Stocks rise on GE upgrade despite weak employment data

U.S. stocks rose on Friday as investors took heart after the government said monthly payroll losses slowed, even as unemployment rose above 10 percent.

General Electric Co shares jumped more than 5 percent after a brokerage upgrade, and helped lead the industrial sector higher.

The market had opened lower after data showed the unemployment rate topped the psychologically key 10 percent level and reached the highest point since April 1983.

U.S. employers cut 190,000 jobs in October and unemployment hit its highest level since 1983. Despite the disturbing headline unemployment number, payroll losses continued to decline, which some investors saw as a mild positive as the hourly work week remained static.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 17.84 points, or 0.18 percent, at 10,023.80. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 2.30 points, or 0.22 percent, at 1,068.93. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 7.87

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NEW YORK, Nov. 5, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — TIE Technologies, Inc. (Pink Sheets:TTCS) today announces its participation in the Intelligent Flood Protection Monitoring, Warning and Response System (IFPRMWRS) DNR RSIQ No. 2503-09-21 project awarded by the State of Louisiana to Geocomp and their ‘I-Levee Team’ associates.

TIE Technologies, as a named sub contractor under Geocomp in the I-Levee Team, will be leading the smart communications portion of the project. Designing and developing a ’smart’ communications system, which is independent, reliable and redundant is a critical component of insuring that the data from the sensor networks on the Mississippi Levee provide actionable intelligence to the entire Emergency Responder team.

The State of Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration (OCRP) is planning to deploy a state of the art Intelligent Flood Protection Monitoring, Warning and Response System (IFPRMWRS) at strategic locations within Mississippi River flood control systems

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DrStockPick.com Watch List!

My Picks for Thursday October 29, 2009, are:

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AKAM, Akamai Technologies Inc.

AKAM provides market-leading managed services for powering video, dynamic transactions, and enterprise applications online.

AKAM’s Revenue for the third quarter 2009 was $206.5 million, a 5 percent increase over third quarter 2008 revenue of $197.3 million, and a 1 percent increase from second quarter 2009 revenue of $204.6 million.

More about AKAM at www.akamai.com

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CPE, Callon Petroleum Co.

CPE is engaged in the acquisition, development, exploration and operation of oil and gas properties primarily in the Gulf Coast region. CPE’s properties and operations are geographically concentrated in Louisiana,

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Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (KMP) reported its third quarter results of 40 cents per limited partner unit versus the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 38 cents and year-earlier earnings of 54 cents. All the business segments experienced year over year growth except for the CO2 business, which was negatively impacted by significantly lower crude oil prices. Importantly, the partnership increased its quarterly distribution by 3% to $1.05 per unit ($4.20 annualized) from $1.02 per unit ($4.08 annualized) in the year-ago quarter. The new distribution is payable on Nov 13 to unitholders of record on Oct 30, 2009. Kinder Morgan’s distributable cash flow for the quarter before one-time items was $320 million, up 14% year over year. Distributable cash flow per unit was $1.12, up nearly 3% year over year. The Product Pipeline segment registered earnings before depreciation, ...

Monsanto Company (MON) has signed a long-term supply contract with Air Products (APD), the leading global hydrogen provider. According to the contract, Air Products will build a new world-scale hydrogen production plant to be located at Monsanto's Luling, Louisiana, Roundup facility. The new hydrogen plant is scheduled to be on-stream in Jan 2012.  Air Products will build a steam methane reformer (SMR) producing over 100 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) of hydrogen. The SMR will be connected to Air Products' East Gulf Coast pipeline network, which supplies refineries with hydrogen needed to make cleaner burning transportation fuels, in addition to meeting the hydrogen needs of the local petrochemical industry. In addition, the facility will produce additional hydrogen via a clean-up of a hydrogen-rich off-gas feed coming from Monsanto. Monsanto will use steam from Air Products' SMR process to benefit its Roundup production plant. ...

Arrayit Corp., a proprietary life science technology leader for disease prevention, treatment and cure, recently announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana has purchased the company’s proprietary technology to protect America’s crop plants by combating honeybee extinction.

The USDA is utilizing Arrayit’s proprietary SpotLight microarray scanning technology and high-speed BioBlue computers to identify biomarkers in the honeybee genome to detect tracheal mites, the parasites that threaten the worldwide honeybee population. Honeybees currently pollinate approximately $14 billion worth of America’s crop plants, including fruits, seeds and vegetables, and the number of honeybees has recently decreased by up to 70 percent in some regions of the United States.

“We are pleased that the USDA is using our scanning and computing technology for this important project,” states Rene Schena, chief executive officer of Arrayit Corporation. “Arrayit is dedicated to protecting American agriculture for the benefit of farmers and consumers.”

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Dune Energy provided an exploration and development operations update on its leased acreage in Texas and Louisiana. The update reported successful wells at several locations.

On its Texas acreage, the Wieting #32 well was drilled to a total depth of 12,750 feet, and hit 50 feet of gas bearing sands. The well is located in the Chocolate Bayou Field in Brazoria County and will be completed by November 2009. The well is non-operated by Dune Energy, but the company does have a 50% working interest.

Dune Energy has one well currently drilling in Louisiana, and plans one more before the first quarter of 2010. The company will also conduct several workovers of wells on its acreage here.

Dune Energy has total proved reserves of 132.9 Billion cubic feet (Bcf) equivalent, including 83.8 Bcf of natural gas and 8.2 million barrels of oil. Its properties are located in the

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GMX Resources Inc. (GMXR) recently agreed to sell a 40% interest in its gas gathering and compression business to Kinder Morgan Energy Partners L.P. (KMP) for $36 million. The closing of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to conclude in early November. This transaction will fund GMX’s addition of a second rig to the Haynesville/Bossier Shale horizontal drilling program. The salt water disposal assets and other poly pipelines will not be part of the transaction and will continue to be wholly owned by Endeavor Pipeline Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of GMX Resources. The gas gathering and compression business provides gathering services to the company in its Cotton Valley Sands and Haynesville/Bossier Shale horizontal developments in East Texas. It will provide funding for future infrastructure needs to support GMX's anticipated production growth. Separately, GMX said its second FlexRig 3 ...

Entergy Corporation (ETR) earlier today announced that it expects GAAP earnings and operational earnings to be approximately $2.31 per share and $2.39 per share, respectively, in the third quarter of 2009. This is low compared to the year-ago GAAP numbers of $2.41 per share and operational results of $2.50 per share.   The anticipated decrease in the quarter’s operational earnings is due primarily to lower results at the Utility, Parent and Other segment, partially offset by increased earnings at Non-nuclear Wholesale Assets segment. Utility, Parent & Other is expected to clock lower year-over-year operational earnings in third quarter 2009, primarily due to the absence of the 2008 adjustment reducing income tax expense and higher operation and maintenance expense. Entergy's Non-nuclear Wholesale Assets quarterly operational results are expected to improve due to the absence of the 2008 adjustment increasing income tax expense on account of the redemption of an ...

AT&T Inc’s (T) much anticipated acquisition of regional wireless and wireline service provider Centennial Communications Corp (CYCL), has progressed a step further as the US wireless giant has reportedly received a conditional approval of the US Department of Justice (“DOJ").  The acquisition is now subject to the approval of the US telecom regulator Federal Communications Commission. The US antitrust approval is based on fulfillment of specific conditions which requires AT&T to divest certain Centennial assets in eight markets across Louisiana (central and southern) and southwestern Mississippi .  This is due to the fact that the acquisition may potentially hurt consumer interest in these regions. As part of this requirement, AT&T has already committed to sell wireless assets in five of the eight markets to its rival operator Verizon (VZ) for $240 million. AT&T announced its acquisition of Centennial for approximately $2.8 billion (including net debt) ...