Stocks are higher on positive employment data

Encouraging news on the labor market buoyed stocks in early trading Wednesday as investors waited for the Federal Reserve to weigh in on the economy.

The ADP National Employment Report said 203,000 private sector jobs were lost in October, down from the 227,000 jobs lost in September. It was the seventh straight month of declining job losses.

That stirred hopes for a better-than-expected employment report from the Labor Department on Friday — the month’s most important piece of economic data.

Later Wednesday morning, the Institute for Supply Management will give an update on activity in the service sector. Growth in the service industry would add significant jobs to the economy.

The market’s main focus though is the Federal Reserve and what it has to say about the economy when it wraps up a two-day meeting on interest rates Wednesday afternoon.

Policy makers aren’t expected to raise the Fed’s

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Nov. 3, 2009 (PR Newswire) — SEATTLE, Nov. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ – Mantra Venture Group Ltd. (’Mantra’, OTCBB: MVTG, FSE: 5MV) is pleased to announce a project to further develop its Electroreduction of Carbon Dioxide (ERC) technology with input from 3M.

The project will evaluate certain parts and materials proposed by 3M and evaluate their suitability for inclusion in the ERC equipment. It will also investigate a new approach to CO(2) capture. The parties will share the cost of the project equally.

About 3M

A recognized leader in research and development, 3M produces thousands of innovative products for dozens of diverse markets. 3M’s core strength is applying its more than 40 distinct technology platforms – often in combination – to a wide array of customer needs. With $25 billion in sales, 3M employs 75,000 people worldwide and has operations in more than 60 countries. Visit: http://www.3m.com.

About ERC

ERC carbon recycling, “the

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infoGROUP, a marketing solutions provider which utilizes data-driven solutions to help companies leverage information, issued an unaudited report Nov. 2 on its third quarter 2009 (ending Sept. 30, 2009) earnings.

Showing high marks for revenue, net income and continued reduction of debt, the report was reviewed in an infoGROUP hosted conference call available at its corporate website. Among the details of the glowing report is a marked debt reduction of $6.3 million, which infoGROUP’s CEO Bill Fairfield said demonstrated his Company’s effort to “generate profitable revenue growth during these tough economic times, reduce our debt quarter over quarter and reinvest in the business by building new products and services for the future.”

GAAP Results

infoGROUP’s 3Q 2009 revenue was up 3% from 2Q; however, revenue is still down 14%, to $125 million, from the same period last year. Operating income is just the opposite, showing a turnaround from the same period

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MARKET COMMENT October 22, 2009 DRIVE-THRU SOUP KITCHEN 2009 So, what the hell was yesterday about anyway? It lends credence to the idea of heavy liquidations in Galleon’s hedge funds since there don’t appear any other credible ideas—but, I’m open to suggestions. The rally today was led by earnings from McDonalds, Travelers and 3M. The 2:15 PM Buy Program Express arrived on time to squeeze shorts from yesterday’s closing debacle. The buy programs were stimulated by little follow-though selling from yesterday and the LEI coming in “better than expected”. Ignored in the enthusiasm was a lowering of the previous LEI report. We finally got big volume today on an up-day with dip buying and earnings optimism. Breadth was quite positive. ...

3M Company (MMM) reported third-quarter earnings of $1.35 per share on sales of $6.2 billion, with operating income margins of 23.9%. This was higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.17 per share. Sales and per-share earnings declined 5.6% and 4.3% year-on-year, respectively. 3M’s Display and Graphics and Health Care businesses each delivered double-digit year-on-year profit improvements. All business segments and all geographic regions reported sequential sales improvements. For Consumer and Office, sales were $923 million, down 4.8% year-on-year in local currency, which includes 2.8 percentage points from acquisitions; currency impacts reduced sales by 1.8%. For Display & Graphics, sales were $896 million, up 5.5% year-on-year in local currency, including 2.5% points of growth from acquisitions; currency impacts reduced sales by 1%; sales rose 10.8%  sequentially. In Safety, Security and Protection services, sales were $864 million, down 2% year-on-year in local currency; currency translation impacts reduced ...

Weak global economic conditions and a downgrade of Well Fargo by prominent banking analyst Richard Bove spooked investors even as Morgan Stanley and Yahoo reported better-than-expected earnings.  The Dow Jones industrial average slipped below the 10,000 level yesterday as markets pulled back in the final hour of trading.

Bove of Rochdale Securities said earnings at Well Fargo (NYSE:WFC) were helped by mortgage-servicing fees rather than improving business trends, and trimmed his rating on the bank to “sell" from “hold."  However, Well Fargo and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), which reported its first quarterly profit in a year, were behind the market’s strength earlier in the session.  Bove also cited accelerating loan losses at the firm for the downgrade.  After Bove’s cut, FBR slashed its rating on the firm to "underperform," questioning Well Fargo's earnings quality.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell below the psychologically important 10,000 level, declining 92.12 points, or

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A bit of selling pressure sent major averages lower at the end of an otherwise upbeat week on Wall Street as Bank of America and General Electric’s numbers disappointed investors.  The Dow Jones industrial average, after closing above the 10,000 mark for two successive sessions, finished just below that level.  Despite the drop, stocks managed to post impressive gains on the week even as investors grew jittery about credit losses in the financial sector. 

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) said it lost $2.2 billion during the quarter after it wrote down almost $10 billion in bad loans and General Electric’s (NYSE:GE) revenue numbers were below Street projections.  Higher loan losses aggravated investors’ concerns as Citigroup (NYSE:C) and JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM) had also reported higher loan losses during the quarter.  General Electric’s (NYSE:GE) results were impacted by lower earnings at its GE Capital unit.    

The 30-share Dow Jones industrial average fell

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The Dow Jones industrial average rose 61 points on Thursday as traders reacted to news that retailers last month had their first sales gain in more than a year.  A closely watched gauge of sales at major retailers rose 0.1% in September. Still, most stores posted sales declines -- though smaller than in recent months -- even as their figures are compared with last September when business plummeted as the financial meltdown ballooned.  While still tepid, it was the first monthly rise in the International Council of Shopping Centers-Goldman Sachs tally since July 2008. 

On Thursday, the European Central Bank and Bank of England left interest rates unchanged.  Sentiment also received a boost from domestic corporate borrowing, which rose for the eight straight week. 

The growing optimism surrounding consumer spending, which is crucial for an economic recovery, followed late Wednesday's good results from Alcoa.  The company surprised investors with

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Just published research on enterprise search from Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS), shows that the organizations making the best use of enterprise search gain significant benefits. The research report, “Enterprise Search - Discover the Next Opportunity for Growth,” showed that the top performing 20% of organizations using search were able to achieve a 6-hour reduction, year-to-year, in the time individuals spent searching for information, and a 15% reduction in customer support costs, year-over-year. In comparison, all other

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The labor markets are showing signs of stabilizing, but the economic recovery continues to not feel like a recovery to many Americans. Last month, employers shed 263,000 jobs, pushing the unemployment rate up to 9.8%. Though the drop in nonfarm payrolls was bigger than the consensus estimate had forecast, it was not unexpected. Yesterday, both the ISM manufacturing survey and the Monster Worldwide Employment Index suggested the number could be weak. Wednesday's ADP survey also foreshadowed a worse-than-forecast number. Still, there are encouraging signs. The number of involuntary part-time workers (those who can't find full-time work) remains little changed since March. Health care providers continued to hire workers, creating 19,000 jobs. Hourly wages rose slightly, continuing a trend. The August job loss estimate was revised to 201,000 from 216,000. The problem, however, is that many Americans remained either unemployed or underemployed. Employers in most sectors cut ...