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Orvis

04/20/11 12:13 PM

#66411 RE: 3xBuBu #66403

bought pii calls on the bounce this am which hasn't stopped.

in the meantime I'm closing out marginal positions on this mkt bounce and playing the faster movers. I will still be looking for a downturn before June

3xBuBu

04/21/11 8:11 PM

#66445 RE: 3xBuBu #66403

Market Update: 110421
4:35 pm : Stocks finished this holiday-shortened week on a high note, thanks largely to another big batch of better-than-expected earnings. Broad buying during the past two sessions gave the Dow and S&P 500 weekly gains of little more than 1%, but the Nasdaq Composite climbed 2% this week.

The Nasdaq outperformed its counterparts during the past couple of sessions with help from large-cap tech issues. Intel (INTC 21.46, +0.05) was a leader among tech issues in the prior session, but today Apple (AAPL 350.70, +8.29) and Qualcomm (QCOM 56.94, +1.67) were primary benefactors of the tech sector's bounce. As a group, tech stocks scored a 1.0% gain.

Materials stocks lack the collective weight of tech issues, but their 1.1% gain didn't go unnoticed. DuPont (DD 55.91, +0.54) was a strong performer following its upside earnings surprise. Better-than-expected results also helped Newmont Mining (NEM 59.23, +0.38) settle higher, although the stock surrendered some of its gains.

Financials put together their best gain of the week by advancing 0.6%. Dow component Travelers (TRV 61.32, +2.19) was a leader as its shares climbed to a record year high with help from strong quarterly results. Consumer finance play Capital One (COF 53.26, +2.73) also surged, but peer American Express (AXP 47.11, +0.11) put together only a modest gain amid a positive earnings surprise. Morgan Stanley (MS 26.48, +0.44) also had a stronger-than-expected quarter, but the stock forfeited some of its gains.

Blue chips General Electric (GE 19.95, -0.45), Verizon (VZ 36.91, -0.88), and McDonalds (MCD 76.91, -1.49) both had better-than-expected bottom lines, but neither scored a gain. GE actually augmented its report with a dividend hike.

Pfizer (PFE 19.79, -0.60) fell sharply after reports indicated that deaths were reported in relation to one of the company's drug tests. Amgen (AMGN 53.69, -2.49) was also a source of weakness following its latest quarterly report, but an upside earnings surprise from UnitedHealth (UNH 47.81, +3.57) offered some support to the overall health care sector, which settled with a tame gain of 0.3%.

Data, although generally disappointing, did little to disrupt today's broad market advance. Initial jobless claims for the week ended April 16 totaled 403,000, which is greater than the 390,000 claims that had been expected, on average, among economists polled by Briefing.com. Week over week, initial claims came down by 13,000. As for continuing claims, they fell 7,000 week over week to 3.70 million.

The latest Philadelphia Fed Index for April dove sharply to 18.5 from 43.4 in the prior month. It had been expected to come in at 33.0.

Leading Indicators for March increased 0.4%. That is down from the 0.8% increase in the prior month, but greater than the 0.2% increase that had been widely expected.

As a reminder, the observance of Good Friday will keep U.S. markets closed tomorrow.

Advancing Sectors: Materials (+1.1%), Tech (+1.0%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.6%), Financials (+0.6%), Energy (+0.6%), Health Care (+0.3%), Telecom (+0.3%), Utilities (+0.2%), Industrials (+0.2%)
Unchanged: Consumer Staples
Declining Sectors: (None)DJ30 +52.45 NASDAQ +17.65 NQ100 +0.8% R2K +0.7% SP400 +0.6% SP500 +7.02 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1532/1.87 bln/1040 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1960/811 mln/1022

3:30 pm : Weakness in the dollar once again helped select commodities move higher today. June gold rallied for 0.3% to close at $1504.00 per ounce, while May silver surged 3.8% to settle at $46.13 per ounce. Once again, the metals rallied to fresh all-time and 31 yr highs, respectively. In overnight trade, gold traded to $1509.60, while silver traded to $46.40 per ounce in pit trade.

May natural gas rallied on the back of this morning's inventory data to close higher by 2.4% to $4.41 per MMBtu. A smaller-than-expected build helped natural gas traded to its best since April 1. June crude oil finished up 0.8% to $112.29 per barrel. On the week, crude gained 2.4%. Today's rally was underpinned by weakness in the dollar as well. DJ30 +26.60 NASDAQ +14.55 SP500 +5.12 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1356/1.5 bln/1185 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1812/576.2 mln/1153

3:00 pm : Participants have been inundated with earnings reports, but the flow slows a bit tonight. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 8.67, +0.04) and SanDisk (SNDK 49.10, +0.65) are among the more widely held names scheduled to report after the close. No major companies are slated to report tomorrow, which is Good Friday. U.S. markets, both bond and stock, will be closed tomorrow in its observance.DJ30 +29.93 NASDAQ +15.29 SP500 +5.80 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1361/1.40 bln/1161 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1821/508 mln/1125

2:30 pm : In-line earnings from Southwest Airlines (LUV 11.38, -0.25) have been met with a negative response among today's traders. That has dropped the stock to a 2% loss. Shares of LUV actually set a new six-month low this morning. Weakness in shares of LUV hasn't exactly imbued the rest of the airline space, given that shares of US Airways (LCC 8.12, -0.02) and Delta Air Lines (DAL 9.12, +0.05) are mixed in current trade.DJ30 +30.61 NASDAQ +15.98 SP500 +6.18 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1321/1.31 bln/1211 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1781/469 mln/1158

2:00 pm : Health care stocks have taken a sharp turn lower in recent trade, leaving the sector to trade with only a fractional gain. The downturn comes as Pfizer (PFE 19.52, -0.87) drops precipitously to a session low. Initial chatter suggests that there is concern about Eular abstracts. Abbot Labs (ABT 52.37, +1.57) has pushed sharply higher in response.DJ30 +25.01 NASDAQ +13.43 SP500 +5.45 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1303/1.21 bln/1218 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1757/430 mln/1174

1:30 pm : The U.S. Treasury market closes in 30 minutes. It will remained closed tomorrow, along with the U.S. equity market, in observance of Good Friday. Treasuries are up with only narrow gains in the waning minutes of this session. That has kept the yield on the benchmark 10-year Note at 3.40%. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom's 10-year Note is currently yielding 3.43%; France's 10-year Note currently yields 3.61%; Germany's 10-year Bund yields 3.26%, and; Japan's 10-year Note yields 1.24%.DJ30 +32.01 NASDAQ +14.31 SP500 +5.94 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1328/1.13 bln/1184 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1801/401 mln/1114

1:05 pm : The major equity averages have modestly extended the prior session's sharp rally. The effort comes on the back of a big batch of earnings.

Apple (AAPL 352.12, +9.71) and Qualcomm (QCOM 56.85, +1.58) both posted pleasing results for the latest quarter, helping drive the tech sector to a 1% gain.

Financials have even garnered support after they had lagged in the past couple of sessions and even faltered this morning. That sector is up 0.6% amid leadership from Morgan Stanley (MS 26.61, +0.57), BlackRock (BLK 197.78, +4.06), and Dow component Travelers (TRV 60.98, +1.85). However, consumer finance plays Capital One (COF 53.45, +2.92) and American Express (AXP 47.18, +0.18) are up with varied gains while regional banks Fifth Third (FITB 13.12, -0.20), SunTrust (STI 27.26, -0.37), and BB&T (BBT 25.78, -0.81) have struggled. All of them announced earnings that exceeded what Wall Street had expected.

General Electric (GE 19.97, -0.43) also announced upside earnings and threw in a dividend hike. Fellow industrial outfit Honeywell (HON 60.83, +2.09) had stronger-than-expected earnings of its own, but complemented its report with an improved forecast.

Dow component McDonalds (MCD 77.11, -1.29) has handed back all of yesterday's gain, despite strong earnings. Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG 278.60, -9.50) has also dropped, despite better-than-expected earnings and its addition to the S&P500. However, Yum! Brands (YUM 54.44, +2.89) has spiked to a new 52-week high, even though earnings from the owner of KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and Long John Silver's came short of the consensus estimate.

Health care stocks are off of session highs, but they continue to sport a collective gain of 0.7% following a strong response to the latest results from UnitedHealth (UNH 47.83, +3.59) and Boston Scientific (BSX 7.29, +0.21). Amgen (AMGN 53.46, -2.72) has dropped sharply following its latest quarterly report.

Neither Schlumberger (SLB 89.90, +2.01) nor Noble (NE 42.31, -1.12) managed to meet earnings estimates, but Diamond Offshore (DO 77.65, +1.25) posted an upside surprise. The energy sector has managed to muster a modest gain of 0.3%. Oil prices trade with the same gain at $111.75 per barrel.

To an extent, the barrage of earnings reports has overshadowed today's data, which have been generally disappointing. Specifically, the latest initial jobless claims tally totaled a greater-than-expected 403,000 and the Philadelphia Fed Index for April fell precipitously to 18.5, which is less than expected. Leading indicators for March increased by a stronger-than-expected 0.4%, though. DJ30 +37.58 NASDAQ +15.23 SP500 +6.36 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1351/1.05 bln/1142 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1777/372 mln/1107

12:30 pm : The major equity averages are drifting along sideways in relatively quiet trade, but the action has allowed stocks to hold steady to this session's gains. The stock market's recent strength has left the S&P 500 less than 10 points shy of its 52-week high.DJ30 +31.64 NASDAQ +14.52 SP500 +6.18 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1322/960 mln/1148 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1737/340 mln/1122

12:00 pm : Despite upside earnings surprises and reaffirmed guidance from both Verizon (VZ 37.01, -0.78) and American Electric (AEP 35.33, -0.20), their shares are under pressure. Their losses reflect the market's lack of interest in stodgier plays this session. That said, though, Philip Morris International (PM 67.84, +1.36) is up 2% following its latest quarterly report, which featured an upside earnings surprise, but had the added distinction of upside guidance.DJ30 +30.73 NASDAQ +15.18 SP500 +6.13 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1312/843 mln/1146 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1706/312 mln/1130

11:30 am : Financials faltered in the early going, but the sector has battled back to a 0.5% gain. Although that is only in line with what the broader market is achieved, it marks a change in tone from the past couple of sessions, which saw the sector trade as a laggard. Investment banks and brokerages have been a key source of support for the sector following strong results from Morgan Stanley (MS 26.62, +0.58).DJ30 +25.88 NASDAQ +14.33 SP500 +6.01 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1287/732 mln/1147 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1663/265 mln/1149

11:00 am : Tech stocks are outperforming for the second straight session. Semiconductor stocks were a primary source of strength for the tech sector yesterday, when they collectively climbed more than 3%, but today they are down about 0.4%. Replacing semiconductors as tech leaders are Apple (AAPL 351.04, +8.63) and Qualcomm (QCOM 56.75, +1.48), which both posted pleasing quarterly reports. Western Digital (WDC 41.42, +0.75) has also provided a boost to the sector, even though the company's latest earnings were only in line with expectations and the firm offered downside guidance during its conference call.DJ30 +11.24 NASDAQ +11.10 SP500 +4.77 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1216/575 mln/1177 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1559/210 mln/1214

10:35 am : Natural gas ran up to new session highs of $4.35/MMBtu about 30 minutes before pit trading began earlier this morning. Over the next hour, it pulled back over 1% and fell into negative. Just ahead of inventory data, natural gas was about 0.2% higher at $4.32/MMBtu. Following the data, which showed a build of 47 bcf versus consensus of a build of 50 bcf, natural gas moved to new session highs and is now up 0.6% at $4.33/MMBtu.

Crude oil was in positive territory during the overnight and morning session. When pit trading began crude gained steam for just over 10 minutes before pulling back almost $1/barrel and falling into the red. Crude extended losses, but remained above the $111.00/barrel level. In current activity, crude is $0.01 lower at $111.44/barrel.

Precious metals have been higher all session. Gold hit another new all-time highs this morning at $1509.60/oz and is currently 0.4% higher at $1504.20/oz. Silver hit new ~31 year highs of $46.27/oz. Silver is currently up 3.2% higher at $45.90/oz.

Overnight, grains posted modest gains. Wheat rose 0.7% to $7.91/bu, corn rose 0.6% to $7.37/bushel and soybeans gained 0.4% to $13.63/bu.DJ30 +19.56 NASDAQ +9.91 SP500 +4.62 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1146/413.3 mln/1161 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1465/167.1 mln/1258

10:05 am : Stocks have slipped in response to the latest dose of data. That has left the Dow at the flat line, but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are still holding on to narrow gains.

The latest Philadelphia Fed Index dove sharply in April. It came in at 18.5 after it had been at 43.4 in the prior month. The consensus among economists polled by Briefing.com had called for an April reading of 33.0.

As for Leading Indicators, they increased 0.4% for March after a 0.8% increase in the prior month. Although leading indicators slowed in March, their increase still exceeds the 0.2% increase that had been widely expected.

Advancing Sectors: Health Care (+0.8%), Tech (+0.6%), Materials (+0.5%), Consumer Staples (+0.3%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.2%), Telecom (+0.2%), Utilities (+0.1%)
Declining Sectors: Financials (-0.1%), Industrials (-0.1%), Energy (-0.1%)DJ30 +5.07 NASDAQ +9.32 SP500 +3.54 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1238/220 mln/997 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1563/95 mln/1078

09:45 am : The major equity averages are up with solid gains this morning. Support is largely broad based, but financials continue to have a hard time attracting meaningful buying interest. In turn, the financial sector is up with only a fractional gain.

Although the overall financial sector hasn't been able to do much this morning, Morgan Stanley (MS 26.84, +0.80) is up 3% this morning, thanks to a pleasing quarterly report. Travelers (TRV 60.88, +1.75) is also up nicely, as is Capital One (COF 52.14, +1.61). However, American Express (AXP 46.21, -0.72) is down sharply. Regional banks Fifth Third (FITB 12.80, -0.52), SunTrust (STI 27.34, -0.29), and BB&T (BBT 25.38, -1.21) have offset some of their strength. DJ30 +13.25 NASDAQ +9.69 SP500 +4.69 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1625/65 mln/473 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1609/39 mln/484

09:15 am : S&P futures vs fair value: +7.90. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +21.70. Although they are imperfect indicators, stock futures suggest that today's trade will open with a healthy gain, which will add to the 1% climb that the broad market made yesterday. Buying support continues to come on the back of better-than-expected earnings. A somewhat disappointing initial jobless claims tally tried to undermine enthusiasm, but participants are still looking forward to the Philadelphia Fed Index and the latest leading indicators (10:00 AM ET). Action abroad has further perpetuated a positive tone; many major global averages are building on their own recent gains. Commodities continue to find favor as well. As such, gold prices are back to trading a few dollars above $1500 per ounce while silver prices are up more than 3% so that they trade at their best levels in more than 30 years, close to $46 per ounce. Precious metals have been helped by both momentum and the dollar's ongoing doldrums. The greenback was last quoted with a 0.5% loss against the euro at $1.458. The euro actually set a new 16-month high of about $1.465 earlier this morning.

09:05 am : S&P futures vs fair value: +6.90. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +20.70. Overseas markets have helped provide a positive backdrop to this morning's trade. In Europe, broad strength has the EuroStoxx 50 up 0.7%, which is enough to take it above its 50-day moving average for the first time in more than a month. Germany's DAX is up 0.7%, which comes on top of its near 3% surge in the prior session. France's CAC is currently up 0.5%. Britain's FTSE is lagging, though; it is mired near the neutral line. Metal and mining outfit Anglo American issued an interim statement on first quarter production that indicated platinum production is up 19%, nickel is up 27%, and copper is up 14%. Nokia (NOK) is headliner among European issues today -- the Finnish phone and handset maker posted strong quarterly results. As for data, retail sales in the United Kingdom increased 0.2% in March after a 0.8% decline in February. Germany's IFO Business Climate reading for April came in at 110.4, down from 111.1 in the prior month.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei advanced 0.8% overnight. It was led by Fujitsu and TDK Corp. TDK was actually a laggard in the prior session. Tokyo Electric Power, or TEPCO, was a noteworthy laggard in the latest round of trade. Japan's final reading for its February Leading Index was unchanged at 104.2. Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed another 1.0%, following a 1.6% advance in the prior session. Mainland China's Shanghai Composite put together a 0.7% gain after it had advanced only modestly the day before. Coal-related issues were leaders in its latest round of trade.

08:35 am : S&P futures vs fair value: +6.20. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +18.70. Stock futures have eased back a bit following the release of the latest weekly jobless claims tally. Initial jobless claims for the week ended April 16 totaled 403,000, which is greater than the 390,000 claims that had been expected, on average, among economists polled by Briefing.com. Week over week, initial claims came down by 13,000. As for continuing claims, they fell 7,000 week over week to 3.70 million. The latest Philadelphia Fed Index and leading indicators reading are still on the calendar. They are both due at 10:00 AM ET.

08:05 am : S&P futures vs fair value: +8.70. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +24.20. A barrage of better-than-expected earnings results has bolstered buying interest ahead of the open. Apple (AAPL) is among this morning's headliners; its shares are quoted nearly 5% higher following a pleasing report last evening. Per usual, though, the company issued a tepid forecast. Fellow Nasdaq component Qualcomm (QCOM) also posted pleasing results, and complemented its report with upside guidance. Dow components McDonalds (MCD), Verizon (VZ), General Electric (GE), and Travelers (TRV) all exceeded earnings expectations, too. Morgan Stanley (MS) also posted an upside surprise. Continued buying abroad has also helped sentiment ahead of today's open -- both Asia and Europe have staged strong gains. The latest weekly jobless claims count is due at the bottom of the hour. Leading economic indicators for March follow at 10:00 AM ET, which is also when the Philadelphia Fed Survey will be released. Natural gas inventory data are due at 10:30 AM ET. As a reminder, the U.S. trading week ends today; observance of Good Friday tomorrow will keep U.S. markets closed.

06:55 am : [BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: +10.30. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +25.20.

06:55 am : Nikkei...9685.77...+79.00...+0.80%. Hang Seng...24138.31...+242.20...+1.00%.

http://finance.yahoo.com/marketupdate/update


5:56PM Tower Group releases estimate of weather-related losses at $0.16-0.23; co maintains its 2011 oper. EPS at $2.70-2.90 vs. $2.69 consensus (TWGP) 22.00 -0.24 : Co estimates that its losses from the increase in weather-related claims activity resulting from Northeast U.S. winter storms will be in the range of $6.5 million to $9.8 million after tax, or $0.16 to $0.23 per diluted share. The previously issued 2011 earnings guidance included a provision for winter storm losses. As a result, TWGP is maintaining its previously issued guidance and expects 2011 operating EPS to be in the range of $2.70-2.90 vs. the $2.69 Thomson Reuters consensus.

5:41PM Valeant Pharmaceuticals responds to Cephalon Board's letter (VRX) 52.42 +0.11 : Valeant Pharmaceuticals International (VRX) issued the following statement to shareholders of Cephalon (CEPH): In a letter to its shareholders today, the Cephalon Board of Directors stated that it "is presently undertaking a review of all of the Company's alternatives and options - and is focused on maximizing Cephalon shareholder value." We know for certain that Cephalon has not engaged with Valeant despite what we believe to be a compelling all-cash $73 per share offer, even though we have repeatedly stated that our offer price could increase if Cephalon engaged with us and permitted us to conduct due diligence.

5:39PM Inphi reduces litigation after rejections of Netlist claims by the U.S. Patent Office (IPHI) 19.91 -0.14 : After reexaminations and continued rejections of claims of certain Netlist (NLST) patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Inphi (IPHI) announced that Inphi and Netlist jointly filed, and the U.S. District Court has accepted, a stipulated dismissal of Inphi's lawsuit against Netlist. The lawsuit asserted that Netlist was infringing certain Inphi patents related to DDR3 technology and was filed in November 2009 after Netlist had brought a lawsuit alleging that Inphi infringed certain Netlist patents.

5:30PM CIT agrees to sell Dell-related Canadian and European assets and functions to Dell (CIT) 42.20 -1.06 : CIT Group Inc. (CIT), a provider of financing to small businesses and middle market companies, and Dell (DELL) announced that Dell intends to acquire Dell Financial Services (DFS) Canada Ltd. In a separate transaction, Dell also intends to buy CIT's Dell-related assets and sales and servicing functions in Europe. Terms of the transactions were not disclosed and are subject to customary closing conditions. In addition, CIT recently signed agreements with Dell to formalize its existing agreements in Latin America. CIT will also continue to provide financing programs with Dell in select countries around the world. These programs remain in place and are not impacted by today's announcement. CIT Vendor Finance will continue to maintain a presence in Canada and Europe while serving its vendor partners in these regions.

5:14PM Ixia sees Q2 revenues in the range of $78-82 mln, Thomson Reuters consensus $81.35 mln; sees Q2 EPS in the range of $0.14-0.17, Thomson Reuters consensus $0.16... non-GAAP gross margin between 78-80% (XXIA) :

5:13PM MDU Resources announced that Fidelity Exploration & Production Co adds second rig to support Bakken Development Program (MDU) 23.41 : Co announced that its natural gas and oil production subsidiary has moved a second drilling rig into the Bakken oil play and is preparing to kick off a growing multi-year development program. Fidelity plans to invest about $2.1 bln over the next five years, including $306 mln in 2011, to develop existing reserves and fund additional leaseholds.

5:10PM PG&E Corp to Elect New Chairman and CEO; Peter A. Darbee to Retire (PCG) 45.18 +0.05 : The Board of Directors of PG&E Corporation (PCG) announced that it will elect a new Chairman, CEO and President in the weeks ahead to succeed current Chairman, CEO and President Peter A. Darbee, who will retire effective April 30, 2011. On an interim basis, the board has named its Lead Director, Lee Cox, to serve as Chairman, CEO and President. Cox is the retired Vice Chairman of AirTouch Communications, Inc., and retired President and Chief Executive Officer of AirTouch Cellular. He has been a member of PG&E's board since 1996.

5:02PM AGL Resources, Nicor receive antitrust clearance (AGL) 40.24 +0.19 : AGL Resources (AGL) and Nicor (GAS) announced that the companies have received early termination of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act (HSR) waiting period from the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission as requested.

5:02PM Spectra Energy Partners raises quarterly cash distribution to $0.46 Per Unit LP from $0.45 last quarter (SEP) 33.50 +0.18 :

5:01PM Gas Natural announces acquisition of pipeline assets from Marathon Petroleum Company, LP (EGAS) 11.67 -0.11 : Co announced the acquisition of pipeline assets from Marathon Petroleum Company, LP, by its subsidiary, Spelman Pipeline Holdings, LLC (an Ohio Limited Liability Company). Spelman intends to convert the Ohio pipelines to transport natural gas to new markets where natural gas service is not currently available as well as to link it to markets served by its Ohio affiliates.

5:00PM MTR Gaming Group announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Jeffrey J. Dahl, President and CEO of the Co, as a director to fill a vacancy on the Board. (MNTG) 2.52 +0.09 :

4:55PM ITT Corporation announces key management positions for post-separation companies (ITT) 58.69 -0.31 : Co announced the leaders who are expected to take the future roles of chief financial officer and general counsel and corporate secretary in the three new companies that will be formed upon completion of the Corp's previously announced plan to spin off its defense and water businesses later this year. Future Chief Financial Officers and General Counsel selected and will take office upon completion of company separation plan: Thomas Scalera and Burt Fealing identified as CFO and GC at new ITT; Mike Speetzen and Frank Jimenez identified as CFO and GC at new water co; Peter Milligan and Ann Davidson identified as CFO and GC at new defense co. Scalera is currently vice president of corporate finance for ITT Corp. He joined ITT in 2006, as director of financial planning and analysis, Speetzen is currently vice president of finance for Fluid and Motion Control. He joined ITT in 2009 as vice president of finance for Fluid Technology, Milligan is currently vice president and chief financial officer for ITT Defense & Information Solutions. Previously, he served as the vice president and controller for ITT's Electronic Systems business, and prior to that, led ITT's investor relations organization.

4:38PM Velti issues reminder of AIM delisting (VELT) 15.88 -0.06 : Co issues a reminder that, pursuant to AIM Rule 41, its shares will cease to be admitted to trading on AIM, effective May 3, 2011. The cancellation will take effect at 7:00 a.m on May 3, 2011. Accordingly, trading of the Co's ordinary shares on AIM will cease following close of trading on April 28, 2011.

4:32PM MarkWest Energy increases quarterly cash distribution to $0.67; an increase of $0.02 per common unit, or 3%, over the fourth quarter 2010 distribution (MWE) 50.16 +0.43 :

4:31PM SVB Financial Group to resume trading at 16:40 ET (SIVB) 57.25 +0.56 :

4:31PM McGrath RentCorp announces new note purchase and private shelf agreement (MGRC) 27.40 +0.31 : Co announced that it has entered into an agreement for the issuance of $100 mln of 4.03% unsecured senior notes. The debt will have a five-year average life with a final maturity in April 2018. Proceeds from the offering will be used to repay outstanding borrowings under the Co's revolving credit facilities. The senior notes have been issued pursuant to a new $200 million note purchase and private shelf agreement with Prudential Investment Management. The agreement allows for the issuance of up to an additional $100 mln of senior notes on terms to be determined at such time that any additional notes are issued.

4:30PM Cognex received an order from Kiva Systems for 140 of its new DataMan 500 barcode readers (CGNX) 29.78 -0.03 :

4:27PM Cymer beats by $0.13, beats on revs; guides Q2 revs in-line (CYMI) 52.39 -0.44 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.94 per share, $0.13 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.81; revenues rose 35.7% year/year to $154.4 mln vs the $150.3 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of ~$157 mln vs. $156.94 mln Thomson Reuters consensus.

4:21PM First Financial beats by $0.05 (FFIN) 51.63 -0.01 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.78 per share, $0.05 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.73.

4:19PM Advanced Micro beats by $0.03, reports revs in-line; sees Q2 rev flat to slightly down QoQ, in-line (AMD) 8.71 +0.08 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.08 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.05; revenues rose 2.5% year/year to $1.61 bln vs the $1.61 bln consensus. Co sees Q2 rev flat to slightly down vs. the -1.4% consensus; Q1 GAAP gross margin of 42.8% vs. the 44.8% consensus. "First quarter operating results were highlighted by strong demand for our first generation of AMD Fusion Accelerated Processing Units (APUs). APU unit shipments greatly exceeded our expectations, and we are excited to build on that momentum now that we are shipping our 'Llano' APU."

4:19PM Intl Game Tech beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides FY11 EPS in-line (IGT) 16.31 +0.30 : Reports Q2 (Mar) earnings of $0.23 per share, $0.03 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.20; revenues rose 1.1% year/year to $492.3 mln vs the $479.2 mln consensus. Co raises guidance for FY11, sees EPS of $0.84-0.90, excluding $0.04 non-recurring gain, vs. $0.87 Thomson Reuters consensus.

4:18PM New York & Co appoints Jill Beraud and Michelle Pearlman to its Board (NWY) 6.49 -0.20 : Jill Beraud currently serves as PepsiCo (PEP) Americas Beverages' Chief Marketing Officer and President-Joint Ventures. Michelle Pearlman was Senior Vice President, President of the jewelry business unit, for Sears Holdings Corporation (SHLD).

4:18PM Synaptics beats by $0.07, reports revs in-line; guides Q4 revs below consensus (SYNA) 27.94 +0.95 : Reports Q3 (Mar) earnings of $0.55 per share, $0.07 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.48; revenues rose 22.5% year/year to $142.4 mln vs the $141.4 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revs of $138-146 mln vs. $146.54 mln Thomson Reuters consensus. "Our current outlook assumes some near-term revenue headwinds from consumer notebook market dynamics and, as previously indicated, the continuing mix shift within our delivery model for touchscreen solutions. However, with that mix shift we also expect our gross margin percentage to increase, providing additional operating leverage to our business model. Moving forward, we are very pleased with the level of interest we have seen in our expanded product portfolio. Design activity is robust across our customer base, and we are very well-positioned for continued success in our long-term growth markets."

4:18PM City National beats by $0.04, beats on revs (CYN) 56.11 -0.13 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.74 per share, $0.04 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.70; revenues rose 9.2% year/year to $275.2 mln vs the $256.3 mln consensus. City National's management continues to anticipate increased profitability in 2011, as asset quality continues to improve and annual credit costs move lower (excluding provisions related to FDIC-covered loans). However co says, it is likely that moderate economic growth, limited loan demand and the continuing decline of covered assets will limit overall average loan growth. Low interest rates will continue to place modest pressure on the company's net interest margin and wealth management income. Management expects to increase the company's already-strong capital ratios in 2011.

4:16PM Lucas Energy announces Wellhead oil price increase (LEI) 3.51 +0.01 : Co reported that the price received for crude from its major purchaser climbed to $96.10 per bbl for the month of March 2011 for the Gonzales County, Texas area. The price received for crude for same month for the East Texas properties was $112.28 per bbl. "Oil prices for March 2011 from our major purchaser are up 12% from December 2010 and 23% from March 2010," commented William A. Sawyer, President and CEO of Lucas Energy, who continued, "We anticipate continued improvement in our revenues due to higher oil prices in the current quarter."

4:15PM Mercury Computer announces strategic agreement with CommAgility (MRCY) 21.04 +0.17 : This agreement will allow Mercury to incorporate CommAgility and jointly-developed products into its existing platforms and to generate new solutions that exploit the latest Texas Instruments' (TXN) Digital Signal Processing technology, providing customers with a competitive advantage as they address a range of communications challenges including the progression from Long Term Evolution (LTE) to the LTE Advanced standard.

4:15PM SVB Financial Group beats by $0.28 (SIVB) 57.25 +0.56 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.76 per share, $0.28 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.48. SIVB reports an increase in net interest income (fully taxable equivalent basis) of $15.8 million, primarily due to higher investment yields and higher average balances of our available-for-sale securities. An increase in net interest margin to 2.96 percent for the first quarter of 2011, compared to 2.74 percent for the fourth quarter of 2010. A negative provision for loan losses of $3.0 million for the first quarter of 2011, compared to a provision of $15.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2010. The negative provision was due to higher net loan recoveries recognized in the first quarter of 2011 and overall improved credit performance across our client portfolio.

4:14PM Summit Hotel: AmericInn adds five franchised locations owned by Summit Hotel Properties (INN) 10.25 +0.02 : The properties, all formerly branded as Comfort Inn and Comfort Suites, are managed by Interstate Hotels & Resorts.

4:10PM Endologix reports 1Q11 net loss per share of ($0.09) vs. ($0.06) Thomson Reuters consensus; revenue increased 28% y/y to $18.5 mln vs. $18.35 mln consensus (ELGX) 7.85 +0.08 : ELGX reaffirms its FY11 revenue and GAAP net loss per share guidance of $78-$82 mln vs. $80.97 mln Thomson Reuters consensus, and ($0.25)-($0.30) vs. ($0.27) consensus.

4:10PM Polycom beats by $0.06, beats on revs (PLCM) 51.90 +1.72 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.48 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.06 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.42; revenues rose 24.6% year/year to $344.2 mln vs the $337.8 mln consensus.

4:09PM Avid Tech misses by $0.10, reports revs in-line (AVID) 21.32 +0.50 : Reports Q1 (Mar) loss of $0.02 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.10 worse than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.08; revenues rose 6.6% year/year to $166.3 mln vs the $167 mln consensus.

4:09PM Cytec beats by $0.08, beats on revs; reaffirms FY11 EPS guidance; announces extended contract, expected to generate revs of approximately $1.1 bln, with Lockheed (CYT) 54.51 +0.40 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.78 per share, excluding items, $0.08 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.70; revenues rose 18.5% year/year to $766 mln vs the $706.5 mln consensus. Co reaffirms guidance for FY11, sees EPS of $3.15-3.50 vs. $3.35 Thomson Reuters consensus... Co also announced that its Engineered Materials business had signed a contract extension, covering the period from 2016 to 2020, with Lockheed Martin (LMT) for the supply of high-performance, structural composite and adhesive materials used in the manufacture of the multinational F-35 Lightning II Program or Joint Strike Fighter. Cytec expects the contract extension to generate revenues of approximately $1.1 billion.

4:09PM SanDisk beats by $0.03, beats on revs (SNDK) 48.99 +0.54 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $1.03 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $1.00; revenues rose 19.2% year/year to $1.29 bln vs the $1.26 bln consensus. Co reports Q1 non-GAAP gross margins of 43.1% vs 43.0% consensus. "Our embedded mobile business drove growth in the first quarter, and SanDisk executed well to deliver strong business results," said Sanjay Mehrotra, President and CEO. "We have been actively managing our supply chain following the recent events in Japan and believe we remain on track to deliver a strong 2011 for SanDisk."

4:08PM Misonix announces new distribution agreement for Colombia (MSON) 2.32 -0.04 : Co has entered into a new, three year, exclusive distribution agreement with Instrumentacion, S.A. based in Bogota, Colombia. Instrumentacion will sell and distribute the SonaStar Ultrasonic Surgical Aspirator and the BoneScalpel(TM) Ultrasonic Bone Cutter throughout Colombia. The agreement includes annual minimum purchase requirements.

4:07PM Data I/O reports Q1 revenues rose 12.7% y/y to $7 mln; net income $0.06 per share, comapred with $0.08 in prior year; no estimates available (DAIO) 5.91 +0.12 :

4:07PM C.R. Bard beats by $0.05, reports revs in-line (BCR) 104.34 +1.27 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $1.51 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $1.46; revenues rose 7.6% year/year to $700.3 mln vs the $694.2 mln consensus. "Through the strength of our diversified portfolio, we delivered strong revenue and earnings growth again this quarter, despite the fact that we saw no measurable improvement in hospital volumes and procedures. "

4:06PM Lattice Semi reports EPS in-line, beats on revs; guides Q3 rev above consensus; gross margin in-line (LSCC) 6.32 +0.12 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.09 per share, in-line with the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.09; revenues rose 13.0% year/year to $82.6 mln vs the $76.5 mln consensus. Lattice Semi sees Q2 rev flat to up 5% QoQ consensus calling for $79.3, with gross margin of 60-62% vs. 60.2% consensus. "This was a strong quarter for us across the board. Positive demand trends in the consumer, and industrial and other end markets were bolstered by a pick-up in the communications market. Of note, revenue came in well above the high-end of our prior guidance. Based on customer feedback, we believe that only $1 million to $2 million of the upside came from unexpected, Japan-related 'safety stock' buying; the rest of the upside reflects the continued strength in our business, along with higher than anticipated demand from our mainstream products. Adding to our momentum, we are pleased with the positive response from customers for our recently launched low power, low cost MachXO2."

4:06PM Digi Intl reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides Q3 EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides FY11 EPS in-line, revs in-line (DGII) 11.09 +0.20 : Reports Q2 (Mar) earnings of $0.09 per share, in-line with the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.09; revenues rose 10.2% year/year to $49.7 mln vs the $49.4 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.11-0.16 vs. $0.12 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q3 revs of $51-56 mln vs. $53.10 mln Thomson Reuters consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY11, sees EPS of $0.40-0.52 which is an increase of $0.12 at the lower end of the range from the guidance previously provided vs. $0.44 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees FY11 revs of $200-212 mln vs. $205.48 mln Thomson Reuters consensus. The co anticipates that the most likely full-year revenue will be approximately $206 mln.

4:05PM Obagi Medical appoints Albert F. Hummel President and CEO (OMPI) 12.55 +0.03 : Co announced that Albert F. Hummel has been appointed the Co's President and Chief Executive Officer. Hummel had been serving as interim President and Chief Executive Officer since October, 2010, and has served on the Co's Board of Directors since 2005. Hummel has nearly 40 years of diverse business and capital markets experience. He has served as Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Cobrek Pharmaceuticals, a privately-held pharmaceutical product development co, since 1998.

4:05PM H & R Block names Robert A. Gerard Chairman of the Board, effective immediately; Gerard replaces Richard Breeden, who stepped down April 18 (HRB) 17.67 -0.16 : Gerard is the general partner and investment manager of GFP, L.P., a private investment firm, and has been a member of the H&R Block board since October 2007. Previously, he was CEO of Royal Street Communications, a developer and operator of telecommunications networks.

4:05PM Chubb beats by $0.19, beats on revs (CB) 61.54 +0.68 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $1.35 per share, $0.19 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $1.16; revenues rose 3.4% year/year to $2.86 bln vs the $2.8 bln consensus.

4:05PM AmSurg reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides Q2 EPS in-line; guides FY11 EPS in-line, revs in-line (AMSG) 25.84 -0.30 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.38 per share, in-line with the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.38; revenues rose 6.0% year/year to $179.4 mln vs the $178.4 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.40-$0.42 vs. $0.42 Thomson Reuters consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY11, sees EPS of $1.64-$1.68 vs. $1.67 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees FY11 revs of $740-$770 mln vs. $754.84 mln Thomson Reuters consensus. Same-center revenues are expected to be in a range of 0% to a negative 1% for 2011. AMSG is expecting to open 18-20 new centers for the year, not including the NSC transaction.

4:04PM Ixia beats by $0.02, reports revs in-line (XXIA) 15.44 +0.19 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.16 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.14; revenues rose 26.7% year/year to $78.6 mln vs the $78.7 mln consensus.

4:04PM Robert Half beats by $0.01, beats on revs (RHI) 30.65 +0.43 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.18 per share, $0.01 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.17; revenues rose 19.5% year/year to $880.9 mln vs the $871.8 mln consensus.

4:03PM Preferred Bank reports net income of $0.01, compared to $0.20 in prior year, consensus -$0.03 (PFBC) 1.53 +0.07 : Net interest income before provision for loan and lease losses increased to $10.6 million from the $9.7 million recorded in the first quarter of 2010 and increased from $8.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2010. The Company's taxable equivalent net interest margin was 3.73% for the first quarter of 2011, an increase from the 3.07% achieved in the first quarter of 2010 and a significant increase from the 2.73% for the fourth quarter of 2010.

4:03PM Maxim Integrated reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides Q4 EPS in-line, revs in-line (MXIM) 26.15 +0.56 : Reports Q3 (Mar) earnings of $0.40 per share, in-line with the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.40; revenues rose 19.3% year/year to $606.8 mln vs the $605.5 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.40-0.44 vs. $0.42 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q4 revs of $610-640 mln vs. $619.74 mln Thomson Reuters consensus. Co reports their 90 day backlog at the beginning of the fourth fiscal quarter was $462 million.

4:02PM Williams Partners raises Q1 per-unit cash distribution to $0.7175 from $0.7025 (WPZ) 54.11 +0.03 :

4:01PM Williams Cos: Williams Partners (WPZ) to acquire most of Williams' remaining interest in Gulfstream System (WMB) 62.22 +0.33 : Williams Partners (WPZ) announced that it has agreed to acquire an additional 24.5% interest in the Gulfstream interstate gas pipeline system from WMB for $330 million. The acquisition will increase Williams Partners' ownership interest in Gulfstream to 49 percent and reduce Williams' direct ownership interest to 1 percent. Williams Partners' total consideration for the assets will include $297 million in cash and $33 million in WPZ limited-partner and general-partner units. Williams Partners expects the increased ownership interest in Gulfstream will generate approximately $20 million in additional segment profit for its gas pipeline business in 2011 and approximately $30 million in 2012.

4:01PM LaCrosse Footwear receives $2.4 million order from the United States Marine Corps (BOOT) 17.05 -0.35 :

4:01PM Informatica beats by $0.02, beats on revs (INFA) 53.10 +0.10 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.28 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.26; revenues rose 24.4% year/year to $168 mln vs the $164.5 mln consensus.

4:01PM SVB Financial Group unit has commenced cash tender offers to repurchase certain of its outstanding notes in order to reduce its debt (SIVB) 57.25 +0.56 : Co announces that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Silicon Valley Bank, has commenced cash tender offers to repurchase certain of its outstanding notes in order to reduce its debt. SVB is offering to repurchase for cash (i) any and all of its 5.700% Senior Notes due 2012 (the "Senior Notes") and (ii) any and all of its 6.050% Subordinated Notes due 2017. The repurchase of the Notes will be funded by cash on hand.

4:00PM Amazon.com announces an update to Kindle for Android that brings new features and adds support for tablet computers running Android's Honeycomb, including the Motorola Xoom (AMZN) 185.96 +2.09 :

3:49PM Prospect Capital announces that Prospect has increased total commitments to co's three-year $400 million revolving credit facility by $40 million to $325 million in the aggregate. (PSEC) 11.75 +0.18 :

3:23PM JPMorgan Chase and Lehman Brothers trustee reach agreement on return of customer assets (JPM) 44.51 -0.05 : Co announced that it has reached an agreement with the Lehman Brothers (LBI) Trustee to return more than $800 mln in Lehman customer assets to the LBI Estate for distribution to its customer claimants. The agreement will have no material financial impact on JPMorgan Chase. The agreement is subject to the approval of the United States Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York.

3:19PM CBOT Agriculture and Ethanol and ICE Exchange Sugar Closing Prices (COMDX) : Continuous corn futures rose 4 cents to $7.37/bu, cont. wheat rose 9 cents to close at $7.95, cont. soybeans rose 23 cents at $13.80, cont. ethanol closed higher by 0.03 cents at $2.61, while cont. world sugar futures closed 1 cent higher at 23.00 cents.

2:52PM AT&T files public interest statement with FCC on T-Mobile acquisition (T) 30.70 +0.57 : Co filed with the Federal Communications Commission its Public Interest Statement regarding its proposed acquisition of T-Mobile USA. "The filing demonstrates the numerous benefits of the merger, including the deployment of 4G LTE network technology to more than 97 percent of the population. When the parties announced this transaction in March 2011, AT&T initially stated that it would deploy LTE to 95 percent of the U.S. population. After conducting a more refined analysis of the combined network, AT&T is increasing the scope of this commitment to 97.3 percent. This deployment will help fulfill this Administration's pledge to connect every part of America to the digital age, and it will create new jobs and economic growth in the small towns and rural communities that need them most."

2:51PM Spectrum Pharma to resume trading at 15:10 (SPPI) 9.06 -0.03 :

2:42PM Spectrum Pharma announces FDA approval of FUSILEV's ready-to-use formulation (SPPI) 9.05 -0.03 : Co announces that the FDA has approved co's Supplemental New Drug Application for FUSILEV Injection. Unlike the currently available lyophilized product, this approval is for a "Ready-to-Use" formulation of FUSILEV for Injection. "We are pleased that the FDA has approved the 'Ready-to-Use' formulation of FUSILEV... As the name implies, the RTU formulation provides an additional option for physician and medical staff use. The RTU formulation requires no reconstitution, and is of a higher strength than the currently available lyophilized formulation." (Stock is halted)

2:36PM NYMEX Energy Closing Prices (COMDX) : June crude oil finished higher by 84 cents to settle at $112.29, May natural gas rallied for 10 cents to close at $4.41, May heating oil finished lower by 2 cents to $3.20, while May RBOB Gasoline ended higher by 3 cents to $3.31.

2:23PM Central European Dist reports it has amended its local Polish bank facility agreement (CEDC) 10.45 -0.07 : Co announced that it signed and agreed to an amended set of terms for its credit facilities with Bank Handlowy w Warszawie S.A. and Bank Zachodnia WBK S.A. As part of the amendment, the Company has agreed to repay the remaining 122.5 mln PLN ($45.20 mln) term facility while at the same time retaining the 120 mln PLN ($44.48 mln) overdraft facility which is currently not utilized.

2:09PM Teva Pharma makes statement on DEFINE study results (TEVA) 46599 -3.17 : "We acknowledge the results of the DEFINE study seem promising for patients. It is important to note that as a general rule, results obtained in clinical trials in multiple sclerosis (MS) cannot be compared, unless agents are tested in a head-to-head manner in the same trial. Methodological differences between the DEFINE and ALLEGRO studies, mainly in the definition of the key endpoints, only underscore the inability to compare these two important clinical trials. There are many considerations when choosing a treatment for MS. Based on the ALLEGRO results, Teva believes that laquinimod has the potential to be a safe, convenient and effective, once-daily oral therapy option with a unique mechanism of action that will address unmet needs for MS patients. It is important to remember that MS affects each person differently. It is of vital importance that patients have numerous treatment options available to choose from in order to find a therapy that best meets their needs and manages their symptoms. We are proud to offer patients COPAXONE today, and look forward to bringing our laquinimod product to market in the future." (see 9:02 comment)

2:02PM Donegal Group declares a quarterly dividend payable May 16 of $0.12 per share of Class A common stock and $0.1075 per share of Class B common stock; dividends represent increases of 4.3% for co's Class A and 4.9% for co's Class B compared to the previous quarterly dividend (DGICA) 13.50 -0.05 :

2:01PM XATA names Scott G. Christian Chief Financial Officer (XATA) 2.21 -0.01 : Co named Scott G. Christian as the company's chief financial officer. Christian was formerly president and chief executive officer of Spanlink Communications.

1:47PM Southwest Air says it intends to close on AirTran (AAI) acquisition May 2, 2011 (LUV) 11.48 -0.15 :

1:44PM US Airways Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Sabre (LCC) 8.17 +0.03 : Co files a federal civil antitrust lawsuit in the Southern District of New York against Sabre Holdings Corp. to halt anticompetitive and anticonsumer practices, as well as recover monetary damages. According to the complaint, Sabre, which is a dominant distributor of airline fares and content to travel agents, has engaged in a pattern of exclusionary conduct to shut out competition, protect its monopoly pricing power, and maintain its technologically-obsolete business model.

1:31PM COMEX Metals Closing Prices (COMDX) : June gold finished higher by $5.10 to $1504, May silver rallied for $1.67 to end at $46.13, while May copper closed up 5.1 cents to $4.3905.

1:30PM Schnitzer Steel announces that it has acquired substantially all of the assets of American Metal Group, Inc. and certain of its affiliates which operate from facilities in San Jose and Santa Clara, California (SCHN) 60.72 +0.17 :

1:26PM Myers Industries confirms two proxy advisory firms favor Myers Industries' board-recommended nominees for directors (MYE) 10.12 +0.11 : ISS and Glass Lewis conclude that GAMCO Asset Management, shareholder that has nominated its own two candidates for the Board, has failed for the third year in a row to provide a compelling argument either in favor of its candidates or against the Board-recommended nominees. The proxy advisory firms note that the Board's candidates are highly independent and that GAMCO has offered no substantive plans to improve upon the Company's ongoing strategy for value creation.

12:57PM IAMGOLD reports Q1 gold production of 290,000 attributable ounces at a cash cost of between $570 and $580 per ounce (IAG) 20.36 +0.29 : Co reports Q1 gold production of 290,000 attributable ounces at a cash cost of between $570 and $580 per ounce and niobium production of 1.1 million kilograms at a margin within the guidance range of $15 to $17 per kilogram.

12:57PM Dow +41 and S&P +7 edge just above very tight pre-holiday ranges in midday action -- Nasdaq Comp +16 just under opening high (SPY) :

12:53PM Limelight Networks issues statement regarding court order; will defend its position during the en banc process (LLNW) 6.99 +0.01 : Co confirms that the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued an order regarding Akamai's (AKAM) petition for rehearing and/or rehearing en banc. The Federal Court order denied the petition for rehearing, granted the petition for rehearing en banc, vacated the opinion of the Panel, and reinstated the appeal. The order set a briefing schedule and stated that a time and date for oral argument would be announced later. "As it has throughout this litigation, Limelight will defend its position during the en banc process that it does not infringe the '703 patent and that the judgment of the district court should be affirmed. Limelight believes the decision of the panel was correct and should be affirmed en banc. This was not an issue of first impression for the panel - its ruling affirmed the Court's precedent from earlier decisions. Limelight Networks welcomes the opportunity to assist the Court in addressing this area of the law." (see 10:49 comment)

12:47PM Silver to fresh session and ~31 yr highs at $4.629; gold pushing back towards highs (COMDX) :

* Silver now up $1.784 to $46.24.
* Gold higher by $1507.90 to $8.90.

12:32PM Canadian Natl Rail reached a voluntary mitigation agreement with the Village of Wayne, Ill. regarding its acquisition of the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway Company (CNI) 73.37 +0.17 :

12:28PM Notable movers of interest (SCANX) : The following are some of today's most notable movers of interest, categorized by market capitalization (large cap over $10 billion and mid cap between $2-10 billion) and ranked by % change (all stocks over 100K average daily volume).

Large Cap Gainers

* BIIB (104.45 +20.65%): beat EPS and revs consensus
* UNH (47.9 +8.28%): beat EPS and revs consensus; raised FY11 EPS and revs to above
* CNH (48.28 +7.09%): beat EPS and revs consensus; reaffirmed FY11 revs guidance
* YUM (54.07 +4.89%): missed on EPS but beat on revs
* COF (52.99 +4.87%): beat EPS and revs consensus

Large Cap Losers

* TEVA (45.81 -6.84%): weakness attributed to BIIB updated BG-12 oral MS drug data
* AMGN (53.51 -4.75%): beat EPS with in-line revs; reaffirmed FY11 EPS and revs guidance; provided positive Phase 2 Results of AMG 785/CDP7851 in patients with postmenopausal osteoporosis; guided for 2015; authorized repurchases of up to an additional $5 bln in Amgen common stock
* BBT (25.64 -3.57%): beat EPS but missed on revs
* WFT (20.5 -3.01%): missed EPS but beat on revs; guided Q2 EPS below consensus
* TEL (34.99 -2.03%): missed EPS with in-line revs; guided Q3 EPS below consensus, revs in-line; guided FY11 EPS below consensus, revs in-line

Mid Cap Gainers

* SLM (16.66 +15.21%): beat EPS; approved $300 mln share repurchase program; reinstated dividend
* FFIV (107.56 +7.84%): beat EPS with in-line revs; guided Q3 EPS above consensus, revs in-line
* TEX (35.17 +7.62%): missed EPS but beat on revs; raised FY11 revs in-line, reaffirmed EPS guidance
* WBC (68.53 +6.84%): announced that it expects its total sales growth from 2011 through 2015 to outperform growth driven by global commercial vehicle production by a compound annual CAGR of 8-10%, compared with its previously disclosed CAGR of 4-6% for sales in excess of market growth
* PENN (39.85 +6.72%): beat EPS with in-line revs; guided Q2 EPS, revs above consensus; guided FY11 EPS above consensus, revs in-line

Mid Cap Losers

* SYNT (52.13 -6.31%): missed EPS with in-line revs; guided FY11 EPS in-line, revs in-line
* ELN (7.89 -6.07%): beat EPS and revs consensus
* SINA (134.72 -5.68%): downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman
* PII (104.23 -5.49%): downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W. Baird
* LRCX (49.46 -4.96%): beat EPS with in-line revs

12:06PM Seeing some relative strength in Semi SMH, Finance XLF, Disk Drive, Medical Supplies, Telecom IYZ, REITs IYR in recent trade (TECHX) :

12:04PM NYSE Euronext: NASDAQ OMX Group (NDAQ) and IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) respond to NYSE Euronext's Board's continued rejection of NASDAQ OMX/ICE proposal (NYX) 39.08 -0.01 : The cos issued the following statement in response to the NYSE Euronext Board's continued refusal to discuss NASDAQ OMX/ICE's superior offer with NASDAQ OMX and ICE over the value offered under the existing agreement with Deutsche Boerse (DBOEY). "The agreement with Deutsche Boerse expressly permits NYSE Euronext to consider superior proposals and allow third-parties to conduct due diligence in these circumstances. NASDAQ OMX and ICE call on the NYSE Euronext Board of Directors to meet with them to better understand the proposal and provide them with limited due diligence under appropriate safeguards so that no competitive risks are posed to NYSE Euronext. NASDAQ OMX and ICE are also willing to provide mutual diligence to NYSE Euronext. Taking this small step would create no commitment and can only benefit stockholders."

12:04PM Verizon and Samsung Telecommunications America confirm that the DROID Charge by Samsung will be available for purchase on April 28 in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores (VZ) 37.03 -0.76 :

11:54AM Silver futures drop ~20 cents; currently higher by $1.459 to $45.92 (COMDX) :

11:46AM McDonald's slides under open trough to set a new session low of 76.50 (MCD) 76.56 -1.84 : The low for the week is at 76.40.

11:36AM Minor new highs for Dow +30 and S&P +6.3, Nasdaq Comp +14.6 holding slightly under its opening peak (SPY) : The S&P has reached 1337.00, its April peak is at 1339.46.

11:26AM Dow Chemical edges to new session high of 39.05, just above its previous 52-wk high from Feb at 39.00 (DOW) 39.04 +0.81 :

11:23AM Volume Alert -- Ultratech surges higher intraday on spike in volume, vacillating near its March peak at 29.66 (UTEK) 29.73 +2.71 : A conference call is currently in progress.

11:18AM Transocean issues update on Macondo incident; files cross-claims against BP (BP) entities and other parties involved in the Macondo well incident (RIG) 74.95 -0.66 : Co announces that an affiliate of BP plc on April 20, 2011 filed a cross-claim against Transocean entities in the existing Multi-District Litigation proceeding in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana for contribution pursuant to the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. Pursuant to an order of the court, co-defendants in a consolidated proceeding related to the Macondo well incident were required to file claims by April 20, 2011. To protect its rights, co also filed cross-claims against BP (BP) entities and other parties involved in the Macondo well incident to enforce its indemnification rights.

11:13AM Stock indices edging up toward top of tight morning ranges -- Dow +19, S&P +5.3, Nasdaq Comp +12 (SPY) : Seeing some modest relative sector strength in recent action in Oil Service OIH (WFT attempting to bounce off 200 ema again), Energy XLE, Materials XLB, Coal KOL, Copper JJC, Computer-Hardware, Disk Drive, Networking IGN, Internet FDN.

11:08AM Silver pushing back toward overnight highs; currently higher by $1.609 to $46.07 (COMDX) :

11:03AM NextEra Energy signs PPA with Google (GOOG) Energy to supply wind power (NEE) 55.64 -0.04 : NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, the competitive energy subsidiary of NextEra Energy (NEE), announces that it has entered into a power purchase agreement with Google Energy LLC. Google Energy will purchase 100.8 megawatts of clean, renewable energy from NextEra Energy Resources' Minco II Wind Energy Center under development in Grady and Caddo counties in Oklahoma.

11:01AM Natural gas continues its push higher, notching fresh highs at $4.401, its best levels since April 1; now up 8 cents to $4.39 (COMDX) :

10:52AM Ensco announces that a subsidiary of the Company has entered into a drilling contract for ENSCO 8504 with TOTAL E&P Deep Offshore Borneo B.V.; ; the initial contract term is for drilling three exploration wells for a minimum of 180 days with a base day rate of $423,500 (ESV) 57.29 +0.26 :

10:45AM Applied Industrial raised quarterly cash dividend by $0.02 to $0.19 per common share (AIT) 34.41 +1.07 :

10:40AM NYSE Euronext Board of Directors unanimously reaffirms rejection of proposal from Nasdaq (NDAQ) and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) (NYX) 39.14 +0.06 : NYSE Euronext (NYX) announces that its Board of Directors, consistent with its fiduciary duties and advised by its financial and legal advisors, has unanimously reaffirmed its combination agreement with Deutsche Boerse AG (DBOEY) and reaffirmed its rejection of the proposal from Nasdaq OMX Group (NDAQ) and IntercontinentalExchange (ICE). "Our Board has reviewed the information recently provided by Nasdaq/ICE in connection with their proposal and concluded that this proposal is substantially the same as what was previously rejected. Consequently, our view has not changed. This proposal does not provide compelling value, has unacceptable execution risk and is therefore not in the best interests of NYSE Euronext shareholders."

10:40AM Gold testing session lows at $1500.40; currently higher by $3.80 to $1502.70 (COMDX) :

10:38AM Capital One extends to new session high of 52.90, probing its March, Feb/52-wk highs at 52.87/52.98 (COF) 52.89 +2.36 :

10:31AM Natural gas moves to highs following inventory data; now up 4.9 cents to $4.359 (UNG) :

10:24AM China Wind Systems receives a follow-up order to supply 10 units of solar chamber subassemblies for $0.3 million for delivery in April 2011 and another order to supply 30 units for $0.8 million by June 2011 (CWS) 2.68 +0.13 :

10:24AM Stock indices working off limited pullback lows, Dow +26 and S&P +5.4 are hovering near session highs -- Nasdaq Comp +12 (SPY) : Some relative strength in recent trade has been noted in Finance XLF, Housing XHB, Retail XRT, Machinery (CNH, MTW, IR, HON, PWR, NAV), Computer-Hardware, Discretionary XLY.

10:18AM IBM displaying some relative strength, hovering near its session high of 165.79 (IBM) 165.78 +1.03 : This week's high from Tuesday is at 166.38 with the 52-wk peak from March at 167.72.

10:16AM Perrigo announces that the US Court of Appeals for the fourth Circuit affirmed an earlier decision that Mead Johnson (MJN) had engaged in false advertising resulting in an injunction prohibiting Mead Johnson from making similar claims and awarding damages in favor of PBM (PRGO) 88.40 +0.20 :

10:14AM Weatherford on defensive after reporting but is attempting to hold near this week's low and its 200 ema again at 20.33/20.29 -- session low 20.30 (WFT) 20.49 -0.64 :

10:12AM Post data slippage for stock indices very limited -- Dow +7, S&P +3.8, Nasdaq Comp +8.7 (SPY) : Minor dip following the weaker Philly Fed report but the S&P has thus far held near yesterday's high of 1332 (session low 1332).

10:01AM Raytheon receives a $173 million U.S. Army fiscal year 2010 contract for the production of Excalibur precision-guided projectile rounds for in-theater use (RTN) 48.49 -0.30 :

10:01AM Stock indices pullback after weaker data -- Dow +2.3, S&P +3.2, Nasdaq Comp +8.9 (SPY) :

9:53AM Oracle is vacillating near its early month/previous 52-wk high of 34.43 -- session high 34.44 (ORCL) 34.44 +0.33 :

9:45AM Stock indices pull back off opening highs -- Dow +16, S&P +4.8, Nasdaq Comp +9.9 (SPY) : Retail XRT, Housing XHB, Semi SMH have slipped back into the red.

9:40AM SPDR Retail tests its early month/52-wk peak at 53.12 and slips back into the red -- session high 53.12 (XRT) 52.70 -0.09 : GME -0.5%, WMT -0.1%, SHLD -0.6%, ANN -0.2%, WFMI -0.6%, HSNI -1%, PLCE -1.3%, KMX -0.2%, ARO -0.6%.

9:38AM S&P +5.7 edges slightly above its April close high at 1335, the April intraday high is at 1339 -- session high 1336.41 (SPY) :

9:37AM General Electric tested its early month high of 20.75 and rotated lower after only a minor penetration -- session high 20.80 (GE) 20.42 +0.02 :

9:35AM Travelers gap higher start probes its Feb/52-wk high of 61.15 -- session high 61.09 (TRV) 60.99 +1.86 :

9:31AM Merit Medical approves a five-for-four forward stock split of co's common stocks (MMSI) 23.43 :

9:24AM Morgan Stanley and MTU Announce Agreement to Convert Morgan Stanley Convertible Preferred Stock to Common Stock (MS) 26.04 : Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MTU) and Morgan Stanley (MS) announced that they have entered into an agreement to convert MUFG's outstanding convertible preferred stock in Morgan Stanley into Morgan Stanley common stock. Under the terms of the transaction, MUFG will exchange convertible preferred stock with a face value of $7.8 billion and a 10% dividend for 385 million shares of Morgan Stanley common stock, reflecting an increase in the conversion rate of 75 million shares and providing MUFG with an ownership interest in Morgan Stanley of 22.4%. Morgan Stanley's Tier 1 Common Ratio is expected to increase by more than 270 basis points as a result of this transaction to approximately 14.5% on a proforma basis as of March 31, 2011. Morgan Stanley's Tier 1 Capital and Tier 1 Leverage ratios are unaffected by this transaction.

9:21AM Simmons First National misses by $0.04 (SFNC) 25.80 : Reports Q1 (Mar) EPS of $0.30 vs $0.34 Thomson Reuters consensus. The co's allowance for loan losses was $27.9 mln at March 31, 2011, or 1.72% of total loans and 144% of non-performing loans. Non-performing assets as a percent of total assets were 1.32% as of March 31, 2011, an increase from 1.12% as of December 31, 2010. Non-performing loans as a percent of total loans were 1.19% as of March 31, 2011, an increase of 36 bps from 0.83% as of December 31, 2010.

9:20AM Energy Transfer announces expansion of its Eagle Ford Shale projects (ETP) 53.38 : Co announces it has entered into long-term fee-based agreements with multiple producers, including Rosetta Resources Operating LP, SM Energy Company, and a subsidiary of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (APC), to provide natural gas gathering, processing, and liquids services from the prolific Eagle Ford Shale. To facilitate these agreements, which include volume commitments in excess of 540,000 MMBtu per day of natural gas, ETP will significantly expand the previously announced Rich Eagle Ford Mainline pipeline in South Texas and will construct a new processing facility in Jackson County, Texas.

9:19AM Crude oil drops to flat line, giving up all overnight gains; currently off 5 cents to $111.40 (COMDX) :

9:19AM Celestica beats by $0.02, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 EPS, revs in-line; see 7:04 comment for purchase of BRKS's semi-equip. contract manufacturing ops. (CLS) 10.58 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.25 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.23; revenues rose 18.6% year/year to $1.8 bln vs the $1.79 bln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.22-0.28, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.25 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q2 revs of $1.75-1.90 bln vs. $1.82 bln Thomson Reuters consensus. Co also announced that it has agreed to acquire the semiconductor equipment contract manufacturing operations of Brooks Automation (BRKS), see 7:04 comment.

9:15AM Luna Innovations names My Chung to Serve as CEO and President (LUNA) 2.30 : announces that its Board of Directors has named My E. Chung to serve as the company's chief executive officer and president, effective as of April 25, 2011. On April 19, 2011, the Board also appointed Chung as a member of the Board, effective immediately. Chung has served since September 2009 as the senior vice president of worldwide sales for Sunrise Telecom.

9:12AM PPG Industries announce quarterly dividend increase of $0.02 to $0.57 per share (PPG) 94.54 :

9:10AM AeroVironment receives $11.5 million order for digital Puma systems and training services (AVAV) 27.49 :

9:09AM On The Wires (WIRES) :

* Group 1 Automotive (GPI) announced that it acquired a BMW and MINI dealership in El Paso, Texas. The franchises will operate as BMW of El Paso and MINI of El Paso and are expected to generate $55.0 million in estimated annual revenues.
* SRA International (SRX) announced that each have been awarded the indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity Information Technology Support Services 4 multi-award contract from the Department of Justice. There were 20 awardees on this multi-award IDIQ, which has an estimated ceiling value of more than $1 billion, with a base period of performance plus six option years.
* The Shaw Group (SHAW) announced it has been awarded a contract to provide front-end engineering and design for the replacement of two liquid storage tanks by Abu Dhabi Gas Liquefaction Company. The tanks are part of the ADGAS liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas facilities on Das Island, the center of storage and export operations for oil and gas extracted from the offshore fields of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
* Motorola Mobility (MMI) and NII Holdings (NIHD) announced they have agreed to extend a supplier agreement in which Motorola will supply iDEN handsets to NII Holdings through 2014. The continuation of this agreement reflects both companies' commitment to iDEN technology as a leading platform for Push to Talk services.
* University of Hawai'i Community Colleges and Johnson Controls (JCI) announced the start of a comprehensive energy efficiency and conservation program projected to save the university more than $58 mln in energy and operational savings over the life of the 20-year performance contract.

9:08AM Intuit reports 11 percent growth in TurboTax units through end of tax season (INTU) 56.07 : Through April 19, total TurboTax federal units were up 11 percent compared to the same period last year. Also through April 19, TurboTax Online units were up 18 percent compared to the same period last year. Intuit today also reiterated full-year Consumer Tax revenue growth guidance of 10 to 13 percent and company revenue growth guidance of 8 to 11 percent.

9:08AM Teekay Offshore announces 5.3% increase to cash distribution to $0.50 per unit (TOO) 293.45 :

9:03AM Nucor beats by $0.14, beats on revs; sees improvement in Q2 results (NUE) 46.48 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.50 per share, $0.14 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.36; revenues rose 32.3% year/year to $4.83 bln vs the $4.47 bln consensus. "Profitability improved significantly as we progressed through the quarter, as utilization rates increased and as price increases for steel mill products caught up with higher raw material costs. Although we are seeing some signs of market weakness that may impact results near the end of the second quarter, we expect second quarter results to be an improvement over the first quarter. We continue to see slow, steady improvement in real demand in certain end markets. This is most evident in products sold to the manufacturing/industrial sector, including special bar quality products, sheet and plate. We are keeping a watchful eye on imports as any measurable increase in import levels will be a threat to current market stability, particularly in the sheet markets. The most challenging markets for our products continue to be those associated with residential and non-residential construction. We will provide quantitative earnings guidance later in the quarter."

9:02AM Cardero Resource and Coalhunter Mining sign definitive arrangement agreement (CDY) 1.88 : Co and Coalhunter Mining Corporation announce that the companies have signed a definitive Arrangement Agreement under which the Cardero will acquire, through the previously announced Plan of Arrangement, all of the outstanding shares of Coalhunter. As set out in the Arrangement Agreement each Coalhunter shareholder holding shares as at the effective date of the Plan of Arrangement will receive 0.8 of a common share of the Company for each common share of Coalhunter held.

9:01AM Amgen provides guidance for 2015; sees revenues of $16-$18 bln; adjusted EPS of $7.25-$8.60; also authorized repurchases of up to an additional $5 bln in Amgen common stock (AMGN) 56.18 : Co outlined the Company's strategy, capital allocation plans and provided financial guidance for 2015 during a meeting with investors in New York. For 2015, co sees adjusted EPS of $7.25-$8.60, on revs of $16-$18 bln. The co's guidance was supported by plans to build the denosumab franchise to $3-$4 billion of worldwide sales by 2015, an operating plan to drive margin improvement and a clear capital allocation plan. The Board also authorized repurchases of up to an additional $5 billion in Amgen common stock. This is in addition to the approximately $2.2 billion remaining under its previous stock repurchase authorization. The Company said it intends to return an average of approximately 60% of adjusted net income in the form of dividends and stock repurchases to stockholders through 2015.

9:01AM Force Protection receives $27.4 mln contract for delivery of 47 Mastiffs to the UK (FRPT) 4.52 : Co announces it has received a $27.4 mln sub-contract from Integrated Survivability Technologies for the delivery of 47 Cougar Mastiff vehicles to the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence. Work under this sub-contract is scheduled to be completed by December 31, 2011.

8:56AM Regal-Beloit appoints new COO (RBC) 71.99 : Co announces that Jonathan Schlemmer will assume the role of COO effective May 2, 2011. He is currently the co's Senior Vice President - Asia Pacific, a position he has held since January 2010. Prior to that, he served as the co's VP of Technology since 2005.

8:48AM Athens Bancshares authorizes a stock repurchase program to acquire up to 138,862 shares, or 5.0%, of the Company's outstanding common stock (AFCB) 13.17 :

8:48AM Tennant reports EPS in-line, beats on revs; raises FY11 EPS guidance above consensus, revs in-line (TNC) 41.01 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.30 per share, in-line with the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.30; revenues rose 15.0% year/year to $172.6 mln vs the $161.7 mln consensus. Co raises guidance for FY11, sees EPS of $1.75-1.95 vs. $1.70 Thomson Reuters consensus, up from $1.70-1.90 sees previously; raises FY11 revs to $710-730 mln vs. $714.47 mln Thomson Reuters consensus, up from $705-725 see previously.

8:47AM Travelzoo beats by $0.09, beats on revs -- Stock is halted (TZOO) 73.87 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.37 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.09 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.28; revenues rose 29.8% year/year to $37 mln vs the $33.4 mln consensus. Subs: Travelzoo had a total unduplicated number of newsletter subscribers in North America and Europe of 19.9 mln as of March 31, 2011, up 12% from March 31, 2010, and up 6% from December 31, 2010. In North America, total unduplicated number of subscribers was 14.8 mln as of March 31, 2011, up 7% from March 31, 2010 and up 4% from December 31, 2010. In Europe, total unduplicated number of subscribers was 5.1 mln as of March 31, 2011, up 29% from March 31, 2010 and up 11% from December 31, 2010. "We kicked off 2011 with record revenues and record adjusted operating income. Subscribers grew by over 1 mln, the second best performance in our company's history. We doubled adjusted operating income year-over-year as we continued to ramp up Local Deals, which are now live in 48 markets in 6 countries. North America revenues grew at the fastest pace in over 4 years. Europe saw the highest quarterly subscriber growth ever and returned its first significant quarterly profit. We also reached a settlement agreement for a previously disclosed State of Delaware escheatment claim, incurring a one-time cash expense."

8:44AM Travelzoo shares halted ahead of earnings report (TZOO) 73.87 :

8:43AM Reynolds American beats by $0.01, misses on revs; reaffirms FY11 EPS guidance (RAI) 36.29 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.59 per share, $0.01 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.58; revenues rose 0.3% year/year to $1.99 bln vs the $2.03 bln consensus. Co reaffirms guidance for FY11, sees EPS of $2.60-2.70, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $2.67 Thomson Reuters consensus.

8:39AM Whitney Holding reports Q1 (Mar) results; expects merger with HBHC to close in Q2 (WTNY) 13.37 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.13 per share, including TARP dividend, may not be comparable to the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.03. On December 21, 2010, Whitney entered into a definitive agreement with Hancock Holding Co, headquartered in Gulfport, Mississippi, for the co to merge with and into Hancock. The transaction is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2011, subject to customary closing conditions and shareholder and regulatory approval.

8:38AM New York Times reports EPS in-line, revs in-line (NYT) 9.10 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.02 per share, excluding items, in-line with the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.02; revenues fell 3.6% year/year to $566.5 mln vs the $569 mln consensus. In the first half of April, the co saw total advertising trends improve relative to those in March, with declines at approximately the same level as in the first quarter. Given current industry forecasts in 2011, newsprint prices are expected to increase during the second half of the year. Newsprint prices will be higher in the second quarter of 2011 as a result of prices rising steadily during the same period in 2010. The co expects operating costs to increase modestly in the second quarter.

8:37AM On The Wires (WIRES) :

* Badger Licensing, a Shaw (SHAW) and Exxon Mobil (XOM) JV, announced that it has been awarded a contract to provide proprietary technology and basic engineering for a 300,000 metric tons per annum ethylbenzene/styrene monomer plant for Egyptian Polystyrene Production Company.
* Radient Pharmaceuticals Corporation (RPC) announced that a Listing Qualifications Panel of the NYSE Amex Committee on Securities has issued a favorable decision and granted RPC's request for continued listing on the NYSE Amex subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions.
* FEI (FEIC) announced that it has shipped the 250th Helios NanoLab DualBeam system, a production milestone for the co.
* GAIN Capital Holdings (GCAP) has reached an agreement with Deutsche Bank AG to acquire dbFX, Deutsche Bank's retail foreign exchange trading business. The agreement also provides for the referral of retail forex clients from Deutsche Bank to GAIN Capital over the two-year period following the closing of the transaction.
* The Dow Chemical Company (DOW) announced comprehensive plans to increase the Company's ethylene and propylene production -- and to integrate its U.S. operations into feedstock opportunities available from increasing supplies of U.S. shale gas in the Marcellus and Eagle Ford shale regions.

8:35AM First Niagara reports EPS in-line (FNFG) 13.95 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.24 per share, in-line with the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.24. Nonperforming loans at March 31, 2011 of $80.4 million equated to 0.75% of total loans vs 0.85% and 1.05% in the linked quarter and a year ago, respectively. Net chargeoffs of $8.1 million in Q1 were 0.31% of average loans on an annualized basis compared to 0.49% last quarter and 0.66% in the first quarter of 2010.

8:34AM Blackstone beats ENI consensus by $0.10, beats on revs (BX) 19.00 : Reports Q1 (Mar) economic net income per share of $0.51 per share, $0.10 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.41; revenues rose 64.5% year/year to $1.15 bln vs the $1.04 bln consensus. Fee-earning assets under management increased 26% to $124.0 bln at March 31, 2011, from $98.1 bln at March 31, 2010, while total assets under management increased 43% to $150 bln at March 31, 2011. "Blackstone reported our strongest quarterly earnings since becoming a public company four years ago, as the values of all of our funds continued to increase. In real estate, operating fundamentals continue to improve and two of our global funds moved above their preferred return hurdle and started accruing performance fees."

8:33AM CGI Group receives prime contract award on Multiple-Award ID/IQ with $2.5 bln Program Ceiling by the U.S. Army Forces Command with a one-year base and four, one-year option periods (GIB) 21.32 : The U.S. Army Mission & Installation Contracting Command, Center-McPherson has awarded Stanley Associates, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CGI Federal (GIB), an Operations, Planning, Training and Resource Support Services prime contract with a one-year base and four, one-year option periods. OPTARSS II is a master, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity multiple award task order contract supporting the OPTARSS II program with a ceiling of US$2.5 billion. The contract is a key vehicle for the U.S. Army Forces Command and may be utilized by other Army and Department of Defense clients in the U.S. and overseas.

8:33AM Syntel misses by $0.05, reports revs in-line; guides FY11 EPS in-line, revs in-line (SYNT) 55.64 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.60 per share, $0.05 worse than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.65; revenues rose 25.3% year/year to $145.4 mln vs the $145.3 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY11, sees EPS of $2.70-2.90 vs. $2.88 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees FY11 revs of $610-635 mln vs. $628.11 mln Thomson Reuters consensus.

8:32AM Pioneer Southwest Energy increases quarterly distribution on common units to $0.51, representing a $0.01 per unit increase (PSE) 33.96 :

8:16AM Hubbell Inc beats by $0.02, beats on revs; raises FY11 rev guidance, reaffirms op-margin guidance (HUB.B) 68.46 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.82 per share, $0.02 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.80; revenues rose 15.4% year/year to $658.1 mln vs the $618.6 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY11, sees FY11 revs 5-7% YoY (+3-5% previously) to $2.67-2.72 bln vs. $2.69 bln Thomson Reuters consensus. "We still expect demand for our power products to increase in the mid-single digit range with higher levels of spending for both distribution and transmission products. Our overall industrial market outlook has improved, particularly for our Harsh and Hazardous businesses which are benefitting from higher spending on energy related projects. The non-residential construction market is forecasted to be relatively flat in 2011 while demand for renovation, relight and controls is expected to remain strong. The residential market remains weak and we anticipate this market to be flat to slightly down compared to 2010... Turning to our operating margin, we expect to benefit from higher sales and improved price realization. We also anticipate that commodity cost increases, including the price of oil, and other inflationary pressures will mitigate much of the benefits. As such, we continue to expect our operating margin will increase by ~50 bps in 2011. As always, we are working to offset commodity cost increases through pricing actions but the timing of recovering those costs tends to lag by at least one quarter. We remain confident that we should be able to navigate through these cost challenges to produce record earnings in 2011."

8:16AM Ultratech beats by $0.03, beats on revs (UTEK) 27.02 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.30 per share, $0.03 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.27; revenues rose 72.4% year/year to $47.4 mln vs the $46.1 mln consensus.

8:12AM Hanmi Financial reports EPS of $0.07, single analyst estimate $0.00 (HAFC) 1.43 : Net interest margin (NIM) improved to 3.66% in the first quarter of 2011, up 18 basis points from 3.48% in the fourth quarter of 2010 and down just 3 basis points from the first quarter a year ago.

8:12AM USA Truck beats by $0.01, beats on revs (USAK) 12.60 : Reports Q1 (Mar) loss of $0.26 per share, $0.01 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of ($0.27); revenues rose 17.4% year/year to $124 mln vs the $122.1 mln consensus. "While we made substantial strategic progress during the quarter, our advances were almost entirely offset by exogenous factors. We posted healthy revenue growth, particularly in our SCS and Intermodal service offerings, and we improved our earnings per share through continued execution of our VEVA (Vision for Economic Value Added) strategic plan. However, rising fuel prices, unusually harsh winter weather, increased government regulation and a tightening market for drivers combined to significantly and adversely impact our results."

8:12AM On The Wires (WIRES) :

* Celsion Corporation (CLSN) announced that the Japan Patent Office has granted the Japanese counterpart of the "Needham" composition of matter patent, "Temperature-Sensitive Liposomal Formulation," which is issued in various regions around the world, including the U.S. and European Union.
* National Latino Broadcasting, a newly formed subsidiary of Eventus, announced it has been selected by SiriusXM to lease four channels on a long-term basis on the Sirius (SIRI) and XM satellite radio platforms. The media entity will provide programming targeting the Latino market.
* OSI Systems (OSIS) announced that OSI Electronics, a business within its Optoelectronic and Manufacturing division, has received orders valued at ~$4.5 million to supply electronic sub-assemblies to two major OEM's. One of the OEM's is a leading provider of earthquake monitoring solutions and the other is a leader in the digital imaging industry.
* Merck (MRK) and Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of sanofi-aventis Group (SNY), announced the initiation of a Phase III clinical program to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of an investigational pediatric hexavalent combination vaccine1. This combination vaccine is designed to help protect against six potentially serious diseases: diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, invasive disease caused by Haemophilus influenzae type b, and hepatitis B.
* Wyndham Hotel Group (WYN) and MasterBUILT Hotel announced more than 75 new construction Microtel Inns & Suites hotels are expected to open in Canada over the next 25 years as part of a master development agreement.
* The City of Tucson, Ariz., Tucson Water Department, Trico Electric and SunPower Corp. (SPWRA, SPWRB) dedicated a 1-megawatt, ground-mounted solar power system, which doubles the solar power system capacity hosted by the city. The system was designed and built by SunPower on city-owned, former agricultural land located within Tucson Water Department's underground water storage and recovery facility, approximately 20 miles west of downtown Tucson.
* In the latest move to expand its global market share in Fibre Channel switching, QLogic Corp. (QLGC) announced that its 5800V Series and 9000 Series 8Gb Fibre Channel stackable switches will be available immediately from Huawei Symantec, a global provider of network security and storage appliance solutions to enterprise customers around the globe.
* ListHub operator Move, (MOVE) and Zillow, announced a long term content syndication agreement for the ListHub publishing network. ListHub is the largest online syndicator of real estate listings to real estate web sites and provider of performance reports for brokers, franchises, and Multiple Listing Services. ListHub is Zillow's largest listings syndication partner.
* China Botanic Pharmaceutical (CBP) announced that the co has successfully completed a feasibility study to analyze the benefits of using straw pellets, a renewable bio-fuel, for its production operations. As a result of the study, the co plans to put the new fuel into use by October, 2011.
* American Shared Hospital Services (AMS) announced that it has entered into a contract to supply a Gamma Knife Perfexion system to Lovelace Medical Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

8:09AM SunTrust Banks beats by $0.08, beats on revs; Announces Leadership Transition (STI) 27.63 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.22 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.08 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.14; revenues rose 13.7% year/year to $2.16 bln vs the $2.08 bln consensus. Net interest margin increased from the prior quarter by 9 basis points to 3.53%, continuing the upward quarterly trend experienced in each of the past eight quarters. Noninterest expense declined compared to the prior quarter, despite seasonally higher employee benefits costs, as credit-related, marketing, and technology expenses decreased. Expenses increased from the prior year primarily due to compensation expenses associated with improved business performance and an increase in full-time equivalent employees.

Credit quality continued to improve with net charge-offs, nonperforming loans, nonperforming assets, and early stage delinquencies all declining. Provision for credit losses declined due to lower net charge-offs and the impact of improved credit quality on the allowance for loan losses. The allowance for loan losses was $2.9 billion, or 2.49% of total loans, down 9 basis points from year end.

SunTrust's capital position was further strengthened this quarter by the $1 billion common equity offering in conjunction with the redemption of TARP preferred shares. The Tier 1 common ratio is well above the recent Basel III proposed guidance and is estimated at 9.00%. The estimated Tier 1 capital and total capital ratios were 11.00% and 13.90% at quarter end, which were also well in excess of current and proposed regulatory guidelines to be considered "well capitalized."

STI announced that the Company's Board of Directors has named James M. Wells III Executive Chairman and William H. Rogers, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer as part of a planned management transition. Transition of responsibilities and reporting relationships will begin immediately and formally conclude on June 1, 2011. Mr. Wells - who was named Chief Executive Officer in 2007 and Chairman of the Board in 2009 - will serve through his planned retirement on December 31, 2011,

8:08AM Sherwin-Williams beats by $0.11, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS below consensus; reaffirms FY11 EPS guidance (SHW) 85.80 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.63 per share, $0.11 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.52; revenues rose 18.5% year/year to $1.86 bln vs the $1.81 bln consensus. Co issues guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $1.65-1.75 vs. $1.84 Thomson Reuters consensus; expects Q2 revs will increase 8-13% compared to last year's second quarter (vs. consensus expectation for +11%). Co reaffirms guidance for FY11, sees EPS of $4.65-5.05 vs. $5.04 Thomson Reuters consensus. Sees FY11 revs increasing by a high single digit percentage (consensus calls for +9.8%).

8:08AM Nektar Therapeutics: FDA grates Orphan Drug Designation for co's investigational drug, NKTR-102, for treatment of women with ovarian cancer (NKTR) 9.53 : Co announces that the co's oncology drug candidate, NKTR-102, has been granted orphan drug status for the treatment of women with ovarian cancer by the FDA. Co has a Phase 2 study ongoing for NKTR-102 that is enrolling ~125 patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer whose disease has progressed following treatment with pegylated liposomal doxorubicin therapy. In addition, Phase 3 planning is also underway for NKTR-102 in ovarian cancer.

8:07AM Life Time Fitness reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; raises FY11 guidance, in-line (LTM) 40.25 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.51 per share, in-line with the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.51; revenues rose 9.5% year/year to $240.6 mln vs the $239.2 mln consensus. Co raises guidance for FY11, sees EPS of $2.21-2.29 vs. $2.29 Thomson Reuters consensus, up from $2.19-2.29; sees FY11 revs of $980-995 mln vs. $990.59 mln Thomson Reuters consensus, up from $970-990 mln.

8:07AM Gentex reports EPS in-line, beats on revs; guides Q2 revs in-line (GNTX) 28.66 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.29 per share, in-line with the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.29; revenues rose 35.0% year/year to $250.9 mln vs the $246.6 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of +20-25% calculates to $241.9-252 mln vs. $249.79 mln Thomson Reuters consensus. "We also currently expect that the situation in Japan will negatively impact second quarter 2011 net sales by approximately $15-20 million, which is reflected in our revenue guidance."

8:06AM TCF Financial beats by $0.02 (TCB) 14.85 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.20 per share, $0.02 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.18. Favorable trends in credit quality are highlighted by the fact that the first quarter of 2011 was the first time in two years that the level of non-accrual loans and leases, net charge-offs and over 60-day delinquencies all decreased over the prior quarter. Provision for credit losses was $45.3 million, down from $50.5 million in the first quarter of 2010 and down from $77.6 million recorded in the fourth quarter of 2010.

8:05AM Alaska Air beats by $0.09, beats on revs (ALK) 60.83 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.80 per share, excluding items, $0.09 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.71; revenues rose 16.3% year/year to $965.2 mln vs the $955.4 mln consensus.

8:05AM Tekmira Pharma announces that promising preclinical data from its collaboration with the National Cancer Institute has been published in Oncogene (TKMR) 2.72 : Co announces that promising preclinical data from its collaboration with the National Cancer Institute has been published in Oncogene, one of the world's leading cancer journals. This latest data indicates that siRNA-mediated CSN5 knock-down inhibits cell-cycle progression and greatly increases the rate of apoptosis (programmed cell death) in HCC cells.

8:04AM Nuance Communications guides MarQ above consensus (NUAN) 19.34 : Co expects 2Q11 (Mar) non-GAAP revenue of $329-332 mln, up from prior guidance of $315-327 mln and vs $322.2 mln consensus. Non-GAAP EPS is expected to be $0.31-0.32, up from prior guidance of $0.28-0.31 and vs consensus of $0.30.

8:04AM Umpqua Holdings beats by $0.02 (UMPQ) 11.03 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.12 per share, $0.02 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.10. Non-performing assets were 1.53% of total assets, as of March 31, 2011 vs 1.53% last qtr and 1.99% yr ago. The provision for loan losses for the first quarter of 2011 was $15.0 million, the lowest level of provision since the second quarter of 2007, due to improving credit quality of the loan portfolio and stabilization of non-performing loans.

8:02AM KC Southern beats by $0.01, beats on revs (KSU) 51.98 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.58 per share, $0.01 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.57; revenues rose 12.0% year/year to $488.6 mln vs the $482.7 mln consensus.

8:02AM Janus Capital beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line (JNS) 12.64 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.21 per share, $0.01 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.20; revenues rose 7.5% year/year to $265.4 mln vs the $267.3 mln consensus. First quarter 2011 includes a $0.03 per share non-operating charge from the early retirement of debt while fourth quarter 2010 included a $0.12 per share net benefit from an insurance recovery, the sale of JCG's structured investment vehicle securities, the reversal of income tax reserves and the cumulative effect of correcting a hedge accounting issue. Co also raised the dividend by $0.01 to $0.05.

8:02AM Cypress Semi beats by $0.01, beats on revs; Q2 guidance to be better than seasonal (CY) 19.44 +1.14 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.24 per share, $0.01 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.23; revenues rose 15.2% year/year to $233.1 mln vs the $228.9 mln consensus. Co says rev growth was driven by record TrueTouch touchscreen controller shipments. Co also says that Q2 guidance to be better than seasonal.

8:00AM McDonald's beats by $0.01, beats on revs (MCD) 78.40 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $1.15 per share, $0.01 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $1.14; revenues rose 8.9% year/year to $6.11 bln vs the $6 bln consensus. Global comparable sales increased 4.2% (Consensus +2.7%), with the U.S. up 2.9%, Europe up 5.7% and Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa up 3.2%

8:00AM Alliance Data Correction: Raises FY11 EPS above consensus; sees Q2 EPS below consensus (ADS) 86.92 : Earlier we reported that ADS guided FY11 EPS in-line at $6.75-7.00, ex-items, the co actually raised FY11 EPS guidance to $7.00 from $6.75 vs. the $6.84 consensus, the previous comment has been removed... Co reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $2.03 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.35 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $1.68; revenues rose 11.4% year/year to $740 mln vs the $723.7 mln consensus. Co sees Q2 EPS of $1.60 vs. the $1.64 consensus. Co raises guidance for FY11 to $7.00, ex-items, from $6.75, vs. $6.84 Thomson Reuters consensus.

7:54AM Landstar System beats by $0.01, misses on revs (LSTR) 47.36 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.43 per share, $0.01 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.42; revenues rose 4.4% year/year to $572 mln vs the $579.5 mln consensus. "In the 2011 first quarter, overall truckload capacity was seasonally tighter than experienced during prior year first quarters, which led to improved pricing. So far, in April, truckload pricing has continued to increase from the 2011 first quarter. I anticipate that trend to continue throughout the second quarter as freight demand increases over the 2011 first quarter. Assuming those operating trends continue throughout the quarter, I would expect operating margin in the 2011 second quarter to be about 42%."

7:51AM China Petroleum (Sinopec) signs a Sale and Purchase Agreement for the supply of 4.3 mln tonnes per annum of LNG for 20 years from Australia Pacific LNG's coal seam gas resources and proposed LNG facility (SNP) 102.46 : Australia Pacific LNG and Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration & Production Corporation also signed a Subscription Agreement for SIPC to subscribe for a 15% interest in Australia Pacific LNG thereby reducing ConocoPhillips' (COP) and Origin Energy's ownership interest from 50% to 42.5% respectively.

7:51AM Responsys prices 6.6 mln share IPO at $12, above the $8.50-10 expected range (MKTG) :

7:47AM 21Vianet prices 13.0 mln ADS IPO at $15 vs. $12-13 revised range; co originally expected to sell 11.5 mln ADS in the $10-12 range (VNET) :

7:42AM Rockwell Collins reports EPS in-line, beats on revs; guides FY11 EPS in-line, revs in-line (COL) 63.78 : Reports Q2 (Mar) earnings of $0.96 per share, in-line with the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.96; revenues rose 7.1% year/year to $1.22 bln vs the $1.2 bln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY11, sees EPS of $3.90-4.10 vs. $4.07 Thomson Reuters consensus and above its previously stated guidance of $3.85 to $4.05.; sees FY11 revs of $4.8-5.0 bln vs. $4.91 bln Thomson Reuters consensus. Additionally, co sees R&D costs $900-950 mln and Cap-Ex ~$150 mln.During the second quarter of 2011 the co repurchased 1.0 mln shares of its common stock at a total cost of $65 mln, leaving $117 mln available for authorized share repurchases.

7:42AM On The Wires (WIRES) :

* EMCOR Group (EME) announced that its EMCOR Services Mesa Energy Systems subsidiary has been awarded a contract to perform an energy retrofit project at the Westfield San Francisco Centre, a high-end shopping center in the heart of San Francisco, California.
* CNH (CNH) announced an expanded strategic alliance with Trimble (TRMB) for the development of advanced precision agriculture applications and services.

7:40AM Continued weakness in the dollar is again spurring upside movement in the precious metals (COMDX) :

* June gold is currently higher by $8.60 to $1507.60 (session and new all time highs at $1509.60).
* May silver is now up $1.60 to $46.06 (session and fresh ~31 yr highs at $46.27).

7:40AM Watsco beats by $0.01, misses on revs (WSO) 70.94 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.21 per share, $0.01 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.20; revenues rose 4.8% year/year to $534.3 mln vs the $547 mln consensus.

7:39AM Jetblue Airways reports EPS in-line, beats on revs (JBLU) 5.49 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.01 per share, in-line with the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.01; revenues rose 16.2% year/year to $1.01 bln vs the $1 bln consensus. While fuel prices increased during the quarter, JetBlue continued to hedge to manage price volatility. Specifically, JetBlue hedged approximately 37% of its fuel consumption during the first quarter, resulting in a realized fuel price of $2.94 per gallon, a 34.5% increase over first quarter 2010 realized fuel price of $2.19. JetBlue recorded $2 million in gains on fuel hedges that settled during the first quarter. JetBlue has hedged approximately 43% of its second quarter projected fuel requirements and 35% of its remaining 2011 projected fuel requirements using a combination of crude call options and collars, jet fuel swaps and heating oil collars. Based on the fuel curve as of April 15, JetBlue expects an average price per gallon of fuel, including the impact of hedges and fuel taxes, of $3.37 in the second quarter and $3.32 for the full year 2011.

7:39AM Sonoco Products reports EPS in-line, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS below consensus; narrows FY11 EPS guidance (SON) 35.51 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.57 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.57; revenues rose 19.5% year/year to $1.12 bln vs the $1.02 bln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.61-0.65 vs. $0.66 Thomson Reuters consensus. Co narrows FY11 EPS to $2.52-2.60, prior $2.52-2.62, vs. $2.61 Thomson Reuters consensus.

7:38AM Neustar misses by $0.01, beats on revs (NSR) 26.04 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.40 per share, excluding discrete income tax benefit, $0.01 worse than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.41; revenues rose 13.6% year/year to $146.5 mln vs the $144.2 mln consensus.

7:38AM Canadian Pacific beats by CAD$0.02, reports revs in-line (CP) 63.02 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of CAD$0.20 per share, $0.02 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of CAD$0.18; revenues fell 0.3% year/year to CAD$1.16 bln vs the CAD$1.17 bln consensus. "The first quarter was an extremely difficult winter with weather-related outages significantly constraining our capacity and our service to our customers. We remain committed to delivering our two- to four-year target of a low 70's operating ratio and providing a quality service offering."

7:38AM ITT Educational beats by $0.38, reports revs in-line (ESI) 66.05 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $2.91 per share, $0.38 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $2.53; revenues fell 0.2% year/year to $383.2 mln vs the $383.4 mln consensus. Co reported that new student enrollment in the first quarter of 2011 decreased 5.6% to 21,761 compared to 23,064 in the same period in 2010, in-line with previous guidance. Total student enrollment decreased 0.6% to 84,030 as of March 31, 2011 compared to 84,555 as of March 31, 2010.

7:37AM TASER reports EPS in-line, beats on revs (TASR) 4.09 : Reports Q1 (Mar) net of breakeven, in-line with the Thomson Reuters consensus of ($0.00); revenues fell 2.9% year/year to $23.1 mln vs the $21.3 mln consensus; Gross margin declined to 52.8% in the first quarter of 2011, compared to 56.6% in the same period last year.

7:36AM Applied Industrial beats by $0.10, reports revs in-line; adjusts FY11 EPS guidance to above consensus, raises bottom end of FY11 rev guidance (AIT) 33.33 : Reports Q3 (Mar) earnings of $0.61 per share, $0.10 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.51; revenues rose 16.4% year/year to $565.9 mln vs the $569.9 mln consensus. Co updates guidance for FY11, now sees EPS of $2.10-2.25 (vs. $2.02 Thomson Reuters consensus), up from the previous range of $1.90-2.10; co raises the bottom end of their FY11 rev guidance, now sees revs of $2.19-2.25 bln (vs. $2.21 bln Thomson Reuters consensus), compared to the previous range of $2.15-2.25 bln.

7:36AM T. Rowe Price misses by $0.03, reports revs in-line (TROW) 66.37 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.72 per share, $0.03 worse than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.75; revenues rose 22.7% year/year to $682.4 mln vs the $686.8 mln consensus. Net inflows to the sponsored mutual funds were $4.4 billion during the first quarter 2011, including $2.9 billion added to the stock and blended asset funds and $1.8 billion added to the bond funds. The money market funds had net outflows of $.3 billion. The Equity Income, New Income, Growth Stock, Institutional Mid-Cap Equity Growth, and Overseas Stock funds each added more than $.4 billion during the 2011 quarter. Market appreciation and income increased mutual fund assets under management by $13.2 billion during the first quarter of 2010.... Strong net inflows into sub-advised funds from third party financial intermediaries and into other sponsored portfolios were partially offset by net outflows from a few institutional investors who restructured their equity investment portfolios.

7:34AM Verizon beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line; reaffirms FY11 EPS, rev growth guidance (VZ) 37.79 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.51 per share, $0.01 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.50; revenues rose 0.3% year/year to $26.99 bln vs the $26.86 bln consensus. Co reaffirms guidance for FY11, sees EPS +5-8% to ~$2.18-2.25, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $2.22 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees FY11 revs +4-8% to ~$110.83-115.10 bln vs. $110.2 bln Thomson Reuters consensus. Wireless: 6.3 percent YoY increase in service revenues in 1Q 2011; data revenues up 22.3 percent; 25.8 percent operating income margin and 43.7 percent Segment EBITDA margin on service revenues (non-GAAP). 1.8 mln net additions, excluding acquisitions and adjustments, includes 906,000 retail postpaid net customer additions; continued low retail postpaid churn of 1.01 percent. 104.0 mln total connections, includes 88.4 mln retail customers. Cash flow from operations totaled $5.0 bln in Q1, down from $7.1 bln in first-quarter 2010. Operating cash flow from higher net income in first-quarter 2011 was offset by the launch of the iPhone and satisfaction of Verizon's full-year 2011 pension funding obligation of $392 mln. In addition, the first half of last year included cash flows from since-divested properties. ~77 percent of first-quarter 2011 revenues were generated by higher-growth wireless, FiOS and strategic enterprise services, compared with ~72 percent of comparable first-quarter 2010 revenues. Verizon continues to expect 2011 capital spending to be essentially flat, compared with the 2010 investment of $16.5 bln. In first-quarter 2011, Verizon's capital expenditures totaled $4.4 bln, compared with $3.4 bln in first-quarter 2010, as the co aggressively invested in growth opportunities, including the deployment of Verizon's nationwide 4G LTE

7:33AM United Continental beats by $0.07, reports revs in-line (UAL) 20.99 : Reports Q1 (Mar) loss of $0.41 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.07 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of ($0.48); revenues rose 10.8% year/year to $8.2 bln vs the $8.19 bln consensus. Consolidated RPMs for qtr decreased 1% on a pro forma basis, while capacity increased 1.4% YoY on a pro forma basis, resulting in a first-quarter consolidated load factor of 78%. Consolidated yield for the first quarter of 2011 increased 12.7% YoY on a pro forma basis. First-quarter 2011 consolidated PRASM increased 9.9% compared to the pro forma results for the same period in 2010. Mainline RPMs in the first quarter of 2011 decreased 1% on a mainline capacity increase of 1.5% YoY on a pro forma basis, resulting in a first-qtr mainline load factor of 78.8%.

7:32AM Manpower beats by $0.11, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS above consensus (MAN) 64.25 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.43 per share, $0.11 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.32; revenues rose 23.7% year/year to $5.07 bln vs the $4.89 bln consensus. Net earnings in the first quarter were favorably impacted by 3 cents per diluted share, as foreign currencies were relatively stronger compared to the prior year period. Co issues upside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.74-0.82 vs. $0.67 Thomson Reuters consensus. This includes a favorable impact of 8 cents per share related to currency changes in the quarter.

7:31AM McCormick & Schmick's: Tilman Fertitta criticizes co's rejection of the $9.25 offer and adoption of 'Poison Pill' Rights Plan (MSSR) 9.29 : Tilman J. Fertitta, who has commenced, through his affiliate LSRI Holdings, a subsidiary of Landry's Restaurants, an all-cash offer to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of common stock of MSSR for $9.25 per share, issues a statement in response to co's announcement that its board of directors has rejected the offer and adopted a "poison pill" rights plan. "As one of the largest stockholders and the largest non-institutional stockholder of MSSR, I have significant concerns about the Company's recent operational performance and seriously question this Board's ability to significantly improve MSSR's operating results...We urge MSSR stockholders to authorize us to withhold their vote at MSSR's upcoming Annual Meeting and thereby send a loud and clear message to their Board that they want to receive maximum value for their shares and that the Board should meet with us to discuss a negotiated transaction."

7:31AM Morgan Stanley beats by $0.16, misses on revs (MS) 26.04 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.50 per share, $0.16 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.34; Results for the current quarter included a pre-tax loss of $655 million (after-tax loss of $425 million or $0.26 per diluted share) and reduced revenues of $655 mln arising from the Firm's 40% stake in a Japanese securities joint venture Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co., Ltd. or MUMSS) controlled and managed by partner, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. The current quarter also included a net tax benefit of $447 million, or $0.30 per diluted share, from the remeasurement of a deferred tax asset and the reversal of a related valuation allowance that are both associated with the sale of Revel Entertainment Group; revenues fell 15.8% year/year to $7.63 bln vs the $7.83 bln consensus. Sales and trading net revenues were $3.0 billion and included negative revenue of $189 million related to Morgan Stanley's debt-related credit spreads (DVA)4, 5 in the current quarter. Equity sales and trading reported net revenues of $1.7 billion, the highest reported quarter since 2008, reflecting higher levels of client activity. Fixed income and commodities sales and trading results improved significantly from the fourth quarter of 2010. Investment Banking revenues were $1.0 billion and reflected an increase in both advisory and underwriting activity from a year ago.

Global Wealth Management Group delivered net revenues of $3.4 billion, with client assets of $1.7 trillion and 17,800 global representatives. Net new assets for the quarter were $11.4 billion.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors declared a $0.05 quarterly dividend per common share. The dividend is payable on May 13, 2011 to common shareholders of record on April 29, 2011.

7:29AM On The Wires (WIRES) :

* AECOM Technology Corporation (ACM) announced that it was awarded an engineering, procurement and construction management contract by Tata Steel Minerals Canada Limited.
* Elster (ELT) announced that two SCANA Corporation companies, South Carolina Electric and Gas and Public Service of North Carolina (PSNC), have selected Elster American Meter to supply all classes of Elster American Meter diaphragm meters to their service areas in 2011.
* Dehaier Medical Systems (DHRM) announced that its wholly owned subsidiary has signed a tripartite strategic cooperation agreement with Taiyo Nippon Sanso Shenwei Medical Gas Co., and Beijing Orient Medical Gas Co., to develop oxygen therapy services for the home use market in Beijing.
* Air China (AIRYY.PK) and China Telecom (CHA) signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement on April 19 in Beijing, marking the establishment of a multi-faceted strategic partnership and an important step in deepening cooperation in the information technology industry.
* Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers (RBA) will sell 320 heavy equipment items and trucks during a one owner unreserved public equipment auction being held on Thursday, May 5 in Frederick, Maryland.

7:26AM Evolving Systems to sell its Numbering Solutions Business to Neustar (NSR) for $39 mln in cash (EVOL) 7.07 : CO announces a definitive agreement to sell its Numbering Solutions business to Neustar (NSR) for $39.0 mln in cash and the assumption of certain liabilities. In 2010 Evolving Systems' Numbering Solutions business generated $14.5 mln, or 39%, of total revenue.

7:25AM Orbital Sciences beats by $0.04, reports revs in-line; reaffirms FY11 EPS guidance, revs guidance (ORB) 18.20 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.21 per share, $0.04 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.17; revenues rose 7.3% year/year to $317.7 mln vs the $317.6 mln consensus. Co reaffirms guidance for FY11, sees EPS of $0.80-0.90 vs. $0.90 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees FY11 revs of $1.3-1.35 bln vs. $1.35 bln Thomson Reuters consensus. Co revises 2011 operating income margin lower from 6.25-6.75% to 5.25-5.75%. Co reported $1.6 bln in backlog in the first quarter, which was a new record for the co.

7:18AM First Horizon beats by $0.11, misses on revs (FHN) 10.73 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.15 per share, $0.11 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.04; revenues fell 12.6% year/year to $370.3 mln vs the $380.9 mln consensus. Co reports net loan charge-offs and non-performing assets were down in the first quarter to the lowest levels in three years. The consolidated provision expense for first quarter 2011 improved $44 million, to $1 million, from the fourth quarter of 2010. Non-strategic average loans declined 5 percent, or $286 million, from fourth quarter 2010, and provision expense in this segment dropped to $13.4 million from $43 million in fourth quarter 20 The non-performing assets ratio increased due to a 5 percent decline in the balance of the loan portfolio.

7:17AM Wesco beats by $0.05, beats on revs (WCC) 59.98 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.74 per share, $0.05 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.69; revenues rose 24.5% year/year to $1.43 bln vs the $1.36 bln consensus. "We expect that the market will remain very competitive as the global economic recovery continues. The broad based strength and diversity of our business positions us well for strong financial results as the industrial market grows and the non-residential construction and utility markets begin to improve as we move through 2011 and 2012. Our first quarter performance provides a solid base for another strong year in 2011 as we continue to execute our growth initiatives, invest in our business and further improve our market position."

7:17AM eMagin sees Q1 revs of $5.5 mln due to production issues and a slower pace of manufacturing following preventative maintenance; maintains FY11 rev guidance (EMAN) 8.32 : Co sees Q1 revs of $5.5 mln, due to production issues and a slower pace of manufacturing following preventative maintenance in the first quarter. The company has been taking a number of steps to restore its production schedule, including running extra shifts on weekends. The company is maintaining its 2011 revenue guidance of $35 to $40 million based on its current backlog of orders under existing contracts and the anticipated resumption of normal production. (There are no ests for EMAN)

7:15AM L-3 Comms beats by $0.07, misses on revs; adjusts FY11 EPS to above consensus, revises rev guidance to below consensus (LLL) 76.99 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $1.85 per share, $0.07 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $1.78; revenues fell 0.6% year/year to $3.6 bln vs the $3.66 bln consensus. Operating margin for the qtr was 10.8%, down from 11.3% in the yr ago period. Co updates its guidance for FY11, now sees EPS of $8.50-8.60 (vs. $8.41 Thomson Reuters consensus), up from the previous range of $8.40-8.55; now sees FY11 revs of $15.5-15.6 bln (vs. $15.8 bln Thomson Reuters consensus), down from the previous range of $15.7-15.9 bln.

7:15AM IDEXX Labs beats by $0.03, beats on revs; raises FY11 EPS guidance in-line, sees revs above consensus (IDXX) 79.88 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.62 per share, $0.03 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.59; revenues rose 9.0% year/year to $292.7 mln vs the $285.8 mln consensus. Co issues guidance for FY11, raises EPS guidance to $2.66-2.71 vs. $2.66 Thomson Reuters consensus, and previous guidance of $2.62 to $2.68; sees FY11 revs of $1.205-1.215 bln vs. $1.19 bln Thomson Reuters consensus.

7:14AM Pool beats by $0.07, beats on revs; raises FY11 EPS guidance (POOL) 26.87 : Reports Q1 (Mar) loss of $0.01 per share, $0.07 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of ($0.08); revenues rose 16.0% year/year to $312.9 mln vs the $286.8 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for FY11, sees EPS of $1.35-1.45, prior $1.27-1.35, vs. $1.33 Thomson Reuters consensus. "We anticipate more modest sales growth for the remainder of 2011. Nonetheless, we are making good progress executing on every facet of our business and have plenty of momentum on our side as we enter the heart of the season." Based on our sales expectations for the full year and our ability to leverage our infrastructure, we expect to realize high profit growth rates with a contribution margin of ~20%. Factoring in our strong first quarter results and despite our projections for no meaningful improvement in major household discretionary expenditures, we have adjusted our 2011 earnings guidance to a range of $1.35 to $1.45 per diluted share from our initial guidance of $1.27 to $1.35 per diluted share,"

7:13AM Xerox beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 EPS in-line; guides FY11 EPS in-line (XRX) 10.85 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.23 per share, $0.01 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.22; revenues rose 15.8% year/year to $5.46 bln vs the $5.48 bln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.23-0.26 vs. $0.25 Thomson Reuters consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY11, sees EPS of $1.05-1.10 vs. $1.09 Thomson Reuters consensus.

7:12AM Penn Natl Gaming beats by $0.07, reports revs in-line; guides Q2 EPS, revs above consensus; guides FY11 EPS above consensus, revs in-line (PENN) 37.34 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.48 per share, $0.07 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.41; revenues rose 12.6% year/year to $667 mln vs the $664.5 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.47 vs. $0.41 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q2 revs of $682.7 vs. $678.52 mln Thomson Reuters consensus. Co raises guidance for FY11, sees EPS of $1.64 vs. $1.53 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees FY11 revs of $2.71 bln vs. $2.71 bln Thomson Reuters consensus. "With first quarter results exceeding guidance and cautious expectations for continued positive operating momentum throughout 2011, we are raising our full year 2011 revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance to $2.7 billion and $677.0 million, respectively. We're generally seeing a stabilization of consumer spending across our businesses and markets, though we are hesitant to forecast higher revenues based on February and March trends which benefited from favorable weather versus 2010."

7:11AM Sensata Tech reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides Q2 EPS in-line, revs below consensus; guides FY11 EPS in-line, reaffirms FY11 revs guidance (ST) 32.92 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.50 per share, in-line with the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.50; revenues rose 17.8% year/year to $444.2 mln vs the $443.6 mln consensus. Co issues mixed guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.50-0.53 vs. $0.53 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q2 revs of $440-460 mln vs. $460.93 mln Thomson Reuters consensus. Co issues guidance for FY11, sees EPS of $2.03-2.13 vs. $2.08 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees FY11 revs of $1.81-1.86 bln vs. $1.83 bln Thomson Reuters consensus. Co expects that the events in Japan and the impact of those events around the world will reduce its second quarter revenue by ~$25 mln. This amount is factored into the Company's guidance.

7:10AM Baxter beats by $0.05, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS above consensus; guides FY11 EPS in-line (BAX) 54.52 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.98 per share, $0.05 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.93; revenues rose 12.2% year/year to $3.28 bln vs the $3.18 bln consensus. Co issues guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $1.01-1.03 vs. $1.00 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees sales growth of +2-3% vs. +4% consensus. Co raises guidance for FY11, sees EPS of $4.20-4.28 vs. $4.20 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees sales growth of +3-4% vs. +3% consensus.

7:09AM Southwest Air reports EPS in-line, revs in-line (LUV) 11.64 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.03 per share, excluding non-recurring, in-line with the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.03; revenues rose 18.0% year/year to $3.1 bln vs the $3.09 bln consensus. Based on bookings and revenue trends thus far, the co expects another solid unit revenue improvement in second quarter 2011, even with the continuation of difficult YoY comparisons. For 2011, the co is planning to increase its available seat mile capacity in the 5-6% range, as compared to 2010, primarily as a function of increased aircraft utilization. However, given the current outlook of continually rising jet fuel prices, the co says it is planning cautiously for 2012.

7:06AM Tempur-Pedic reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; reaffirms FY11 EPS guidance, revs guidance (TPX) 60.07 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.68 per share, in-line with the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.68; revenues rose 28.3% year/year to $325.8 mln vs the $325.2 mln consensus. Gross profit margin was 52.3% as compared to 49.2% in 1Q10. Co reaffirms guidance for FY11, sees EPS of $2.80-2.95 vs. $2.94 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees FY11 revs of $1.31-1.36 bln vs. $1.34 bln Thomson Reuters consensus.

7:06AM Diamond Offshore beats by $0.37, beats on revs; announces special dividend of $0.75 (DO) 76.40 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $1.80 per share, $0.37 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $1.43; revenues fell 6.2% year/year to $806.4 mln vs the $796.8 mln consensus. Co announces that the co has declared a special quarterly cash dividend of $0.75 per share of common stock and a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.125 per share of common stock. Both dividends are payable on June 1, 2011 to shareholders of record on May 2, 2011.

7:06AM Capital One beats by $0.69, beats on revs (COF) 50.53 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $2.24 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.69 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $1.55; revenues fell 4.8% year/year to $4.08 bln vs the $3.88 bln consensus. "We are gaining momentum across our businesses, and the period of shrinking loans through the Great Recession came to an end in the first quarter... Our solid first quarter results and our strong and resilient balance sheet put us in a good position to continue to generate capital and deliver strong and sustainable returns to our shareholders." The company's Tier 1 common equity ratio of 8.4 percent dipped 40 basis points from 8.8 percent in the prior quarter. The first quarter of 2011 marked the final quarter of the regulatory phase-in of the implementation of FAS 166/167.

7:05AM Cephalon: Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX) announces letter to Cephalon stockholders (CEPH) 75.94 : Co announces filed a revised preliminary consent solicitation statement and announced its intention to commence on April 22, 2011 the mailing of its definitive consent solicitation statement to stockholders of record of CEPH. The highlights of VRX's text: "Valeant would still prefer to conduct due diligence and negotiate a friendly transaction with Cephalon, but the current Cephalon Board has rejected our attempts. In addition, Cephalon has structural impediments that prevent the consummation of our offer, including a "poison pill" that was put in place without stockholder approval. The Cephalon Board could eliminate these impediments, but has thus far been unwilling to do so."

7:04AM Philip Morris International beats by $0.01, misses on revs; raises FY11 EPS above consensus (PM) 66.48 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $1.06 per share, $0.01 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $1.05; revenues rose 4.5% year/year to $6.79 bln vs the $6.95 bln consensus. Co raises guidance for FY11, sees EPS of $4.55-4.65 vs. $4.47 Thomson Reuters consensus. ~$0.10 of the increased guidance are attributable to an improved business outlook and ~$0.10 reflect favorable currency at prevailing rates; o Excluding a total favorable currency impact of ~$0.20 for the full-year 2011, reported diluted earnings per share are projected to increase by ~11% to 13.5%, or by approximately 12.5% to 15% versus adjusted diluted earnings per share of $3.87 in 2010.

7:04AM Celestica to acquire Brooks Automation's (BRKS) semiconductor equipment contract manufacturing operations for ~$80 mln (CLS) 10.58 : Co announces the acquisition of Brooks Automation's (BRKS) semiconductor equipment contract manufacturing operations. The purchase price is expected to be ~$80 mln and will be financed from either the co's credit facility or from cash on hand. The business generated revenue of ~$135 mln for the six months ended March 31, 2011.

7:03AM Entegris beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (ENTG) 8.25 +0.40 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.23 per share, $0.03 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.20; revenues rose 26.5% year/year to $203.1 mln vs the $187.9 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.22-0.25 vs. $0.22 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q2 revs of $200-210 mln vs. $192.91 mln Thomson Reuters consensus.

7:02AM CNA Surety public minority stake to be acquired by CNA Financial Corporation (CNA) for $26.55 per share (SUR) 25.84 : CNA Financial Corporation and CNA Surety Corporation announced that they have signed a definitive merger agreement pursuant to which CNA will commence a tender offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of common stock of CNA Surety not currently owned by subsidiaries of CNA for $26.55 per share in cash. The $26.55 per share price represents a 38% premium to the closing price of CNA Surety's common stock on October 29, 2010, the last trading day prior to CNA's public announcement of its proposal to acquire the public minority stake in CNA Surety, and a 21% premium to CNA's original proposed price of $22 per share.

7:02AM American Electric beats by $0.02, misses on revs; reaffirms FY11 EPS guidance; reaffirms FY12 EPS guidance (AEP) 35.53 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.82 per share, $0.02 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.80; revenues rose 2.8% year/year to $3.7 bln vs the $3.77 bln consensus. Co reaffirms guidance for FY11, sees EPS of $3.00-3.20 vs. $3.13 Thomson Reuters consensus. Co reaffirms guidance for FY12, sees EPS of $3.25 vs. $3.25 Thomson Reuters consensus.

7:00AM Laboratory Corp beats by $0.06, beats on revs; raises FY11 EPS guidance, reaffirms FY11 revs guidance (LH) 96.79 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $1.52 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.06 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $1.46; revenues rose 14.6% year/year to $1.37 bln vs the $1.33 bln consensus. Co raises FY11 EPS guidance to $6.17-6.32, excluding items, prior $6.12-6.32, vs. $6.32 Thomson Reuters consensus; reaffirms revs +9.5-11.5% (calc to FY11 revs of ~$5.48-5.58 bln vs. $5.54 bln Thomson Reuters consensus). Co is reaffirming its 2011 operating cash flow guidance of approximately $900 million and capital expenditures in the range of $140 million to $150 million.

6:57AM Anglo American interim management statement production report for the first quarter ended 31 March 2011; platinum production +19%, nickel +27%, copper +14% (AAUKY) 25.90 : Overview include: Platinum refined production increased by 19% to 532,900 ounces, while equivalent refined production decreased by 5%... Nickel production increased by 27% to 6,100 tonnes... Copper production decreased by 14% to 138,800 tonnes, mainly due to abnormally high rainfall and expected lower grades at Collahuasi, and scheduled maintenance and expected lower grades at Los Bronces.

6:56AM Complete Production Services reports EPS in-line, beats on revs (CPX) 32.38 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.50 per share, in-line with the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.50; revenues rose 59.9% year/year to $495.2 mln vs the $487.7 mln consensus. With regard to co's outlook, co states: "to address our customers' growing needs, we expect to deploy a 50,000 hydraulic horsepower frac spread in the Eagle Ford Shale, our third fleet in the region, and three large diameter extended reach coil tubing units during the second quarter of 2011."

6:51AM On The Wires (WIRES) :

* Procera Networks Inc. (PKT) announced it has received a $2 million follow-on order for PacketLogic from a Tier-1 cable MSO in North America. The customer completed an initial PacketLogic deployment in the second half of 2010 and is now expanding to accommodate a 10 Gigabit access network upgrade.
* Netlist (NLST) said the patent infringement lawsuit filed by Santa Clara, CA-based Inphi Corporation, a high speed analog semiconductor company, against Netlist has been dismissed without prejudice. The lawsuit filed on November 30, 2009, in the U.S. Central District of California, Western Division followed a patent infringement lawsuit Netlist filed against Inphi on September 22, 2009.

6:48AM 1-800-FLOWERS beats by $0.04, beats on revs (FLWS) 3.72 : Reports Q3 (Mar) loss of $0.04 per share, $0.04 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of ($0.08); revenues rose 4.7% year/year to $162.8 mln vs the $151.7 mln consensus.

6:46AM Alexion Pharma beats by $0.08, reports revs in-line; reaffirms FY11 EPS guidance, guides FY11 revs in-line (ALXN) 101.77 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.59 per share, $0.08 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.51; revenues rose 41.2% year/year to $166.1 mln vs the $165.9 mln consensus. Co issues mixed guidance for FY11, sees EPS of $2.10-2.25 vs. $2.23 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees FY11 revs of $720-740 mln vs. $739.95 mln Thomson Reuters consensus and above prior guidance of $715-735 mln.

6:46AM Snap-On beats by $0.04, beats on revs (SNA) 61.01 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.96 per share, $0.04 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.92; revenues rose 11.6% year/year to $693.7 mln vs the $685.1 mln consensus. Snap-on anticipates continuing with its planned strategic investments in 2011, including further expansion in emerging markets. As a result, the co now expects that capital expenditures in 2011 will approximate $65 million, of which $18.6 million was spent in the first quarter. Snap-on also expects to incur $11 million of higher year-over-year pension expense in 2011 largely due to the amortization of investment losses incurred in 2008 related to its domestic pension plan assets. Interest expense on the $250 million of senior notes issued in December 2010 will approximate $2.7 million per quarter in 2011. Snap-on anticipates that its full year 2011 effective income tax rate will approximate 33.0%.

6:45AM Republic Bancorp reports Q1 EPS of $3.40 vs $2.87 Thomson Reuters consensus (RBCAA) 19.05 :

6:42AM PNC Bank beats by $0.20, reports revs in-line (PNC) 60.75 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $1.57 per share, $0.20 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $1.37; revenues fell 5.3% year/year to $3.6 bln vs the $3.59 bln consensus. Co reports net interest margin was 3.94 percent, remaining relatively stable with the fourth quarter of 2010.

6:42AM BlackRock beats by $0.19, beats on revs (BLK) 193.72 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $2.96 per share, $0.19 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $2.77; revenues rose 14.4% year/year to $2.28 bln vs the $2.25 bln consensus. Assets under management ("AUM") totaled $3.648 trillion at March 31, 2011, up $87.5 billion or 2% during the quarter. Growth in AUM was driven by a $100.0 billion improvement in market and investment performance and $34.7 billion of net new business in long-term products, which reflected net inflows in all asset classes, client regions and distribution channels.

6:42AM Fifth Third beats by $0.01 (FITB) 13.32 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.27 per share, excluding effect of the accelerated TARP discount accretion, $0.01 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.26. Co states net charge-offs of $367 mln (1.92% of loans and leases) vs. 4Q10 NCOs of $356 mln and 1Q10 NCOs of $582 mln; one credit represented $22 mln of 1Q11 NCOs. Total nonperforming assets of $2.3 bln including held-for-sale declined $126 mln or 5% sequentially to lowest level since 2Q08; nonperforming assets excluding held-for-sale of $2.1 bln declined $48 mln or 2%. NPA ratio of 2.73% down 6 bps from 4Q10, NPL ratio of 2.11% down 4 bps from 4Q10; NPL inflows down ~12%. Tier 1 common ratio 9.00%, up 150 bps sequentially; Tier 1 ratio 12.21%, down 173 bps; Total capital ratio 16.29%, down 185 bps.

6:41AM General Electric beats by $0.03, beats on revs; raises divdend 7% (GE) 20.40 : Reports Q1 (Mar) GAAP earnings from continuing operations of $0.31 per share, $0.03 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.28; revenues rose 6.2% year/year to $38.45 bln vs the $34.64 bln consensus. GE Capital Services' (GECS) revs increased 3% from last year to $13.2 bln. Industrial sales of $22.1 bln decreased 6% versus 2010. Segment profit increased 36% compared with the first quarter of 2010, as increases of more than 200% at GE Capital, 37% at Transportation, 7% at Healthcare and 5% at Aviation more than offset a 7% earnings decline at Energy Infrastructure. "GE Healthcare, Transportation and Aviation delivered strong results. Strategic investments in high-growth segments have strengthened the co's Energy portfolio and position that business to return to growth in the second half of this year. We ended the quarter with a record high backlog of $177 billion... Reserve coverage decreased slightly in the quarter, driven by improving portfolio quality. Since the first quarter of 2010, we've improved our GECC Tier 1 common ratio to 9.8% from 7.8% and reduced GECC leverage to 4.5:1 from 5.5:1." GE raised its quarterly dividend by $0.01 to $0.15 effective in the third quarter of 2011. This is the third dividend increase declared in the last 12 months and reflects GE leadership's confidence in the company's business performance.

6:38AM Travelers beats by $0.38, beats on revs (TRV) 59.13 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $1.89 per share, $0.38 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $1.51; revenues rose 3.5% year/year to $5.44 bln vs the $5.31 bln consensus.

6:33AM TE Connectivity misses by $0.01, reports revs in-line; guides Q3 EPS below consensus, revs in-line; guides FY11 EPS below consensus, revs in-line (TEL) 35.72 : Reports Q2 (Mar) earnings of $0.71 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 worse than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.72; revenues rose 17.4% year/year to $3.47 bln vs the $3.5 bln consensus. Co issues mixed guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.68-0.74, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.79 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q3 revs of $3.50-3.65 bln vs. $3.62 bln Thomson Reuters consensus. Co issues mixed guidance for FY11, sees EPS of $2.95-3.07, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $3.12 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees FY11 revs of $14.0-14.3 bln vs. $14.08 bln Thomson Reuters consensus. "Our second quarter overall was solid with double-digit sales and adjusted earnings growth versus the prior year and continued orders growth in most of our markets, especially automotive, industrial and telecom networks. In addition, the benefits of the ADC acquisition began to materialize during the quarter as sales and earnings were on track and we were awarded a $400 million contract to supply network connectivity products for the Australian govt's National Broadband Network. "Our company, like many others, is being impacted by the earthquake in Japan. We feel fortunate that all 2,000 of our people there came through the earthquake safely and I want to thank them for their commitment to keeping our operations running and supporting our customers during these trying times. The situation is creating disruptions to some of our customers' operations and we expect the majority of this impact to be in our third quarter."

6:29AM General Electric raised quarterly dividend $0.01 to $0.15 per common share from $0.14 per common stock (GE) 20.40 :

6:28AM ICON plc reports EPS in-line, beats on revs (ICLR) 22.85 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.21 per share, in-line with the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.21; revenues rose 4.6% year/year to $229 mln vs the $224.3 mln consensus.

6:25AM Biogen Idec beats by $0.02, beats on revs (BIIB) 86.57 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $1.43 per share, $0.02 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $1.41; revenues rose 8.5% year/year to $1.2 bln vs the $1.18 bln consensus. During the first quarter of 2011, Biogen Idec repurchased 2.8 million shares of stock at a total cost of $195 million.

6:23AM Nokia and Microsoft sign definitive agreement ahead of schedule (NOK) 8.59 : Nokia (NOK) and Microsoft (MSFT) announce the signing of a definitive agreement on a partnership that will result in a new global mobile ecosystem, utilizing the very complementary assets of both companies. Completed ahead of schedule, the definitive agreement is consistent with the joint announcement made on February 11. In addition to agreeing to the terms of their partnership, including joint contributions to the development of the new ecosystem, Nokia and Microsoft also announced significant progress on the development of the first Nokia products incorporating Windows Phone. Nokia has also started porting key applications and services to operate on Windows Phone and joint outreach has begun to third party application developers. Nokia will deliver mapping, navigation, and certain location-based services to the Windows Phone ecosystem. Nokia will build innovation on top of the Windows Phone platform in areas such as imaging, while contributing expertise on hardware design and language support, and helping to drive the development of the Windows Phone platform. Microsoft will provide Bing search services across the Nokia device portfolio as well as contributing strength in productivity, advertising, gaming, social media and a variety of other services. Joint developer outreach and application sourcing, Microsoft will receive a running royalty from Nokia for the Windows Phone platform, starting when the first Nokia products incorporating Windows Phone ship. The royalty payments are competitive and reflect the large volumes that Nokia expects to ship, as well as a variety of other considerations related to engineering work to which both companies are committed. Microsoft delivering the Windows Phone platform to Nokia will enable Nokia to significantly reduce operating expenses.

6:22AM Air Products beats by $0.02, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS in-line; guides FY11 EPS in-line (APD) 93.72 : Reports Q2 (Mar) earnings of $1.41 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $1.39; revenues rose 11.2% year/year to $2.5 bln vs the $2.43 bln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $1.42-1.47 vs. $1.45 Thomson Reuters consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY11, sees EPS of $5.65-5.75 vs. $5.69 Thomson Reuters consensus and above prior guidance of $5.55-5.70.

6:21AM On The Wires (WIRES) :

* Canadian Solar Inc. (CSIQ) announced a 97 MW supply agreement. Under the agreement, Canadian Solar will supply its high performance solar modules to GP Joule, with all deliveries under the 97 MW supply agreement to occur before December 31, 2011.
* Netlist (NLST) said the patent infringement lawsuit filed by Santa Clara, CA-based Inphi Corporation, a high speed analog semiconductor company, against Netlist has been dismissed without prejudice. The lawsuit filed on November 30, 2009, in the U.S. Central District of California, Western Division followed a patent infringement lawsuit Netlist filed against Inphi on September 22, 2009.

6:20AM BB&T Corp beats by $0.01, misses on revs (BBT) 26.59 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.32 per share, $0.01 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.31; revenues fell 7.1% year/year to $2.04 bln vs the $2.19 bln consensus. The YoY decrease in total revenues included declines of $130 million in noninterest income and $26 million in fully taxable equivalent net interest income. The decline in noninterest income included $74 million in losses related to commercial loans held for sale in connection with mgmt's asset disposition strategy. In addition, the first quarter of 2011 included a $63 million reduction from the FDIC loss share asset, which is offset by additional interest income on the loans and securities and lower provisions for credit losses compared to the first quarter of 2010. Excluding these items, noninterest income was relatively flat compared to the first quarter of 2010. "BB&T posted solid first quarter results as our credit costs continued to decline and economic conditions improved. For the second consecutive quarter, we saw improvements in all measures of credit quality. In particular, we experienced significant declines in past due loans, to our lowest level in three years. We continue to make progress in the diversification of our balance sheet. We experienced healthy growth in average C&I loans of 8.7% on an annualized basis compared with last quarter and we further reduced our exposure to higher-risk real estate. We also saw growth in total loans this quarter, including the mortgage and auto loan portfolios."

6:19AM Newmont Mining beats by $0.05, reports revs in-line (NEM) 58.85 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $1.04 per share, $0.05 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.99; revenues rose 9.9% year/year to $2.46 bln vs the $2.44 bln consensus. The Company is maintaining its previously announced 2011 Outlook for attributable gold production of 5.1 to 5.3 mln ounces with costs applicable to sales of $560 to $590 per ounce on a co-product basis and 2011 attributable copper production of 190 to 220 mln pounds at costs applicable to sales of between $1.25 and $1.50 per pound. Newmont is maintaining its 2011 attributable capital expenditure outlook of $2.1 to $2.5 billion, or $2.7 to $3.0 billion on a consolidated basis.

6:16AM Gold Resource announces anomalous storm impacts co's aguila project; gold production expected to remain unaffected (GORO) 30.15 : Co's El Aguila Project experienced an anomalous regional hail and rain storm which ended in the early morning hours of Wednesday, April 20th. The storm is estimated to have produced over 10 inches of rain within three hours, causing regional and mine power outages, flooding and some equipment damage at the Company's underground Arista mine. The Company is pleased to report no serious injuries to its personnel were sustained, and mill production is expected to be unaffected by the incident. Gold Resource Corporation is a low-cost gold producer with operations in southern Mexico.

6:15AM Sup Energy Svcs announces that SESI, a direct, wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, has priced $500.0 million aggregate principal amount of 6.375% Senior Notes due 2019; the Notes were priced at 100.00% of par (SPN) 39.46 :

6:11AM Cash America beats by $0.06, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS in-line; guides FY11 EPS in-line (CSH) 44.69 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $1.13 per share, $0.06 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $1.07; revenues rose 13.4% year/year to $355.2 mln vs the $344 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.75-0.80 vs. $0.79 Thomson Reuters consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY11, sees EPS of $4.16-4.30 vs. $4.18 Thomson Reuters consensus and above its prior guidance of $4.11-4.22.

6:09AM UnitedHealth beats by $0.33, beats on revs; raises FY11 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (UNH) 44.24 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $1.22 per share, $0.33 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.89; revenues rose 9.7% year/year to $25.43 bln vs the $24.95 bln consensus. Co raises guidance for FY11, sees EPS of $3.95-4.05, up from $3.50-3.70 vs. $3.78 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees FY11 revs approaching $101 bln approaching $100 bln previously and the $100.57 bln Thomson Reuters consensus. The first quarter 2011 medical care ratio of 81.4 percent was stable, increasing 10 bps YoY. First quarter results reflect successful efforts in aligning consumer engagement with clinical care mgmt and a continuation of a moderated level of overall health system use.

6:07AM Covidien beats by $0.04, beats on revs; guides FY11 revs in-line (COV) 53.87 : Reports Q2 (Mar) earnings of $0.93 per share, $0.04 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.89; revenues rose 9.8% year/year to $2.8 bln vs the $2.75 bln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY11, sees FY11 revs of +8-11% to ~$11.26-11.58 bln vs. $11.28 bln Thomson Reuters consensus and above its prior guidance of +6-9% YoY growth. Co sees Operating margin, excluding the impact of one-time items, expected to be in the 21.5-22.5% range vs prior guidance of 21-22%.

5:56AM CNH Global beats by $0.14, beats on revs; reaffirms FY11 revs guidance (CNH) 45.09 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.57 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.14 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.43; revenues rose 17.3% year/year to $3.8 bln vs the $3.74 bln consensus. Co reaffirms guidance for FY11, sees FY11 revs of +10% to ~$15.9 bln vs. $16.2 bln Thomson Reuters consensus. Co sees demand in the agricultural and construction equipment markets are expected to remain firm for the balance of 2011 on the back of a positive environment in agricultural commodity prices and its influence on increased planting and farming income estimates; and a steadily improving environment in construction equipment. Co is monitoring the medium term effects from the earthquake in Japan on March 11, 2011 on both our business partners and component suppliers. While none of their business partners or Tier 1 suppliers has suffered irreparable damage, the co expects that component parts supply disruptions will necessitate periodic production curtailments in Q2 and Q3 primarily in the construction equipment segment. Further, the co anticipates that in certain product classes of whole goods availability will be constrained during the timeframe. As of the end of the first quarter, co estimates that the economic impact could negatively affect full year revenues between $300-500 mln and operating profit between $40-60 mln. Despite this un-expected headwind, the co re-affirms its previously released full year revenue and earnings growth targets for 2011 of revenue growth at an operating margin range of 7.1-7.9%.

5:23AM Patriot Coal misses by $0.04, beats on revs; provides operations outlook (PCX) 24.53 : Reports Q1 (Mar) loss of $0.17 per share, $0.04 worse than the Thomson Reuters consensus of ($0.13); revenues rose 23.5% year/year to $577 mln vs the $553.2 mln consensus. For the year 2011, the co continues to anticipate sales volume in the range of 30-32 mln tons, including metallurgical coal sales of 8.0-8.4 mln tons. The co continues to expect 2011 cost per ton in the range of $63-67 for the Appalachia segment and $40-43 for the Illinois Basin segment. 2011 Cap ex expected to be $150-175 mln.

5:17AM Thomas & Betts beats by $0.02, beats on revs; reaffirms FY11 EPS guidance (TNB) 59.70 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.71 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.69. Co reaffirms guidance for FY11, sees EPS of $3.15-3.35, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $3.32 Thomson Reuters consensus. Co is maintaining full-year 2011 guidance of mid-to high-single digit sales growth. Current FY11 rev estimate of $2.22 bln implies ~10% growth.

5:11AM Schlumberger misses by $0.05, misses on revs (SLB) 87.89 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.71 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 worse than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.76; revenues rose 55.7% year/year to $8.72 bln vs the $8.82 bln consensus. During the quarter, co repurchased 9.7 mln shares of its common stock at an average price of $87.18 for a total purchase price of $844 mln under the stock repurchase program.

4:41AM China Shenghuo Pharma appoints Raymond Wang as part-time CFO, effective as of April 20, 2011 (KUN) 0.60 : Wang joins co from China Biwin Consulting and Guangzhou Biwin Financial where he was responsible for financial consulting, internal controls, tax and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. The former CFO, Chuanxiang Huang, resigned from his position as CFO of the co, effective as of April 18, 2011.

4:37AM On The Wires (WIRES) :

* Columbia Sportswear (COLM) announced plans to expand its e-commerce operations to Canada and up to eight key markets across Europe in Fall 2011.
* Cliffs Natural Resources (CLF) announced that it has reached a settlement agreement with Essar Steel Algoma. The settlement agreement includes Essar's acceptance of the previously announced arbitration award. In addition to acknowledging the method to calculate the contract prices beginning in 2010 through the duration of the contract, the settlement agreement also finalizes the 2011 contract price.
* SanDisk (SNDK) announced a 64-gigabit, 2-bits-per-cell based monolithic chip made on 19-nanometer technology, which co states is "the most advanced memory process technology node in the world."
* Intel (INTC) and Micron Technology (MU) expanded their NAND Flash memory joint venture operations with the official opening of IM Flash Singapore. The $3 bln facility is expected to employ about 1,200 and is currently ramping production of the cos' industry-leading 25 nanometer NAND Flash memory.
* NETGEAR (NTGR) and ClearAccess announced they have completed integration of the ClearVision Management and Applications Platform with NETGEAR's CG3000 family of DOCSIS 3.0 & EuroDOCSIS 3.0 cable gateways through a TR-069 and API integration.
* NXP Semiconductors (NXPI) announced an addition to its broad GreenChip SSL family of products, the GreenChip SSL4101T controller IC, which offers new levels of professional-grade performance for Solid State LED lighting power supplies.
* CME Group (CME) announced that it will introduce cash-settled Sovereign Yield Spread futures beginning May 22 for a trade date of May 23. The six countries represented in the initial launch phase include France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, UK, and US.

2:10AM Weatherford misses by $0.08, beats on revs; guides Q2 EPS below consensus (WFT) 21.13 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.10 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.08 worse than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.18; revenues rose 22.1% year/year to $2.86 bln vs the $2.82 bln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $0.15-17, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.20 Thomson Reuters consensus. Co states margin performance was held back primarily due to political turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa, unfavorable weather conditions and an equity tax enacted in Colombia.

2:05AM CVB Financial beats by $0.04, misses on revs (CVBF) 9.30 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.16 per share, $0.04 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.12; revenues fell 22.1% year/year to $57.1 mln vs the $60.9 mln consensus. Allowance for credit losses represents 3.11% of total CBB non-covered loans & leases. Non-performing loans decreased to $108.2 mln, down from $157.0 mln at December 31, 2010, and now represents 3.33% of total CBB non-covered loans and leases.

1:59AM Walter Energy misses by $0.31, misses on revs; provides operational outlook (WLT) 131.13 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $1.53 per share, $0.31 worse than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $1.84; revenues rose 31.0% year/year to $408.7 mln vs the $416.7 mln consensus. The co expects full year metallurgical coal sales from the Walter Energy Alabama underground operations of 7.5-8.0 mln short tons. In addition, the Walter Energy Alabama surface operations expect to sell between 1.4-1.6 mln short tons of thermal coal for the full year. From the legacy Western Coal operations, the co expects metallurgical coal sales of between 4.9-5.3 mln metric tons for the period of April 1, 2011 to Dec. 31, 2011. The co expects thermal coal sales of 1.0-1.2 mln metric tons for the same period from these operations. Capital expenditures for the full year 2011 are expected to total between $500-540 mln and includes significant expansion projects at the Canadian operations.

1:53AM Basic Energy Services beats by $0.17, beats on revs (BAS) 27.86 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.20 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.17 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.03; revenues rose 15.6% year/year to $246.1 mln vs the $226.6 mln consensus. "Our outlook for the remainder of the year and into 2012 continues to improve as we see tightening supply versus demand in the majority of our markets. Relatively high oil prices and stable to higher natural gas prices should provide strong demand while service capacity is growing but not at a rate to exceed attrition and demand growth. Increased activity will undoubtedly place upward pressure on labor costs as the year progresses and we have been seeing higher costs for all other inputs in our businesses. We fully expect to be able to offset those inflationary impacts with price increases."

1:49AM Ensco misses by $0.02, reports revs in-line (ESV) 57.03 : Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.45 per share, $0.02 worse than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.47; revenues fell 19.4% year/year to $361.5 mln vs the $359.7 mln consensus.

1:38AM Amgen and UCB provide positive Phase 2 Results of AMG 785/CDP7851 in patients with postmenopausal osteoporosis; top-line results meet primary endpoint (AMGN) 56.18 : Co announces positive top-line results from their Phase 2 clinical study comparing sclerostin-antibody AMG 785/CDP7851 to placebo in postmenopausal women with low bone mineral density for the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis. This Phase 2 study met its primary endpoint, demonstrating significant increases in lumbar spine bone mineral density at month 12 for the AMG 785/CDP7851 active arms versus the placebo arm. In addition, AMG 785/CDP7851 compared positively with the two active comparators, teriparatide and alendronate. The overall incidence of adverse events was generally balanced between groups. Consistent with previous studies, injection site reactions were reported more frequently in those patients receiving AMG 785/CDP7851.

1:32AM Central Pacific Financial appoints Crystal Rose as Chairman; John Dean as President and CEO (CPF) 15.48 : Co announces the appointments of Crystal Rose as Chair of the CPF and Central Pacific Bank boards, and John Dean, former Executive Chairman, as President and CEO of CPF and CPB. Dean continues to serve as a director of both the CPF and CPB boards. The co stated that the separation of the board chair and CEO positions is consistent with its corporate governance policy. Rose has been a director of CPF and CPB since 2005 and most recently served as lead director and chair of the Corporate Governance Committee. Dean joined CPF and CPB in March, 2010, and has directed the successful recapitalization of the co by securing $325 mln in new capital through a private placement transaction that closed on February 18, 2011.

1:26AM TradeStation to be acquired by Monex Group for $9.75 in cash (TRAD) 7.41 : Co announces that they have entered into a definitive agreement pursuant to which a subsidiary of Monex will acquire all the outstanding common stock of co for $9.75 per share, or approximately $411 mln in aggregate, through a cash tender offer followed by a merger. Co's shareholders will receive $9.75 in cash for each outstanding share of common stock they own, which represents a 32% premium to TRAD's closing stock price on April 20, 2011.

1:23AM Ku6 Media merges with Pipi.cn (KUTV) 5.15 : Co announces Ku6 and the shareholders of Hangzhou Soushi Networking have agreed to the sale of Pipi to Ku6, in an all stock transaction under which all of the equity interests in Pipi will be sold to co in exchange for an aggregate of 2,212,114,257 Ku6 ordinary shares. After the completion of the merger, Pipi will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of co. Shanda Networking will sell its equity interests to co in this transaction.

1:15AM China Security and Surveillance enters into merger agreement with Rightmark Holdingsand Rightmark Merger Sub (CSR) 4.83 : Co announces that it has entered into a definitive agreement and plan of merger with Rightmark Holdings, a British Virgin Islands co wholly owned indirectly by Mr. Guoshen Tu, and Rightmark Merger Sub, a Delaware corporation wholly owned by Parent. Mr. Guoshen Tu is the co's CEO and the Chairman and beneficially owns ~20.9% of the co's outstanding shares of common stock. Each share of the Common Stock issued and outstanding immediately prior to the effective time of the merger will be converted into the right to receive $6.50 in cash without interest, except for (i) shares in respect of which appraisal rights have been properly exercised under Delaware law, and (ii) shares owned by Parent and Merger Sub.
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