Companies featured in this edition of the newsletter: ACTC, CUR, CVM, DKAM, ENZ, IMUC, MFGD, NXOI, OMCM, ONEZ, PSID, XSNX

Markets continued to carry momentum during the early stages of last week, as the absence of significant economic news led to a continuation of the upward trend characterizing the past few weeks, until an earnings miss from Dell on Thursday led to a selloff in the technology sector which caused the major indices to end the week mixed. All told, the Dow ended the week in positive territory, gaining 47 points to close at 10318, up 0.5% on the week and 17.6% on the year. The Nasdaq surrendered 1.0% to close at 2146, paring its YTD gains to 36.1%, while the S&P 500 and Russell 2000 lost 0.2% and 0.3% respectively, reducing their yearly gains to 20.8 and 17.1.

Things got off to a strong start on Monday, with the

The two main players right now in the electronic book reader market are Sony (NYSE: SNE) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN).

While Sony helped pioneer the market for e-book readers using advanced electronic ink technology, it has fallen behind Amazon in the race to transform electronic readers into mass market devices. Sony’s Reader, launched in Japan in 2005, was first to market in the United States in 2006. But Amazon’s Kindle has been a surprise success since its first version was launched two years ago.

But Sony is fighting back – hard. In a direct assault on Amazon in the e-book market, Sony announced that it would convert its e-book store to the open EPUB format by the end of the year. EPUB is an industry standard e-book format that can be read on multiple devices. Amazon currently sells e-books that can only be read on its Kindle device or Kindle software, effectively

Read Any Good E-Books Lately?

by Tony Daltorio, Research, Investment U

There is a thrilling, real-life business drama being written as you read this article; a drama revolving around the battle for dominance in the electronic books industry.

Some of the major “characters” in this story include: Sony ADR (NYSE: SNE), the company that pioneered the market; Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), which brings in most of its business through selling books; and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), the proverbial “800 pond giant” that may end up dominating the industry in the end… despite having yet to enter it.

It’s quite a cast of characters for investors to choose among.

Nothing beats a good book, so we’ll take a “read” on the market for electronic books and electronic book readers. and see if any of the chapters contain profitable

Companies featured in this edition of the newsletter: ACTC, CVM, CUR, DKAM, FMTI, ICLK, IMUC, IWEB, OMCM, ONEZ, SIHI, TAGS

Markets took pause from their four week run this week, as some less than encouraging economic reports coupled with profit taking led to slight declines in all of the major indices. All told, the Dow ended the week down 0.5%, surrendering 48 points to close at 9321, bringing its YTD gains to 6.2%. The Nasdaq was off 0.7%, closing at 1985, up a healthy 25.9% on the year, while the S&P 500 and Russell 2000 were down 0.6% and 1.5% respectively, paring their yearly gains to 11.2% and 12.9%.

Disappointing economic data relating to inventories and consumer sentiment soured the mood for much of the week, as worse than expected declines in retail sales, consumer sentiment, and business and wholesale inventories gave investors cause for concern. Retail sales

Headquartered in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, Granite City Food & Brewery Ltd. is an upscale, modern, and casual restaurant chain. Trading on the NASDAQ Global Market, the Company features affordable, high quality, family favorite menu items. In addition to food, they also have their own on-site brewery in each location. Founded in 1997, Granite City has a current market capitalization of $8.10 million.

The Company opened their first restaurant in St. Cloud, Minnesota in 1999. From there, they proceeded to open their next restaurant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in December of 2000. Next in line was their Fargo, North Dakota location, which opened in November of 2001. Today, Granite City Food & Brewery Ltd. operates 25 restaurants in eleven Midwestern states.

The Company’s focus is on made-from-scratch recipes, which they serve to their patrons in generous portions. They also serve handcrafted beers in the moderate price point range. They produce unique

Overall, we have confirmed reports from 106 companies, 13 of which are in the S&P 500. Retailers will again be prominent, with 40 listed to release results.

There is not much on the economic calendar, though we will get inflation numbers on Tuesday. Key data will include: Tuesday: July producer prices (PPI), July housing starts, July building permits Wednesday: Weekly crude inventories Thursday: July Leading Indicators, August Phili Fed survey, weekly initial jobless claims

The Kansas City Fed will hold its economic symposium at Jackson Hole, WY. Fed Chairman Fed Ben Bernanke will speak about financial stability on Friday.

Volume could be modest through Labor Day as traders try to get in late