Welcome to The Daily Stock Report...brought to you by QualityStocks.Net, performance tracked daily. I'm Cathy Rankin and for Monday February 26th.... we're bringing you the latest news from around the markets as well as the top movers to look out for today... In Headline News Today... Stock prices slumped on Friday under the weight of a weak financial sector, which got marked down on concerns about the problems in the subprime mortgage market. While some experts have retained a moderately bullish outlook, some are still concerned that the market is getting ahead of itself, knowing that earnings growth will slow this year and that there is a lingering threat that the Fed will raise interest rates again. One of the factors contributing to the rate hike threat is the rebound in oil prices, which hit a high of $61.80 Friday on the April contract before sliding back on profit taking efforts to close at $60.92. Iran's defiance of the UN over its nuclear program and concerns about refinery production played a big part in oil's uptick this week. The energy sector was one of the few winning groups on Friday, but its gains got pared as oil prices retreated late in the session. The utilities sector was the market's strongest area as better than expected earnings from Nicor, the sector's defensive orientation, and a drop in market rates sparked buying demand for the income-oriented stocks. Broad-based weakness in the financial sector though, was the market's biggest stumbling block Friday that kept it from making any spirited rebound tries. REITs and investment banking stocks were the hardest hit by selling activity. Separately, the Treasury market fared well in a flight-to-quality trade that saw the 10-year yield gain 14 ticks and its yield drop to 4.67%. In Our Small Cap News today... some of the movers and shakers Quality Stocks Daily will be watching closely this week... Irish Mag, Inc. announced that it has completed its name change from Irish Mag, Inc. to China Public Security Technology Inc. The company is now trading under the ticker symbol CPBY on the OTC bulletin board. Irish Mag, Inc. also announced this month the completion of the second closing of its previously announced private placement of 7,868,422 shares of the Company's common stock to two accredited investors, led by Pinnacle China Fund, L.P., for gross proceeds of approximately $14.95 million, or a price per share of $1.90. Irish Mag, Inc. is a real-time Geographic Information System (GIS) solution provider in China. The Company provides a broad portfolio of fully integrated products and services, including system design and database management for Police-use GIS, Civil-use GIS, e-government and other security related products. Aviza Technology, Inc. announced Friday that it has priced its public offering of 4 million shares at a below-market price of $6.50 a piece... a discount of 12.6 percent to its closing price Thursday with about 16.2 million shares outstanding.. The company plans to use the proceeds for working capital, R & D and general corporate purposes. Aviza Technology, Inc. also announced this month that they reported positive results for the first quarter of fiscal 2007, which ended December 29, 2006. The company reported a fiscal first-quarter net profit of $1.13 million, or 7 cents a share. In the same quarter last year, the company posted a net loss of $4.63 million, or $1.25 a share. Revenue surged to $62.2 million from $28.9 million. Aviza engages in the design, manufacture, sale, and support of semiconductor capital equipment and process technologies for the semiconductor industry and related markets. American Skiing Company announced today that it had entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Killington and Pico resorts in Vermont to SP Land Company, LLC, for $83.5 million. Included in the sale are the resorts and all resort-owned operations, all of Killington/Pico's resort-owned real estate assets and The Wobbly Barn restaurant. In addition to the cash purchase price of $83.5 million, the buyer will also assume approximately $5 million of debt and other liabilities and certain contractual obligations of ASC. This sale is similar to the recent announcement of the sale of Mount Snow and Attitash resorts for $73.5 million and the December announcement of the planned $265 million sale of Steamboat resort. And that's it for the news makers... Be sure to join us every market day for the latest commentary... on small cap to large cap and everything in between brought to you by Quality Stocks. Net. Also be sure to watch for "The QualityStocks Daily Newsletter" available each trading day through QualityStocks.Net Thank you for tuning in, I'm Cathy Rankin. Have a great day and we'll see you next week, right here on the daily report.
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Added: Sep 24, 2007 |
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Author: QualityStocks |
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