Quantum Wealth Creation

Facebook is poised to raise $18.4 billion from IPO Facebook priced its initial public offering at the top of a previously set range, at $38 a share, after investors rebuffed higher figures. The effort would value the social network at $104 billion, making it the most valuable U.S. company at the time of listing. Facebook [...]

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Call players took a shine to Best Buy., Inc. (BBY – 18.17) on Thursday, despite the stock receiving a price-target cut to $23 from $27 at RBC Capital Markets. Approximately 26,000 of these options were exchanged, which was four times the norm. Most popular was the out-of-the-money June 20 strike, where north of 7,300 calls [...]

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11:25 AM New York – Ann first quarter net rose 5% and lifted second quarter outlook. Donaldson third quarter increased 15% to $70.9 million. Foot Locker first quarter net surged 36% to $128 million. Salesforce.com first quarter net swung to $19.5 million loss. The Gap first quarter net was flat at $233 million. Ann Inc. [...]

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Defying the expectations of many, Zynga Inc. (ZNGA – 7.17) has not benefitted from the Facebook (FB – 38.69) hubbub today but has instead taken a header. In midday trading, shares of the social-gaming czar are down 13% at a new all-time low. Traders are currently restricted from shorting ZNGA shares, so bearish investors wanting [...]

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Shares of China-based Renren Inc. (RENN – 5.47) have plummeted today, after sector peer Facebook (FB – 41.02) made its widely anticipated market debut. However, call players seem to have shrugged off the decline, as roughly 28,000 of these contracts have changed hands, which is four times the equity’s expected intraday volume. Nearly 11,700 calls [...]

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Gold futures are extending yesterday’s rebound from 10-month lows, which is boding well for commodity concerns like Goldcorp Inc. (GG – 35.55). What’s more, it looks like the options crowd is taking notice, with roughly 13,000 GG calls traded thus far — almost twice its average intraday call volume, and close to three times the [...]

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11:25 AM New York – DirecTV first quarter net increased 8% to $731 million on little subscriber growth and Discovery Communications net declined 28% to $221 million. Electronic Arts fourth quarter net surged 165% to $400 million. Fossil first quarter net rose 4.2% and raise fiscal revenue outlook. DirecTV (DTV) decreased 2.2% or $1.06 to [...]

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Global SIFIs must raise $556B to meet Basel III, Fitch says Fitch Ratings said that for the top 29 banks in the world to comply with Basel III rules, they will need to raise $556 billion by 2019. To achieve that, the banks, deemed globally systemically important financial institutions by the Group of 20 nations, [...]

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Drug maker Dendreon Corporation (DNDN – 7.83) has been exceptionally popular among put traders today, with roughly 3,750 contracts traded thus far — about twice the norm. Wall Street is digesting news of a formal Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation, which may be related to shareholder lawsuits alleging the company misled investors about the [...]

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Call options are in heavy rotation today on Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), with volume rising to two times the usual level for the tech stock. Roughly 70,000 calls have changed hands so far on the shares, compared to only 37,000 puts. The most active strike is the soon-to-expire May 650 call, where 8,031 contracts have been [...]

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