during the heavy selloff days and during markets that are transitioning from a Bull market to a Bear market.

Reason 2 to consider selling Apple is just take a look at the chart. Apple hit new highs in April and has been trading back and forth in a 15%-20% range ever since (excluding the Flash Crash low which was much lower). On June 21, we hit a new high but that breakout failed miserably like most breakouts do in bearish markets. The rally that led up to that high was on light volume, and now the selloff seems to be accelerating on heavier and heavier volume each day.

Reason 3: everyone owns Apple. From the savviest fund managers to the novice investor. In fact, if could see inside everyone’s portfolios, I almost guarantee the common denominator stock across the board would be Apple (anyone have a good way of seeing the number of small investors who own Apple?) When everyone owns a stock, then there are no more buyers.