Marijuana & Money: An Insider Look Into This Multi-Billion Dollar Industry - CNBC

sooner or later the world realizes marijuana cures cancer, even brain cancer(see rick simpson's run from the cure documentary on hemp oil), restores destroyed farm land, used as a fuel and completely fixes the economy. i have to give it to cnbc for covering this. -st0ckman

Put arguments for and against legalization aside for a moment. If people could use marijuana—without fear of legal consequence—just how much would get used? More to the point, how much money is at stake?

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A variety of businesses and tax-deprived governments would love to know the answer. Unfortunately, there isn’t a simple one. By its taboo nature, marijuana consumption and demand is not well-measured.

Economists, reformists, law enforcement authorities and the pro-marijuana lobby, however, have come up with a variety of estimates. Put them all together and you get a range of $10 billion to over $120 billion a year. Such a wide spread is hardly a solid answer.

But some calculations may be better than others. All estimates begin with some key assumptions on the basic economic theory of supply and demand, thus laying the foundation for the size of the pot market.

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Marijuana & Money: An Insider Look Into This Multi-Billion Dollar Industry - CNBC

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Indications: Futures climb as Goldman blasts through estimates

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By Barbara Kollmeyer & Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures climbed Tuesday as Goldman Sachs, facing a second regulatory probe, topped analyst earnings estimates by a large margin.

S&P 500 futures rose 4.8 points to 1,200.40 and Nasdaq 100 futures added 7.25 points to 2,020.20. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 25 points.

Goldman Sachs /quotes/comstock/13*!gs/quotes/nls/gs (GS 163.32, +2.62, +1.63%) shares rose 1% in premarket trade in the immediate aftermath to reporting a stronger-than-forecast $3.5 billion profit. See Goldman Sachs story.

Douglas Sipkin, an analyst at Ticonderoga Securities, noted that Goldman's return on assets was better than any quarter last year while leverage was flat at 12 times.

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The U.K. Financial Services Authority separately opened a fresh probe into the firm, citing the Securities and Exchange Commission allegation of fraud. See story on U.K. probe.

"It will be an uphill battle fighting the SEC and potential other claims. However, fundamentals should prevail over time," he said.

As a number of firms reported results, UnitedHealth /quotes/comstock/13*!unh/quotes/nls/unh (UNH 31.23, +0.50, +1.63%) climbed over 4% after topping earnings estimates.

Apple /quotes/comstock/15*!aapl/quotes/nls/aapl (AAPL 247.07, -0.33, -0.13%) also rose, ahead of its report due after the close of trade.

On the downside, shares of International Business Machines /quotes/comstock/13*!ibm/quotes/nls/ibm (IBM 132.23, +1.60, +1.22%) fell 1.9% after the technology giant's new service contract signings showed a decline. See IBM results

Coca-Cola /quotes/comstock/13*!ko/quotes/nls/ko (KO 55.32, +0.35, +0.64%) fell 1.5% as the beverage giant reported first-quarter sales below expectations.

Automakers led Europe stocks higher as Daimler /quotes/comstock/13*!dai/quotes/nls/dai (DAI 52.27, +2.82, +5.70%) raised its 2010 outlook, while airlines took back some recent losses as some airspace in Europe reopened. The Daimler news was released during Monday's U.S. session. See Daimler results See Europe airlines

In Asia, bourses were buoyed by Wall Street's gains on Tuesday, with regional financial and airline stocks recovering some of the prior day's losses.

Crude oil futures rose as did most metals futures. The dollar /quotes/comstock/21o!x:susdjpy (CUR_USDYEN 92.9000, +0.4900, +0.5302%) rose by 0.5% on the Japanese yen.

U.S. stocks finished higher in see-saw trade on Monday, helped by a rebound in financial stocks such as Citigroup and Goldman Sachs a couple of hours before the close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 73.39 points, or 0.7%, to 11,092.05, and the S&P 500 also finished stronger, while the Nasdaq Composite ended with a slight fall.

Barbara Kollmeyer is an editor for MarketWatch in Madrid. Steve Goldstein is MarketWatch's London bureau chief.

NYSE Arca Morning Update - 08:30:00 ET

NYSE Arca Morning Update for Tuesday, Apr 20, 2010 :

STOCKS TRADING ON NYSE Arca AT A PRICE 15% OR MORE AWAY FROM
THE PREVIOUS TRADE DAY'S CONSOLIDATED CLOSE PRICE (AS OF 08:30:00 ET)

Stock Monday's Close Current Price Pct Change Current NYSE ARCA Vol
ARRY $3.02 $3.90 29.0% 197,038
CAVO $3.71 $4.73 27.5% 380

10 MOST ACTIVE STOCKS ON NYSE ARCA AS OF 08:30:00 ET

BASED ON DOLLARS TRADED: | BASED ON SHARES TRADED:
Stock $ Volume Price PctChg | Stock Share Vol Price PctChg
SPY $120580252 $120.49 0.5% | C 10,332,840 $4.98 1.8%
GS $82,591,497 $165.50 1.4% | SPY 1,000,648 $120.49 0.5%
C $50,941,536 $4.98 1.8% | CKR 962,327 $12.79 6.9%
IWM $21,340,253 $71.45 0.5% | BAC 587,639 $18.53 0.8%
RIG $15,990,703 $90.90 3.0% | ABK 539,425 $2.08 7.8%
CKR $12,331,534 $12.79 6.9% | GS 501,006 $165.50 1.4%
BAC $10,854,588 $18.53 0.8% | MTG 392,183 $10.93 (12.6%)
AAPL $5,776,068 $248.41 0.5% | IWM 298,782 $71.45 0.5%
MTG $4,364,833 $10.93 (12.6%) | ARRY 197,038 $3.90 29.0%
SDS $4,002,364 $29.16 ( 1.1%) | RIG 175,791 $90.90 3.0%

Price changes may be affected by symbol splits and dividends.

Consolidated close price is the last print (excluding prints with trade
conditions) prior to 4PM ET.

This information is also updated on our web page every morning at 8:35ET:
http://www.tradearca.com/data/volume/daily_update.asp

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