Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Markets rally on China hopes

Dow surged 390 (closing at the highs), advancers over decliners 4-1 & NAZ went up 127.  The MLP index rose fractionally higher to the 351s & the REIT index added 4+ to the 296s.  Junk bond funds gained & Treasuries were sold.  Oil slid lower & gold was flattish.

AMJ (Alerian (MLP) Index tracking fund)









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General Electric, a Dow stock, secured approval from Europe's top antitrust authority for its acquisition of Alstom's power business after agreeing to sell assets to an Italian rival that regulators hope will become a strong new competitor in Europe.  The EU approval, which follows 8 months of tough negotiations, puts GE on the brink of closing its biggest ever deal.  US authorities are also expected to signal their approval.  Around 20 other regulators have already given the green light.  The EU antitrust chief said that the agency had "very carefully assessed" the deal amid concerns that it would lead to higher prices in Europe for large gas turbines.  "There was a great risk of choice going down and prices going up."  To assuage those concerns, GE agreed to sell "central parts of Alstom's heavy-duty gas turbines business" to Ansaldo Energia of Italy.  The divestments "will allow the purchaser to replicate Alstom's previous role in the market, thereby maintaining effective competition," the EU said.  When it was announced more than a year ago, GE valued the deal around €12.5B ($14B).  However, that has fallen to around €8.5B due to changes in the deal structure & price adjustments to reflect the EU's conditions.  The stock rose 96¢.  If you would like to learn more about GE, click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/GE?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7

EU Green Lights GE's Alstom Takeover Bid

General Electric (GE)



Google will start testing a delivery service for fresh food & groceries in 2 US cities later this year, stepping up competition with online retailers.  The trial will begin in San Francisco & another city, said Brian Elliott, general manager of Google Express, which already delivers merchandise, including dry foods, to customers.  "For a lot of our merchants that have been successful with this, we’re not representing the whole store today," GOOG said.  "It’s in our incentive, as well as the merchant’s incentive, for us to help customers get the full store delivered to them."  The company is investing in delivery services for homes & businesses as it seeks to lure more traffic to its websites.  Online groceries are a $10.9B industry, & the market is expected to grow 9.6% annually thru 2019.  GOOG is also expanding next-day deliveries in the Midwest for more than 25M potential customers in places such as Indiana, Wisconsin & Ohio.  The fresh-food trial, including fruits & vegetables, is part of a move away from making deliveries from warehouses, which can add complexity & requires refrigeration.  Giving customers more options should help to boost profit and sales, he said.  The stock jumped 13+.  If you would like to learn more about GE, click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/GOOG?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7

Google to Start Testing Grocery Deliveries This Year

Google (GOOG)



Microsoft, another Dow stock, acquired Israeli security software maker Adallom for $250M to add products to protect its cloud & Office programs.  The software giant announced the deal in a blog post.  MSFT is trying to boost its cloud & productivity offerings & wants Adallom’s programs to buttress existing security software included in products such as Office 365 & the Enterprise Mobility Suite.  Adallom, was founded in 2012 & its headquarters are in Palo Alto, California, with its research & development operations based in Tel Aviv.  This is the 3rd Israeli company to be acquired in the past year by MSFT, which purchased text-analysis startup Equivio in Jan & enterprise security firm Aorato in Nov 2014.  Adallom’s 3 founders are veterans of the Israeli Army’s elite Unit 8200 intelligence corps, a group likened to the US National Security Agency that has become a breeding ground for the country’s technology startups.  The company’s name is an abbreviation of the Hebrew phrase “ad halom,” which translates to “up to here” & means “the last line of defense” in game theory.  Adallom’s founders will join MSFT as part of the deal.  The stock gained 1.28.  If you would like to learn more about MSFT, click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/MSFT?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7

Microsoft to Pay $250 Million for Security Vendor Adallom

Microsoft (MSFT)



With today's advance, Dow is within a breath of break-even for the early part of Sep.  But the news is not all that special.  Markets here were closed yesterday & China was closed for the last 2 days of last week.  Maybe this is catch up.  Who knows?  It is not clear that Chinese leaders have some magic to boost growth which has the makings of the worst year in the last 25.  Obviously there was no news on hopes for the FOMC passing up a rate hike next week.  Dow remains down a substantial 1.2K since Jul 31.

Dow Jones Industrials







 

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