Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Feds not addressing drugs in water - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON - A White House task force that was supposed to devise a federal plan to research the issue of pharmaceuticals in drinking water has missed its deadline and failed to produce mandated reports and recommendations for coordination among numerous federal agencies, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

The hearing was prompted by a five-month-long inquiry by the AP National Investigative Team that disclosed the presence of trace concentrations of pharmaceuticals in the drinking water of at least 41 million Americans.

The AP found that while water is screened for drugs by some suppliers, they usually don't tell their customers of results showing the presence of medications including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones.



Feds not addressing drugs in water - Yahoo! News

CDC Under Attack for “Losing” Negative Vaccine Data | The Politics Of Health

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is coming under a microscope for its inept handling of vaccine data that likely showed a link between mercury in vaccines and autism. The CDC insists publicly that there is no link between mercury in vaccines and autism, based on several studies with numerous flaws in design. It appears the CDC has tampered with data to slant results to its favor – a common trick of Big Pharma when trying to hide poor results and cover its rear end.

Central to the controversy is a four-year analysis by the CDC of a large US database called the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD). The original results of the study showed a significant correlation between mercury and autism (as discovered by FOI requests). By the time the CDC was done massaging the data the study showed no correlation; and now the CDC has apparently lost the data the original results were based on.

Here is the link to the CDC’s mercury studies. Here is a link to a detailed article explaining what is wrong with CDC’s thimerosal studies, including a link to various Congressional leaders speaking out on CDC incompetence.

While it is unlikely, in my opinion, that thimerosal in vaccines is the only issue relating to vaccine injury – I do believe there is enough data to label thimerosal in vaccines as highly problematic and a toxin that is a significant risk for increase in vaccine injury that may trigger autism.

It will require congressional oversight to get to the bottom of the CDC’s vaccine cover-up. Judging by the lack of results Congress has had in recent months getting to the bottom of various FDA scandals; it will be a struggle for parents to get the truth from unelected bureaucrats protected by a pro Big Pharma Bush administration. I would like to know how McCain, Clinton, or Obama would actually solve this very real problem.



CDC Under Attack for “Losing” Negative Vaccine Data | The Politics Of Health

Trader Talk with Bob Pisani - CNBC.com

Futures actually moved up at 8:30 ET, despite PPI much stronger than anticipated (core PPI was in-line, apparently because car and truck prices were dropping; the NY Empire State Index was stronger than expected).

The most important fact about today is that there were no negative earnings surprises. State Street

State Street Corp
STT

76.86 UNCH 0%
NYSE




[STT 76.86 --- UNCH (0%) ], US Bancorp [USB 31.67 --- UNCH (0%) ] , Northern Trust [NTRS 65.0 --- UNCH (0%) ] in the financials, and Johnson & Johnson [JNJ 65.74 --- UNCH (0%) ] in the healthcare sector were all names people have been hiding out in expecting good earnings, and they delivered. This is in contrast to the disappointing start of this earnings season, with disappointments from GE [GE 31.75 --- UNCH (0%) ] , Alcoa [AA 33.93 --- UNCH (0%) ] , and Wachovia [WB 25.55 --- UNCH (0%) ] .

Elsewhere:

1) So the long-awaited merger of Delta

Delta Air Lines Inc
DAL

10.48 UNCH 0%
NYSE




[DAL 10.48 --- UNCH (0%) ] and Northwest [NWA 11.22 --- UNCH (0%) ] is a reality (at least the announcement is real). The positives:

--Nearly $7 billion in cash at closing
--Minimal overlap that should ease the regulatory review process
--A deal in place with the Delta pilots
--12 percent reduction in headcount.

Now that consolidation looks like a reality, expect considerable opposition from labor groups; any anti-trust review must consider the consolidation play holistically. How about Continental

Continental Airlines Inc
CAL

21.89 UNCH 0%
NYSE




[CAL 21.89 --- UNCH (0%) ]/United [UAUA 23.61 --- UNCH (0%) ] , which would be another roughly 20 percent of the market?

Before everyone gets too excited about this, consider what Morgan Stanley's airline analyst, Willliam Greene, had to say to his clients this morning: "our rule of thumb is to look for opportunities to become sellers once consolidation momentum has run its course because airline mergers are inherently risky." Still, the "Delta domino effect," as Greene calls it, will at least create some short term tailwind.

Delta up 5 percent, Northwest up 10 percent pre-open.

2) Johnson & Johnson beat on consumer sales, medical devices were also strong, pharmaceutical sales look in-line. 2008 guidance is in-line with expectations. Once again, international growth is the driver:

--Pharmaceutical sales in the U.S. up 0.9 percent, but up 7.9 percent international
--Medical devices up 0.2 percent in the U.S., but up 13.8 percent internationally
--Consumer sales up 11.7 percent in the U.S., but up 20.2 percent internationally

Up 1 percent pre-open.

3) US Bancorp up about 3 percent, as they beat on the topline and bottom line. One trader in the stock noted to me that USB was very much in line and because it it well capitalized and therefore less shorted than others, he is expecting it to be up but not a 10 percent short squeeze.



The Earnings "Surprise"--There Was None - Trader Talk with Bob Pisani - CNBC.com

Pre Market Gap Trading Indications

Gapping up in reaction to strong earnings/guidance: CPWR +18.0%, HSR +9.7%, ADTN +7.6%, PII +7.2%, EXPO +6.8%, RF +5.9%, CTBK +5.2%, INFY +4.8%, IMOS +4.2%, NG +3.9%, JBHT +2.5%, USB +2.3%, STT +2.1%, JNJ +1.0%...

M&A news
: NWA +10.1% and DAL +5.0% (Delta, Northwest agree to merge)...

Solar names showing strength following select co specific news
: ASTI +5.1% (Ascent Solar and Icopal SAS sign cooperation agreement), SOL +5.0% (signs six-year wafer supply agreements with Ningbo Solar and Eoplly New Energy), SOLF +4.2%, LDK +4.2%, CSIQ +2.8%, FSLR +2.5% (Signs 20 yr utility scale PPA with Southern California Edison; tgt raised to $315 - Broadpoint), ESLR +2.4%, SPWR +2.3%, JASO +2.2%...

Other news
: PPHM +19.1% (says preclinical study shows its anti-ps immunocytokines can generate protective immune responses in a highly aggressive breast cancer model), SUPG +11.6% (announced its DNA methyltransferase inhibitor, improves in vivo efficacy of decitabine; also announces its clinical-stage multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor and Rad51 suppressor, is bioavailable and safe in humans ), AZN +5.8% (reaches Ranbaxy settlement - Financial Times), UAUA +5.5% and CAL +5.1% (Continental and United ready if others merge, according to sources - Reuters.com), DNDN +2.5% (immune booster fights breast cancer in clinical trial - Bloomberg.com; also Capital Ventures International discloses 8.6% stake in 13G filing), MRK +2.2% (up in sympathy with JNJ)...

Analyst upgrades
: MEE +2.8% (upgraded to Overweight at JPMorgan), FCX +1.5% (Hearing FCX upped at HSBC to Overweight), MT +1.3% (upgraded to Buy from Hold at Citigro

NYSE Arca Morning Update pre market trading

NYSE Arca Morning Update for Tuesday, Apr 15, 2008 :


Stocks trading on NYSE Arca at a price more than 15% away from the previous trade day's consolidated close price. (As of 08:30:00 ET)

Stock
Monday's Close Current Price Pct Chng Current NYSE Arca Vol
AFFX

$16.34

$11.78

( 28%)

70,914

CROX

$17.75

$12.90

( 27%)

201,183

CPWR

$6.98

$8.24

18%

6,508

NVTL

$10.00

$8.22

( 18%)

34,600

10 Most Active stocks on NYSE Arca as of 08:30:00 ET

Based on Dollar Volume: Based on Share Volume:
Stock
Dollar Volume
SPY
$205,891,386
QQQQ
$30,098,010
AZN
$14,413,655
FRX
$5,586,637
IWM
$5,378,688
STT
$4,771,707
AAPL
$3,401,237
GLD
$3,241,840
PBR
$3,033,412
MT
$2,755,317
Stock
Share Volume
SPY
1,547,545
QQQQ
681,347
AZN
341,980
CROX
201,183
FRX
150,450
NWA
126,529
IWM
78,361
AFFX
70,914
MRK
63,345
EMC
60,547


NYSE Arca Morning Update

Pre Market Trading Gaps

Gapping up: CPWR +13.0%, SUPG +11.6%, NWA +10.1%, HSR +9.7%, EXPO +6.8%, PII +6.0%, AZN +6.0%, DAL +5.0%, NG +3.9%, MRK +2.7%, PNFP +2.5%, DNDN +2.5%, CAL +2.1%, GFI +2.1%, SLV +1.5%, STT +1.5%, GLD +1.2%...

Gapping down:
CROX -28.6%, AFFX -24.1%, NVTL -10.1%, STLY -9.4%, REP -6.0%, VCGH -4.8%, BIIB -3.9%, HNT -3.2%, EMC -2.1%, DNA -1.2%.

Pre-Market Most Active Stocks - NASDAQ Premarket

NASDAQ - Pre-Market Ten Most Advanced

Active Share Volume Declined

Symbol

Company Name

Market
Close
Last Sale (Pre-Market) % Change
(Pre-Market)
Share
Volume

(Pre-Market)

Compuware Corporation
$6.99 $8.30 18.74% 8,321

UAL Corporation
$23.61 $25 5.89% 28,757

Infosys Technologies Limited
$36.56 $38.25 4.62% 4,935

Dendreon Corporation
$5.27 $5.50 4.36% 26,200

E*TRADE Financial Corporation
$3.40 $3.51 3.24% 25,110

Solarfun Power Holdings Co., Ltd.
$14.39 $14.73 2.36% 13,742

JetBlue Airways Corporation
$5.18 $5.29 2.12% 11,200

Capstone Turbine Corporation
$2.60 $2.65 1.92% 10,615

First Solar, Inc.
$274.10 $279 1.79% 13,120

JA Solar Holdings, Co., Ltd.
$23.32 $23.70 1.63% 3,175

As of 4/15/2008 8:11:40 AM

NASDAQ - Pre-Market Ten Most Declined

Active Share Volume Advanced

Symbol

Company Name

Market
Close
Last Sale (Pre-Market) % Change
(Pre-Market)
Share
Volume

(Pre-Market)

Affymetrix, Inc.
$16.33 $11.70 28.35% 101,633

Crocs, Inc.
$17.79 $12.95 27.21% 627,117

Novatel Wireless, Inc.
$10.01 $8.38 16.28% 12,700

Sigma Designs, Inc.
$21.03 $19.96 5.09% 6,760

AgFeed Industries, Inc.
$15.56 $15 3.60% 4,055

Xilinx, Inc.
$23.43 $23 1.84% 72,800

MiddleBrook Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
$4.63 $4.57 1.30% 4,000

As of 4/15/2008 8:11:24 AM



Pre-Market Most Active Stocks - NASDAQ Premarket

Subscribe to "The $t0ckman" via email

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner