U.S. stocks closed modestly lower Wednesday, after paring deeper losses, as weak housing data and grim outlook from tech companies fuelled worries about the economy.  Stocks struggled to stay near the 13-month high reached the prior session as jittery investors decided to book profits.  Gold prices rose for the fourth straight session.

The Dow, which had slid as much as 77 points in the morning trading, closed down 11.11 points, or 0.1%, to 10,426.31.  The broader S&P 500 index slipped 0.52, or 0.1%, to 1,109.80, while the Nasdaq, hurt by the weakness in tech shares, fell 10.64, or 0.5%, to 2,193.14.  Bond prices fell, pushing yields higher. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.37% from 3.33% late Tuesday.  Crude prices advanced 44 cents to settle at $79.58 per barrel.  Volume remained light, with only 1.063 billion shares trading on the NYSE, and declining issues ahead

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• TJX (NYSE:TJX) posted a larger-than-anticipated profit as demand for discounted consumer products continued. The firm said it sees fourth-quarter earnings of 65 cents to 71 cents a share from continuing operations

• Saks (NYSE:SKS) reported a surprise quarterly profit

• Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares rose 3.0%, and led the gainers on the DJIA, after Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) and UBS (NYSE:UBS) recommended the shares.  Morgan Stanley's analyst raised the price target on the stock due to encouraging demand for Windows 7 and upbeat expectations for holiday season demand.  UBS' analyst placed a $34 price target on the shares

• Barclays Capital (NYSE:BCS) raised ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) to "overweight"

• Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK) offered a slightly downside fourth-quarter guidance of 24 cents a share ex-items

• Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM) said it sees fourth-quarter earnings of 14 cents to 15 cents a share, versus Street estimates of 15 cents a share

• BMO Capital downgraded Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) to "market perform"

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 17, 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: Dell Inc. (DELL), Apple Inc. (AAPL), Nokia (NOK), Research In Motion (RIMM) and American Dairy Inc. (ADY).

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 Monday’s Analyst Blog:

Dell’s Smartphone Strategy

Dell Inc. (DELL), one of the world’s leading computer manufacturer, has decided to start manufacturing its smartphone device. The company has zeroed in on Brazil as the first manufacturing destination and chosen Claro as its carrier partner in the region. Dell will also

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Dell Inc. (DELL), one of the world’s leading computer manufacturer, has decided to start manufacturing its smartphone device. The company has zeroed in on Brazil as the first manufacturing destination and chosen Claro as its carrier partner in the region. Dell will also be manufacturing the device in China and partner with China Mobile in that region. The phone will be using the Google Android operating system.   Dell’s entry into the smartphone segment looks like a logical progression, as the company is already manufacturing and rolling out reasonably priced netbooks in the market. However, Dell is a late entrant into the market, unlike its peer Apple Inc. (AAPL), which has already grabbed a large share through smartphones such as iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS.

As per the technology research firm Canalys, third quarter 2009 worldwide smartphone shipments grew 4% year on year, to 41.4 million units.  As

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 13, 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: Apple Inc. (AAPL), Nokia (NOK), Research In Motion (RIMM), Motorola (MOT) and Palm (PALM).

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 Analyst Blog:

Apple Beats Nokia in Smartphones

According to a recent Strategy Analytics research report, Apple Inc. (AAPL) surpassed Nokia (NOK) by generating the highest total operating profit in the industry for the third quarter of 2009. The research firm estimated Apple's operating profit for iPhone handset units to

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According to a recent Strategy Analytics research report, Apple Inc. (AAPL) surpassed Nokia (NOK) by generating the highest total operating profit in the industry for the third quarter of 2009. The research firm estimated Apple's operating profit for iPhone handset units to be $1.6 billion, compared to Nokia's (the number 1 handset maker) just $1.1 billion, beating the latter for the first time.   Apple entered the mobile phone market with its iPhone in 2007. The company has experienced tremendous growth since then, driven by the success of its iPhone. This has resulted in Apple becoming one of the most profitable in the industry. Apple is running the highest margin phone business and thus has undergone a total turnaround from a loss of $0.07 per share in 2001 to a profit of $6.29 per share in fiscal year 2009.   Apple has sold over 20 million iPhone units ...

Xcellink International Inc. is a developer of patented mobile payments and banking platforms. The company’s unique process enables customers, rather than the merchants, to initiate, control and pay for all transactions without the need for any type of cards (credit, debit, etc.) in real-time anywhere, anytime and at a fraction of the cost of current transactions.

The company announced today that it has executed an agreement with 3i Infotech for the development and integration of its patented software with Apple’s iPhone technology. Xcellink is excited with this agreement because of the chance to work with a subsidiary of 3i Infotech – the Regulus Group. Regulus provides statement and bill presentment services to clients in the financial services, health care, insurance and utilities industries. They are also one of North America’s largest payment processors, handling about 2 billion paper and electronic transactions each year.

Work for Xcellink will be carried out

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LAS VEGAS, NV — (Marketwire) — 11/10/09 — Xcellink International Inc. (OTCBB: XCEL), a developer of a patented mobile payments & banking platforms, is pleased to announce that is has executed an agreement with 3i Infotech for the development and integration of its patented software with Apple’s iPhone technology.

Work will be carried out by 3i Infotech’s development team, and it is expected that the new technology will be ready for testing in early January 2010. The board of Xcellink is extremely excited by this relationship due in part to the 3i Infotech Group of Companies, which includes Regulus Group, a subsidiary of the global information technology company 3i Infotech, and one of North America’s largest payment processors.

Regulus Group is one of the brightest stars in the payment processing industry providing statement and bill presentment services to clients in the financial services, health care, insurance, telecommunications, and utilities industries.

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U.S. Cellular (USM), the wireless subsidiary of Telephone and Data Systems (TDS), reported disappointing third-quarter 2009 results with earnings per share of 41 cents, coming in below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 57 cents. It also declined significantly from the year-ago EPS of $1.02. Net income plunged 60% year over year to $35.6 million as a result of decreased sales and higher operating costs.

Top-line Hit by Lower Roaming Revenue

The Chicago-based carrier reported operating revenue of $1,058 million, down 3% from $1,092 million a year ago. This decline is attributable to lower service revenue, which decreased 3% year over year to $984.9 million due to a 26% year over year reduction in inbound roaming revenues, primarily resulting from Verizon's (VZ) acquisition of Alltel.

Decline in roaming revenue was offset by healthy data revenue, which grew 34% over the prior-year quarter to $174.3 million, accounting for 18% of service

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Even during the worldwide recession it seems consumers continue to abandon ‘dumb’ phones when, for just a little bit more money, they can get a pocket-sized computer – a smartphone – instead. According to research firm Gartner, overall handset sales are expected to shrink by 4 percent this year compared to last year. Meanwhile, smartphone sales are forecast to grow by more than 20 percent.

Smartphones account for only 14 percent of the mobile phone market today, but this segment has doubled its share of the global mobile phone business over the past three years. More than 500 million smartphones are expected to be sold in 2012 when they are forecasted to make up half the market. Revenues from smartphones are expected to double to half the industry total by 2014.

With the smartphone market being really the only game in town, the intensity of the battle for the smartphone market is

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