For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 25, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Citigroup Inc. (C), Intuit Inc. (INTU), ENI S.p.A (E), BP plc (BP) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A).

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Here are highlights from Tuesday’s Analyst Blog:

Citi Expects Strong Economic Growth

Citigroup Inc. (C) forecasts strong economic growth in many countries in 2010. But although the company expects several countries to experience economic growth, it predicts that the growth will be somewhat uneven.

According to the annual report of Citi’s Investment

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This post provides links to a number of interesting articles I have read over the past few days that you may also enjoy.

• Rob Arnott (Research Affiliates) The “3-D” hurricane force headwind, November 2009. The heroic rally of the past eight months has many thinking the good ole days are back and that mainstream 60/40 investing is alive and well. But flourishing pines at the mountain’s base do not constitute a thriving and shelter-providing forest in the heights above. A longer term perspective reveals that some powerful gales of inflation may surprise us on the trail to real returns over the coming decades. Most investors have very little invested in assets that are likely to serve them well in that brave new world. None of these observations is likely to help us in the weeks and months ahead. But, the long term does matter; institutional

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Citigroup Inc. (C) forecasts strong economic growth in many countries in 2010. But although the company expects several countries to experience economic growth, it predicts that the growth will be somewhat uneven. According to the annual report of Citi’s Investment Research and Analysis group, though growth will be strong and even across major economies in the beginning of the year, it will be uneven later. Citi expects Asia, excluding Japan, to experience sustained economic growth. Though the U.S. is expected to see fairly strong economic growth, the recovery will be more gradual in Europe and Japan. Citi also upgraded its 2010 gross domestic product forecasts for the U.S., Japan, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Korea, Argentina, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Turkey. The report also suggested that Central Banks are unlikely to hike key interest rates through the next year. However, credit ...

JPMorgan Chase & Company (JPM) said on Monday that it has appointed Zili Shao as chairman and chief executive of its China operation. It has also appointed Fang Fang as vice-chairman of its Asia Investment Banking operations.   The company has initiated management changes to strengthen its China operations as Chinese companies are now closely focusing on domestic as well as global expansion.   Mr. Shao, currently the head of the Asian practice at the law firm Linklaters, is experienced in some of the biggest financial deals involving China, including the acquisition of Guangdong Development Bank and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s purchase of a $5.5 billion stake in Standard Bank of South Africa. Mr. Shao will assume his new responsibilities at JPMorgan’s China business in late January.   Mr. Fang would be responsible for JPMorgan's investment banking strategy and business development efforts involving China and all

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The New Crude Oil Benchmark That Could Change the Oil Market’s Price Dynamics

by Sheena Martin, Contributing Editor Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Earlier this month, the world’s largest oil producer set the table for a move away from traditional light, sweet crude oil.

Saudi Aramco, the state-owned company of Saudi Arabia has decided to drop West Texas Intermediate (NYMEX: WTI) as the basis for pricing its oil sold to the U.S. market. The Saudis priced off WTI for 15 years.

Why? Well, quite simply, WTI crude oil is dangerously volatile – as evidenced by the drop from $150 per barrel to $30 crude over the past year.

In its place, Saudi Aramco will start using the Argus Sour Crude Index (ASCI), which measures heavier oil with higher sulfur content. Traditionally, heavy, sour crude is cheaper than WTI. Heavy

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These days, solar is one of the most popular words in the green lexicon. You hear it everywhere, with most of the talk focusing on the increasingly large solar power plants that are now being built. New designs have dropped the price of large scale solar electricity generation by over 80% in the last 25 years to a level that is now closing in on standard grid prices. Factoring in government subsidies puts solar over the top and has motivated the current boom in planning and construction. For the first time, solar energy is being taken seriously as a potentially major power source.

But there is another side of solar energy that continues to capture the public’s imagination in ways that large industrial size power plants simply can’t. It’s the grass-roots development of business and home size power generation systems that

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Semtech Corp’s (SMTC) third quarter earnings beat consensus estimates by 6 cents. This follows better-than-expected results reported by the entire peer group, including Maxim Integrated Products (MXIM), Intersil Corporation (ISIL) and Linear Technology (LLTC).  Revenue  Revenue of $75.1 million was up 13.3% sequentially and down 5.7% year over year. The sequential strength was broad-based across all end-markets except industrial and was derived from sequential increases across all product lines except power discrete. The decline from the year-ago period was recession-related.  Asia remained the largest region, with a 61% revenue share. North America was next, representing 23% of total revenue and Europe third, generating the remaining 16%. All three regions witnessed higher demand, with Asia growing 15.2% sequentially, North America growing 4.2% and Europe 20.9%. Both distribution and OEM sales grew in the last quarter, and distributor inventories declined.  Revenue by End ...

The video clips below provide a handy summary of the reports expected on the economic, financial and corporate front around the globe during the week ahead.

US: Housing data, holiday sales Investors will hear a lot about housing next week, with data on existing and new home sales coming. Hewlett-Packard will release results, and a gauge of holiday season sales will come on Black Friday.

Europe: LSE, Remy Cointreau report The London Stock Exchange, drinks company Remy Cointreau and electronics retailer DSG International report results. Consumer confidence data to hit in Germany and France.

Asia: GDP, auto makers in focus GDP reports from Taiwan, Philippines and Thailand will be in the spotlight next week, along with reports

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I want to talk about the challenge of exponential growth in a finite world. This is a concept that while on its surface seems easy to get, most people don’t fully grasp it. Any growth rate that is positive will lead to a doubling in size eventually -- the higher the growth rate, the quicker the doubling. A quick "back of the envelope" method of figuring it out is known as the rule of 70. If you divide a growth rate into 70, it will roughly give you the time for something to double. Thus if something is growing at 2% a year, then it will double in about 35 years, at 5% only 14 years, etc. If you want to be more precise, you can always use your Y^x button on your calculator, but the rule of 70 will do for this discussion. Clearly, exponential growth ...

Stephen Prior, CEO of One World Ventures (OTCPK: OWVI), is featured in this audio interview conducted by Stuart T. Smith of SmallCapVoice.com. During the interview Mr. Prior provides a company overview, status and answers many questions that investors have poised.

One World Ventures, Inc. is a holding company with management resourced in Asia and the United States that invests in technologies, communities and systems that facilitate trade, finance, communication and travel across international boundaries, cultures and languages.

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