CME Names COO Bryan Durkin To Lead Global Integration

CME Group (CME) completed its acquisition on Friday of the Nymex exchange. The combined companies will provide customers around the world with access to all major benchmark asset classes, including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities and metals.

Chicago Merchantile Exchange (CME) is now at $342.03, down $15.15 (-4.24%) on volume of 615,757 shares traded. Over the last 52 weeks the stock has ranged from a low of $282.00 to a high of $714.48. Chicago Merchantile Exchange stock has been showing support around $339.13 and resistance in the $374.03 range. CME shares are declining this morning after an analyst at Deutsche Securi...(Click the story link or go to http://www.marketintelligencecenter.com for the full story)

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The Financial Times is reporting how individual retail investment in U.S. equities has fallen to record lows (see article). This recent data highlights not only the nervousness of retail investors, but also illustrates the growing importance of institutio[More...]

Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, BB and T (BBT), Chicago Merc Exch Hld'A' (CME), Analyst initiations

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup raised Ann Taylor (NYSE: ANN) to Hold from Sell. The firm upgraded shares following the company's Q2 upside and believes guidance for the second half of 2008 is appropriately conservative.
  
• Jefferies upgraded China Sunergy (NASDAQ: CSUN) based on valuation,and improved liquidity and silicon supply outlook.
  
• Stephens upgraded infoUSA (NASDAQ: IUSA) shares to Overweight from Equal Weight to reflect the stock's valuation, new management, improvements in expense controls and the potential to become a takeover target.
  
• Citigroup raised BB&T (NYSE: BBT) to Buy from Hold.
• Stifel upgraded Leggett & Platt (NYSE: LEG) to Buy from Hold.

Analyst downgrades:

• Citigroup downgraded Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) to Sell from Buy as they do not expect the company's structural moves to unlock value.
  
• Wachovia dropped Knight Transportation (NYSE: KNX) to Market Perform from Outperform based on valuation.
  

Continue reading Analyst calls: ANN, CSUN, BBT, CVC, VRGY, CME ...

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Just as carbon credits were created out of the thin air to create a financial incentive to mitigate global warming through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions; perhaps exercise credits should be considered as a new type of health commodity to combat the growing obesity epidemic in the United States and other developed countries. According to statistics (PDF) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website (CDC.gov), only one state had a prevalence of obesity less than 20% last year while 30 states had a prevalence of 25% or more – resulting in both adverse economic and health consequences.According to <a[More...]

BLOOMBERG: Temasek Holdings may consider increasing its stake in Merrill Lynch (MER), Temasek’s chairman said. FINANCIAL TIMES: Lehman Brothers (LEH) reportedly held secret talks to sell a stake of up to 50% in itself to Korean or Chinese entities earlier[More...]

Posted By Optiondragon for myhappytrading, a website made by traders for traders.[More...]

Tom Dorsey and Tammy DeRosier with the Egypt Update

Tammy DeRosier and Jay Ball - Dow Jones vs. New York Stock Exchange Bullish Percent

Elizabeth Harrow takes a look at news on the Street before the market opens.

For the week ending May 4th 2007 Wall Street seems to have forgotten all about "market conditions" and keeps pouring out the IPOs. Investors are hungry again and one great example is Interactive Brkrs (IBKR) out of Greenwich, CT: The company took advantage of theor dutch auction. However Mr. Gaskings could only justify a grade and ranking of B-, 8 Included in this weeks analysis is a a comparison with NYMEX Holdings (NMX) CBOT Holdings (BOT) Chicago Merc (CME) InterconExchng (ICE) and International Sec Exc (ISE)

Rounding out the field for this week is Acorn International (ATV) who operates Chinese infomercials and direct mail; receiving a C+ grade and 7 rank. Cavium Networks (CAVM) Who provides semi-conductors for networks: C+, 7 - Qiao Xing-Mobile (QXM) a mobile handset maker: C+, 7 - NeurogesX (NGSX) in the biopharma pain management sector: C, 6 -

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AMC Entertainment (AC) operates 411 theaters through their AMC & Loews brands: C+, 7 A comparison with Regal Entertainment (RGC) and Cinemark Holdings (CNK)

Published jointly by IPOdesktop.com and StreetIQ

Ian Stansel takes a look at news currently driving the market.