First Sound Bank Reports Second Quarter 2009 Results

S&P eyes 1,000 but could be ripe for retreat (Reuters)

Reuters – Wall Street may have momentum on its side next week as the S&P 500 tries to puncture the 1,000 level, but the rally’s staying power will depend on whether U.S. data and corporate earnings provide more signs of economic stabilization.

Ecopetrol Announces Results for the Second Quarter and First Half of 2009

Soaring China debut for world’s largest IPO in 16 months (AFP)

AFP – China State Construction Engineering Group shares soared nearly 60 percent at their Shanghai debut Wednesday, as investors jumped at the world’s largest stock offering in 16 months.

Mass Megawatts Wind Power, Inc. Reports for Fiscal Year Ended April 30, 2009

NYSE Euronext beats Street as costs fall further (Reuters)
Reuters – Aggressive cost cutting helped NYSE Euronext beat expectations for a second straight quarter on Thursday, although $442 million in one-time charges forced the transatlantic exchange operator to record a loss.

Asian stocks gain, Europe falls as US GDP eyed (AP)

AP – Asian stock markets closed out a robust July with more gains Friday as better-than-expected earnings at companies from Japan to the U.S. reinforced hopes of stronger global growth. European markets were weaker in early trade.

Profit reports push Dow to best July in 20 years (AP)

AP – New hope for the economy just gave the stock market its best July in 20 years.

Oil bounces above $64 (Reuters)
Reuters – Oil rose above $64 a barrel on Thursday, boosted by stock markets in Europe and Asia, better than expected corporate results and data suggesting the economic downturn was bottoming out.

Hibernia Homestead Bancorp, Inc. Reports Operating Results for the Second Quarter Ended June 30, 2009 and Results of Annual Meeting of Shareholders

Stock Fund Inflow Continued In June (Investor’s Business Daily)
Investor’s Business Daily – Investors pumped $12 billion into stock funds in June. Bond funds pulled in $29.09 billion.

FCC seeks details on Google app rejection for iPhone
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – The Federal Communications Commission is seeking additional information about Apple Inc’s decision to reject Google Inc’s voice application for the iPhone.

How the major stock indexes fared on Friday (AP)
AP – The stock market’s best July in 20 years is giving investors reason for hope about the economy. Investors are placing big bets that the ability of companies to squeeze out surprise profits means the longest recession since World War II is finally easing its grip. But even as earnings and some economic reports suggest the economy is strengthening, the stock rally means investors will pay a bigger price if they are wrong.

Asian stocks gain, Europe falls as US GDP eyed (AP)

AP – Asian stock markets closed out a robust July with more gains Friday as better-than-expected earnings at companies from Japan to the U.S. reinforced hopes of stronger global growth. European markets were weaker in early trade.

FDIC tests toxic assets sale program
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp launched the first test of its Legacy Loans Program that could eventually help banks rid their balance sheets of toxic assets so they can raise new capital and increase lending, the agency said on Friday.

Executive pay limits advance in U.S. Congress
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Eye-popping Wall Street bonuses could be banned by the U.S. government if pay packages are deemed to encourage “inappropriate risks,” under a bill approved on Friday by the U.S. House of Representatives.

Back-to-school shift helps US media
A spike in higher education enrolments in the US has shown up this week in earnings announcements from companies in the otherwise hard-hit media sector, whose education divisions have far outperformed their better-known news brands

ExxonMobil Can’t Escape the Oil Bust
The biggest of Big Oil hits the quarterly earnings skids.

S&P eyes 1,000 but could be ripe for retreat
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street may have momentum on its side next week as the S&P 500 tries to puncture the 1,000 level, but the rally’s staying power will depend on whether U.S. data and corporate earnings provide more signs of economic stabilization.

It’s Not Easy Being Evergreen
Another unimpressive outing for the struggling solar player.

Congress moves to extend autos ‘clunkers’ plan
WASHINGTON/DETROIT (Reuters) – The U.S. Congress moved to triple the funding for the government’s successful “Cash for Clunkers” auto rebate program, which has brought car buyers back into showrooms and raised the outlook for an industry beset by abysmal sales, bankruptcies and job cuts.

When You Should Cash Out
A guide to options pricing.

5 Cold Stocks Heating Up
Some investors are warming up to these companies.

A Value Stock to Avoid in This Market
Don’t waste your time and money on this stock.

Charles River Development Integrates Access to UBS Perimeter Algorithm
UBS Perimeter allows Charles River IMS clients to work orders in the market based on a variety of desired parameters and urgency levels.

New Century Bancorp Reports Second Quarter 2009 and Year-to-Date Results

Obama Plan Would Require Hedge Funds to Register With the SEC and Report on Exposures
President Obama’s proposed regulatory reforms would require hedge funds to register with SEC and provide data on their market exposure. By Ivy Schmerken

Drier Receives 20-Year Sentence for Investment Fraud
Marc Dreier, a high-profile New York lawyer who admitted to a $400 million investment fund fraud that unraveled at the same time as Bernard Madoff’s huge swindle, was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment Monday.

7ticks to Offer Hosting in BGC Partners’ Data Center
Providing low-latency connectivity to BGC’s eSpeed and ELX Futures, for trading Treasuries and Treasury futures contracts.

NY Fed Names Nomura as U.S. Primary Dealer of Treasury Securities
The New York Federal Reserve named Japan’s Nomura Securities International as a U.S. primary dealer of Treasury securities.

GigaSpaces Unveils Cloud-Oriented App Server
App server designed to scale applications and resources up or down on demand.

Vectren Corporation Reports Second Quarter 2009 Results

Compliance With Tomorrow’s New Regulations Starts With Data Management Today
Even though the Obama administration’s plan for financial regulatory reform lacks specifics, firms should prepare for compliance by developing a sound data management strategy.

Covestor Disrupts Wealth Management with New Multi-Managed Account
Retail investors replicate different models inside an MMA, with transparent access to their account.

BondDesk Ventures into Market Data Business with Excel Interface
Draws on live Treasury prices from BondDesk ATS and TechHacker’s library of Excel add-in analytics.

Madoff Gives Feeder Fund Managers’ Names to Lawyer
A San Francisco attorney who interviewed imprisoned swindler Bernard Madoff in a federal prison said he plans to amend a lawsuit to include possibly several fund managers who funneled investor money to Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme.

Drier Receives 20-Year Sentence for Investment Fraud
Marc Dreier, a high-profile New York lawyer who admitted to a $400 million investment fund fraud that unraveled at the same time as Bernard Madoff’s huge swindle, was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment Monday.

Asian stocks rise as earnings boost recovery hopes (AP)

AP – Asian stock markets rose Friday as better-than-expected earnings at companies from Japan to the U.S. reinforced hopes of stronger global growth.

Earnings reports extend market’s big July rally (AP)

AP – The stock market is a day away from locking in its best July in 20 years.

Interbank Lending Revival Won’t Happen Until 2010
Bank-to-bank lending will take well into next year to recover from two years of crisis, with record low interest rates and unprecedented injections of central bank cash set to continue for months to come.

How the major stock indexes fared on Thursday (AP)
AP – The stock market is a day away from locking in its best July in 20 years. Stocks added to an already impressive run Thursday as another round of earnings reports gave investors new reasons to be optimistic about the economy. The latest reports struck a theme that has played out for weeks: Times are tough but companies aren’t doing as badly as feared. Many have chopped costs to produce profits well beyond the market’s modest expectations.

Is Carbon Trading the Next Big Thing?
The U.S. carbon credit trading business could take off if recent climate change legislation becomes law. Environmental market players including Citi, the CME, the Chicago Climate Exchange and BlueNext are poised to capitalize on the surge.

U.K. Investment Firm Swaps Out Thomson for Fidessa
Ability to customize market data feeds led Brewin Dolphin to replace its market data workstations for 700 users across the U.K.

Some U.S. bank pay “unmoored” from performance: Cuomo
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Bonuses paid to executives at nine banks that received U.S. government bailout money in 2008 were greater than net income at some of the banks, the office of New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said on Thursday.

U.S.. Bancorp Fund Services and Stephens Become XBRL Pioneers
Fund administrator is coaxing mutual fund clients such as Stephens to file XBRL reports to the SEC, to provide better transparency to worried investors.

Wall St. climbs on earnings, but Disney off late
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks rose on Thursday as solid corporate profit reports and a drop in the number of Americans on jobless benefits gave investors reasons to buy equities following the S&P 500’s two days of losses.

Mizuho surprises with loss, but keeps outlook
Japan’s Mizuho Financial Group surprises with a quarterly group loss, as its results are dragged down by valuation losses on stock-holdings and credit and equity derivatives.

MetLife reports $1.4 billion quarterly net loss
MetLife Inc. reported a big quarterly net loss late Thursday on derivatives losses mainly tied to the rising value of the insurer’s own debt.

ISITC Finalized New OTC Derivatives Market Practice
New standards to improve automated communications between investment managers and third parties.

Buy Taiwan Semi and Sleep Like a Baby
This tech stock acts like a small mutual fund — with a hefty dividend. What’s not to love?

A Good Business Model for Bad Times
Some businesses benefit when people are hurting.

Tarp banks award billions in bonuses
JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs paid the most million-dollar bonuses in 2008, while two banks that lost almost $28bn each last year, Citigroup and Merrill Lynch, also made hundreds of their employees millionaires, according to a newly released report on bonus payments by government-supported banks

Motorola and the Profit That Wasn’t
A penny a share? Hardly.

FMC Remains an Offshore Standout
The subsea specialist is looking strong, despite the slowdown.

NYSE Euronext cuts jobs, as Q2 profit drops (Reuters)
Reuters – Transatlantic exchange group NYSE Euronext on Thursday said it planned to cut 290 jobs in Europe and the U.S. as second-quarter earnings before one-off items dropped 34 percent to $132 million.

Sumitomo Trust to pay $1.2bn for Citi unit
Sumitomo Trust and Banking has agreed to buy Citigroup’s Japanese asset management unit for Y112.4bn, as Japan’s fifth-largest bank looks for scale amid tough competition in wealth management

Soaring China debut for world’s largest IPO in 16 months (AFP)

AFP – China State Construction Engineering Group shares soared nearly 60 percent at their Shanghai debut Wednesday, as investors jumped at the world’s largest stock offering in 16 months.

The Dow Jones industrials’ moves since Lehman fall (AP)
AP – How far the Dow Jones industrial average has fallen or advanced each trading day since Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sept. 15. Since Lehman’s fall, which touched off a paralysis of the credit markets and deepened the recession, the stock market has gone through an extended period of volatility before kicking into a big rally starting this spring. The numbers are the closing levels for the Dow:

SEC files complaint against Phoenix company (AP)
AP – The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged four people and a Phoenix-based company with securities fraud for orchestrating a mortgage lending scam that raised nearly $200 million from investors.

NYSE Euronext beats Street as costs fall further (Reuters)
Reuters – Aggressive cost cutting helped NYSE Euronext beat expectations for a second straight quarter on Thursday, although $442 million in one-time charges forced the transatlantic exchange operator to record a loss.

Reval to launch OTC trades repository
Derivatives risk manager believes companies using OTC derivatives will benefit

TSX breaks 2-day slide on resources rush (Reuters)
Reuters – A swift return to hopes of economic recovery and a rally in prices for key Canadian commodities helped push Toronto’s main stock index higher by 2 percent on Thursday.

Disney’s magic hit by drop in profits
The tough consumer environment took its toll on Walt Disney’s third-quarter earnings, with profits down 25 per cent on lower theme park revenues, falling television advertising income and declining home entertainment sales