Hedge Fund ActivismCorporations & Activist Hedge FundsThe Conference Board Working Group on Hedge Fund Activism has released its final recommendations for those corporations and institutional investors that may find themselves involved in an activism campaign mounted by hedge funds.The recommendations were formulated by a heterogeneous group of high-level corporate and investor representatives, instituted under the auspices of The Conference Board Governance Center. They include guidelines on monitoring securities holdings, responding to requests for change, ensuring voting integrity, and overseeing hedge fund management. Working Group members include:• Major pension funds and asset management firms, including TIAA-CREF, Florida State Board of Administration, and Barclays;• Corporations at the forefront of corporate governance developments, including Pfizer, American Express, and The Coca-Cola Company; and• Industry associations and service providers such as Managed Funds Association, the National Investor Relations Institute, ISS-RiskMetrics Group, Standard ...

In bull markets, investors sometimes use a stock trading technique called 'Buying Dividends,' which is the technique of buying stocks before the ex dividend date and selling the stock shortly after the ex date at approximately the same price, yet still being entitled to the dividend. This technique usually only works in bull markets.If you are interested in buying dividends, there are several stocks in several different sectors and industries to choose from. In order to be entitled to the dividend, you have to buy the stock before the ex-dividend date, and you can't sell the stock until after the ex date. The actual dividend may not be paid for another month.All of the following stocks have market caps over $500 million, and yields over 3%. NuStar GP Holdings, LLC (NSH) is going ex-dividend on 11/3/2008. The stock has a PE of 17 ...

In this feature, we turn our attention to General Motors (GM), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Wal-Mart (WMT), Chevron (CVX) and Home Depot (HD).

One of the hallmarks of this bear market has been how indiscriminate it has been.  Companies that are likely to be absolutely devastated by the economic slowdown are getting whacked almost as much as those that should do just fine.  To illustrate this, one needs go no further than the Dow 30.

Below we present the 30 blue chips sorted by how much they have declined over the last year.  All but one of them is down.  Yes, two of the firms that are likely to suffer the most are at the top of the list, General Motors (GM) and Citigroup (C).  However, the relative positions of many of the others simply

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As I write this on Friday morning, there is scuttlebutt that several central banks could announce rate cuts on Monday morning. Though the rumors are unconfirmed, fed fund futures are pricing in a significantly higher probability of a half-point cut occurring at the late-October meeting.

Alcoa (AA) will "officially" kick off earnings season when it reports on Tuesday afternoon. The aluminum maker is expected to announce profits of 60 cents per share.

Joining AA throughout the week will be fellow S&P 500 members: Costco (COST), Chevron (CVX), General Electric (GE), Host Hotel & Resorts (HST), Monsanto (MON), Progressive (PGR), Safeway (SWY) and Yum! Brands (YUM).

The minutes from the September Fed meeting will be released on Tuesday afternoon. If a rate cut is announced on Monday morning, the significance of these minutes would be reduced. Nonetheless, the notes will be

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Alcoa (AA) earnings are the traditional kick off of every quarterly earnings season. I don't really follow this name much simply because, while it's a basic material, aluminum is not exactly my favorite. But I'd like to show readers the reality behind the numbers, while the seals on CNBC were clapping and hooting and hollering about the "beat". I'd also like to show you a trend you will be seeing this earnings season, and the ones coming - higher input costs. And squeezed profit margins - we've been warning about this "era" coming since last summer. It's now here.First to the "great news" - Alcoa "beat" estimates - 66 cents versus 65 cents. So the seals cheer "better than expected". It's a joke. 90 days ago Alcoa was expected to do 77 cents, 60 days ago that was lowered ...

$45 trillion needed to combat warming- The world needs to invest $45 trillion in energy in coming decades, build some 1,400 nuclear power plants and vastly expand wind power in order to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, according to an energy study released Friday.More on this story HERE.Mexico sees lower oil exports for 2008 Pemex Chief Executive Jesus Reyes Heroles said the state-run company's oil exports were headed for an average of 1.40 million to 1.45 million barrels per day over 2008, around 15 percent below a goal set in Mexico's 2008 budget of 1.683 million bpd. The estimation is also well below an average export level of 1.686 million bpd in 2007.Crude Oil Rises a Second Day on Supply Concerns, Dollar Outlook ``People are really responding to longer-term supply issues,'' said John Vautrain, vice president at consultants Purvin & Gertz Inc. in Singapore, in an interview with Bloomberg Television. ``Every time we hear good news ...

This is quite interesting news. Alcoa Inc., the world’s top aluminum maker, is selling its entire stake in Aluminum Corp of China Ltd (HKSE:2600.HK - News; Chalco) for approximately US$2 billion.

-Alcoa Inc. (AA), the world’s top aluminum maker, is selling its entire stake in Aluminum Corp of China Ltd (ACH), for up to US$2 billion, reaping a potential profit on its investment of as much as US$1.9 billion.
-Alcoa will sell 700 million Chalco shares, with an option to increase the number to 884.2 million shares, at between HK$17.26 and HK$18.27 apiece, a term sheet said on Wednesday.
-The selling price represents a discount of between 10.4 percent and 15.4 percent against the stock’s closing price of HK$20.40 on Wednesday.