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

• Economist.com: Jobs gloom, with glimmers, November 6, 2009. America’s jobless rate passes 10% but the job market should start to improve soon.

• Paul Krugman (The New York Times): Why not a WPA? November 6, 2009. A question I’m occasionally asked at public events is, why aren’t we creating jobs with a WPA-type program? It’s a very good question. As it is, job-creation efforts are generally indirect. Tax cuts and transfers in the hope that people will spend them; aid to state governments in the hope of averting layoffs. Even infrastructure spending is routed through private contractors. You can make a pretty good case that just employing a lot of people directly would be a lot more cost-effective.

•

...

November 6, 2009 ndash; Analyst Comments ndash; Pacific Crestrsquo;s Mark Bachman weighed in on Evergreen Solarrsquo;s (Nasdaq:ESLR) Q3 results, stating that ldquo;given the near-term challenges ahead, we no longer have the conviction to recommend putting new money into the stock.rdquo; Bachman downgraded to SECTOR PERFORM. Key Takeaways middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Modeled declines in ASPs (22% in 2010), underutilization at Devens, ramp expenses from China and continued losses from Sovello middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Downside risk is probably minimal at 0.5x price-to-book middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Evergreen may need to return to the capital markets late next year to increase debt or add further dilution middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Lowering 2010 revenue and EPS estimates to $355.3 million and ($0.03) from $466 and $0.29, respectively and removing price target

Avnet, Inc. (AVT) recently reported revenues of $4.36 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2010, down 3.1% from a year ago. Excluding the negative impact of foreign currency exchange rates, revenues declined 0.6%.

Management stated that the impact of global slowdown led to the year-over-year decline, but the business environment is improving.

On a segment basis, Electronics Marketing (EM) sales came in at $2.44 billion, down 9.8% year over year (down 8.0% when adjusted to exclude the impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates). The rate of revenue decline moderated in the reported quarter and management is encouraged by pace of bookings for this segment in recent months.

Technology Solutions (TS) generated sales of $1.92 billion, up 6.9% year over year (up 10.5% when adjusted to exclude the impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates), driven by growth in Americas and Europe, Middle East and Asia (EMEA).

The company

...

Dr Stock Pick HOT News & Alerts!

_________________________________________

FREE Daily Stock Alerts From DrStockPick.com

_________________________________________

Friday November 6, 2009

DrStockPick.com Stock Report!

CVAT, SBUX, PWRM, CVS, PSFT, SWKS, AQNM, IBM, CSRH

**************************************************************

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

...

The Western Union Co. (WU) said on Thursday that it renewed its agreement with the Postal Savings Bank of China (PSBC) to provide Western Union Money Transfer services in China.   The renewal will help Western Union to continue its Money Transfer services through more than 20,000 locations of Postal Savings Bank in China.   Postal Savings Bank is a leading bank in China and since 2001 it has been a Western Union Agent. The Western Union management expects the renewal to drive results for Western Union from Postal Savings Bank’s network across urban and rural China.   Along with its Vigo, Orlandi Valuta and Pago Facil branded payment services, Western Union provides consumers with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, as well as send payments and purchase money orders.   Western Union’s third-quarter earnings of 33 cents per share were ...

Dr Stock Pick HOT News & Alerts!

_______________________________________

FREE Daily Stock Alerts From DrStockPick.com

_______________________________________

Friday November 6, 2009

DrStockPick.com Stock Report!

**************************************************************

PowerSafe Technology Corporation (PSFT.PK) 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.

Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq:ASTM), a leading developer of autologous cell products for the treatment of chronic cardiovascular diseases, today reported financial results and operational updates

...

Baltimore-(TFN):Time to panic? If you are part of the Obama administration the answer is yes. If you are an American investor, hold off on the freaking out for at least another month or so.

With the nation’s unemployment rate officially in double-digit territory and the under-employed rate ready to the 20% mark, the politicians that promised bliss in the days ahead are eating their words today.

And that means Wall Street is eating its recent gains.

For nearly a month, the Dow has hovered around the 10,000 mark. After hundreds of billions of dollars were withdrawn earlier this year, it was relatively easy to put that money back to work and send the equities market higher.

But now that the economic data is showing facts of slower-than-expected expansion rather than “ideas” of growth, investors are forced to explain their logic. The Dow doesn’t want to budge from 10k.

So far, I’ve heard very

...

Agrium Inc. (AGU) reported adjusted net earnings of 29 cents per share in the third quarter of 2009, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 32 cents. Year over year, earnings declined a significant 87% on lower volumes and prices. Revenues were down 41% year over year to $1.9 billion on weak corn prices and lower consumption of crop protection products at retail level.  Retail segment: Retail segment revenues plunged 25% to $1.2 billion in the quarter on a 41% decline in crop nutrient sales to $345 million due to a significant decline in crop nutrient prices. Crop nutrient volumes in the quarter remained flat. Gross profit from the crop nutrients business almost halved to $31 million. Crop protection sales were $768 million in the quarter, down 12% from the same period last year. The decline was driven by lower volumes for fungicides and lower pricing for glyphosate products. ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 6, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the latest Industry Outlook. Today, Zacks Equity Research discusses the Oil & Gas sector, including CNOOC Ltd. (CEO), China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, or Sinopec (SNP), Cameron International (CAM), Nabors (NBR) and Patterson-UTI (PTEN).

A synopsis of today’s Industry Outlook is presented below. The full article can be read at http://www.zacks.com/stock/news/26953/Oil+%26amp%3B+Gas+Industry.

The strengthening oil price environment should benefit producers, particularly those international players having attractive growth opportunities in their home markets. Two such standout names are China’s CNOOC Ltd. (CEO) and China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, or Sinopec (SNP), both of which remain well-placed to benefit from the country’s growing appetite for energy.

CNOOC enjoys a monopoly on exploration activities in China’s very prospective offshore region in addition to having a growing presence

...

Another week, another major resource deal announced by China. This week it was Petrobras, Brazilrsquo;s national oil company, which announced a $10 billion loan from China in exchange for up to 200,000 barrels of oil per day for the next 10 years. This is the latest in a year that has seen China make $20 billion worth of overseas deals to acquire natural resources (left chart) and issue an additional $50 billion in loans backed by oil. Chinarsquo;s overseas activity has picked up considerably over the past two years. All told China it has made about three dozen mining deals and another 32 energy deals since 2000. All this activity has made some nervous, but when you put the deals into context itrsquo;s easy to see that Beijing isnrsquo;t taking over the world of resources. This yearrsquo;s oil deals have given China access to an additional 1.2 million barrels per day (right chart). That ...