For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 30, 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: Moody’s (MCO), Microsoft (MSFT), Fannie Mae (FNM), Freddie Mac (FRE) and ExxonMobil Corporation (XOM).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Thursday’s AnalystBlog:

GDP Notes – In Depth

With massive amounts of space sitting idle in offices and empty strip malls littering the landscape, look for new investment in commercial real estate to continue to decline in coming quarters. Moody’s (MCO) has estimated that the value of commercial real estate has plunged by

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Senior strategist Dirk van Dijk, CFA has issued notes on this morning's GDP numbers. These notes will be published in two separate blogs -- Growth Rates and Contributions to Growth. The recession is over! In the third quarter, GDP grew by 3.5%, comfortably ahead of expectations for 3.0% growth. This is a huge improvement over the 0.7% decline in the second quarter and the 6.4% plunge in the first quarter. The internals of the report were strong as well, although it appears that much of the growth came from things like the "Cash for Clunkers" (C4C) program and the extraordinary levels of support that are currently being given to the housing sector. I will first go over the percentage growth rates for the main components of GDP, and then how much each part contributed (or subtracted from the 3.5% growth rate). This is probably the ...

The VDMA Group (an industrial association in Europe, representing small/medium sized companies in the engineering industry) said last week that German machinery producers do not expect an increase in output in 2010. The group said that more than two-thirds of producers in Germany are complaining about lack of orders. The VDMA group forecasts a 20% year-over-year drop in machinery and factory equipment output for 2009 due to weak orders. For 2010, the group forecasts similar production levels as 2009. According to the recent data released by the group, machinery and equipment orders for the month of July fell 43% compared to last year. Domestic demand was down 41%, while international orders declined 44% for the month. The industry’s production capacity stood at just 69% in July. However, Germany, the world’s largest exporter, is witnessing improved order levels from developing economies, particularly China. According to VDMA, China ...

Hitachi Ltd. (HIT), a Tokyo-based global conglomerate, plans to buy out its five listed subsidiaries to gain 100% ownership for ¥300 billion ($3.16 billion). The buyout will commence in August this year. Speculation led to a 6.0 % jump in the shares of Hitachi in early morning Tokyo trade on Monday.

These subsidiaries include Hitachi Maxell Ltd., a manufacturer of batteries and storage media such as DVDs; Hitachi Plant Technologies, a maker of factory equipment; and three IT subsidiaries — Hitachi Information Systems, Hitachi Software Engineering and Hitachi Systems & Services.

Although Hitachi did not provide any comments on the merger, the Nikkei reported that Hitachi’s decision would be announced by the end of the week. The Nikkei also said that although Hitachi already owns a majority in each of the five subsidiaries, it would have to pay a premium to the minorities in the tender offer.

In

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - May 18, 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: Applied Materials (AMAT), Ingersoll Rand (IR), Joy Global (JOYG), Caterpillar (CAT) and Chevron Corp. (CVX).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=4579.

Here are highlights from Friday's Analyst Blog:

Diminished Capacity

It is not a coincidence that in the first quarter Investment fell to its lowest percentage of GDP on record (since 1947) and did so by a very wide margin. Investment made up just 11.22% in the first quarter; the next closest low point for

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Highlights include Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT), Ingersoll Rand Company Ltd. (IR), Joy Global Inc. (JOYG) and Caterpillar Inc. (CAT). Industrial production fell 0.5% in April following a 1.7% decline in March. The March number was revised down from the initial reading of a 1.5% decline. On a year over year basis, total industrial output is down 12.5%, and is 16.0% below its peak. Manufacturing output fell 0.3% on the month following a 2.1% decline in March (revised from -1.7%), and was down 14.5%. Output from the nation's mines tumbled 3.2% following a 2.6% decline in March and is 8.6% below year ago levels. In contrast, Utility output rose 0.4% on the month following a 1.9% rise in March and is down just 3.2% from a year ago. On the other hand, Utility output is affected by the weather almost as much as it ...

Dell Inc. (DELL), Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ), Sun Microsystems, Inc. (JAVA), Intel Corp. (INTC) and Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN).The awful economic news just will not stop coming. The Census Bureau's report on new orders for durable goods fell 5.2% in January, which came on the heels of a 4.6% decline in December. The December number was revised sharply down from the original figure of a 2.6% decline.This marks the 6th straight month of declining orders for big-ticket items that are expected to last more than a couple of years. The numbers were also well below consensus expectations for a 2.5% decline.This is a volatile economic series, particularly the transportation portion of it. A few orders for 747s can really swing the numbers. Thus, it is often best to look at the numbers excluding transportation.The numbers are a ...