The Securities and Exchange Commission said on Wednesday that JPMorgan Chase & Company (JPM) agreed to pay more than $700 million to settle federal regulators' charges for an unlawful payment scheme that helped them win business involving municipal-bond offerings and swap-agreement transactions in Jefferson County , Alabama. JPMorgan Securities Inc, a division of JPMorgan Chase & Company, and two of its former managing directors, Charles LeCroy and Douglas MacFaddin, made those unlawful payments to win business and earn fees. The scandal was over the county's debt of around $4 billion which was pushing the county into the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. JPMorgan Securities has agreed to pay a fine of $25 million and $50 million to Jefferson County . The company will also lose more than $647 million in claimed termination fees on the swaps. JPMorgan, LeCroy and MacFaddin were alleged to have ...

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Wednesday November 4, 2009

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PWRM, INTC, PSFT, JPM, AQNM, MSFT, CVAT, STEC, CSRH

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PSFT, Powersafe Technology Corp., PSFT.PK

PSFT subsidiary Amplification Technologies Inc. (www.amplificationtechnologies.com) (ATI), is offering higher performance thermoelectrically cooled discrete amplification single photon counting solid state photodetectors. These photodetectors are mounted on a two stage thermoelectric cooler inside a hermetically sealed TO8 package and can be operated down to a temperature of -30oC.

The devices are available in both Si and InGaAs/InP technologies. As compared to TO5 devices, these TO8 packaged detectors have 10-30X lower dark current depending on operating temperature. The Si devices offer flat and

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Vulcan Materials (VMC) reported a 20% fall in net profits to $48 million or 38 cents per share in the third quarter, from $60 million or 53 cents per share in the year-ago period. The decline was on the back of a 19%-29% fall in sales volumes for the company’s key product lines. However, the company did manage to meet the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Revenue declined 23% to $778 million. Gross profit as a percent of net sales -- excluding depreciation, depletion and amortization -- increased to 34% from 31% in the prior-year quarter. This was attributed to Vulcan’s efficient cost management and productivity improvements. Segment Performance Revenue in the Aggregates segment shrank 19% to $533 million due to lower shipments, which more than offset the earnings benefit from improved prices, lower unit costs for diesel fuel and cost control measures. Shipments declined 20% due ...

A stronger Japanese yen against the dollar may prompt Honda Motor (HMC) to shift production of its Fit model from Japan to the U.S. This is mainly because Fit is one of the Honda’s models that attracted attention in the U.S. but are imported from Japan. However, the strengthening of yen against dollar to around 90 is narrowing down the company’s revenues in Japan upon translation.  So far, Honda has focused on regional manufacturing strategy for its vehicles. The company produces about 80% of all the vehicles sold in the U.S. However, the 5-door hatchback Fit – introduced in Japan in 2001 and launched in the U.S. market in 2006 – is manufactured at a facility outside Tokyo.  The model gained huge importance in the U.S. due to its fuel-efficiency (30 mpg). For the first nine months of the year, Fit sales in the U.S. were ...

Net losses for Nucor Corporation (NUE), the largest recycler of steel scrap in the US, narrowed to $29.5 million, or 10 cents per diluted share, for the third quarter of 2009. The result was narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate for a loss of 14 cents.

In the second quarter, NUE announced a net loss of $133.3 million, or 43 cents per diluted share. However, the performance is dismal compared to a net income of $734.6 million, or $2.31 per share, in the third quarter of 2008.

Losses in the quarter were driven by the negative impact of high-cost pig iron inventories of about $180 million, or 37 cents per share. However, the company claims that the consumption of the high-cost pig iron inventories was completed by the close of the quarter. Additionally, pre-operating and start-up costs of the new facilities increased 58% year over year to $47.1 million in

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Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC) has recently bagged four small contracts from the Pentagon, totaling approximately $116.6 million. Of this, the largest is a $58 million Army contract to complete a counter-rocket artillery and mortar system.  Work on the contract will be performed in Huntsville , Alabama facility. The company expects to complete the contract by the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2010. The Pentagon also awarded a $42 million Navy contract to build spare and repair parts for weapons-system navigation and radars.  Work on the contract will be performed in the Charlottesville , Virginia facility and is expected to be completed by Oct 2012. The company also received a $9.6 million Air Force contract for a preliminary design for a communications system for the MQ-9 Reaper, an unmanned aerial vehicle. Lastly, another $7 million was awarded to Northrop to work on an integrated base-defense ...

Last week, Southern Power – a subsidiary of electric utility company Southern Co. (SO) – announced its decision to build one of the country’s largest biomass power plants in eastern Sacul, Texas. Construction of the 100-megawatt plant is slated to commence this fall, with commercial operation projected for the summer of 2012.   As part of the project, Southern Power has agreed to acquire the Nacogdoches Power LLC biomass project from American Renewables LLC, a developer and operator of clean energy facilities utilizing biomass materials as fuels.   The power plant’s output has already been committed through a 20-year power purchase agreement with Austin Energy, the municipal utility owned by and serving Austin, Texas.   The plant, to be built over 165 acres, will use about 1 million tons of biomass materials (including forest residue, wood processing residues and municipal wood waste) annually as fuel, which is planned ...

General Dynamics Corporation (GD) recently received a $647 million contract from the U.S. Army TACOM Lifecycle Management Command for production of 352 Stryker vehicles. The contract was awarded to General Dynamics’ subsidiary General Dynamics Land Systems. The company expects to begin vehicle deliveries in July 2010. Work on the contract will be performed in Anniston, AL; Sterling Heights, MI; Lima, OH; and Ontario, Canada. The Stryker contract was originally awarded to General Dynamics in 2000. To date, the company has delivered 2,988 vehicles and trained 18,438 soldiers in their operations. The U.S. Army has seven Stryker Brigade Combat Teams, three of which are deployed in combat zones - two in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. Earlier, General Dynamics had maintained its brisk pace in order booking, taking the total backlog at the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2009 to $67.6 billion. This was ...

International Speedway Corp. (ISCA) reported fiscal third-quarter results yesterday. The company said GAAP net income plunged to $4.4 million, or 9 cents per share, compared to a GAAP net income of $38.8 million, or 79 cents in the prior year quarter. Excluding certain non-recurring items, earnings per share came in at 33 cents per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5 cents.   International Speedway is a leading promoter of motorsports activities and currently promotes more than 100 racing events annually as well as numerous other motorsports-related activities. The company operates 13 of the nation’s major motorsports entertainment facilities, including Daytona International Speedway in Florida, Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama and Michigan International Speedway in Michigan among others.   The company stated that revenues slipped 18.9% year over year to $172.9 million primarily due the adverse impact of economic conditions on sponsorship, suite and hospitality revenues, timing of ...

Earlier today, Emerson Electric Co. (EMR) announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire network equipment technology provider Avocent Corp. (AVCT) for $1.2 billion in cash. Emerson will pay $25 per share for Avocent, which is a 22% premium to Monday’s closing price.  Emerson believes this acquisition will further its ability to deliver total infrastructure management solutions to its data center customers around the world. Avocent has global manufacturing, research and development and sales operations and almost half of its 2008 sales came from outside the U.S.  Emerson generated $2.6 billion in sales (approximately 11% of total revenue) in 2008 from its data center-related operations. The transaction, which is expected to close around Jan 1, 2010, will further expand Emerson’s product offering to data center managers and create significant growth opportunities.  Emerson combines industry knowledge, manufacturing expertise, and technological innovation to offer a ...