Nike Inc. (NKE), the world’s leading designer, marketer and distributor of athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories, has recently increased its quarterly dividend by 8% to 27 cents per share from 25 cents.   Amid a challenging macroeconomic environment, when most companies are either reducing or temporarily withdrawing dividend payments, Nike has decided to increase its dividend for the eighth year in a row. The company has paid over $1.8 billion as dividends to shareholders in the last five years, and expects to continue to pay a steady dividend in the future as well.   Nike leverages a massive and well-established network of more than 23,000 retail accounts in the U.S and over 28,000 internationally to reach a wide array of customers. The company’s retail accounts consist of a mix of footwear stores, sporting goods stores, athletic specialty stores, department stores, skate as well as tennis and golf ...

Qualsec recently announced that VitaminSpice has secured an agreement with Cabo Foods Inc. Under the terms of the agreement, VitaminSpice’s vitamin-enhanced spices will be introduced to Cabo Foods’ West Coast distribution networks and major retail chains. VitaminSpice is a pioneer in the emerging foodceutical industry selling sells vitamin-, mineral- and antioxidant-infused spices and food products.

As a leading gourmet chip manufacturer, Cabo Foods currently has several high-end retail accounts, including Ralph’s Grocery, Albertsons, Whole Foods Market, Inc. Costco, Henry’s Farmers Market, Mother’s Market & Kitchen and Sprouts. This distribution agreement includes the states of California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas and Utah.

Ed Bukstel, chief executive officer of VitaminSpice, stated, “We are excited to work with Cabo Foods and their innovative line of healthy natural products.” Mr. Bukstel continued, “We should begin to further accelerate our sales with this new arrangement.”

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FINRA ups margin limits in effort to curtail volatility in retail accounts of leveraged exchange-traded products.

 

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority  is imposing increased margin limits on purchases of leveraged and inverse exchange-traded funds in an attempt to curtail the volatility such products impose on retail investors. Starting on Dec. 1, the maintenance margin requirement for leveraged long- and short-ETFs will be increased by a percentage commensurate with the leverage employed by the ETF.

This amount will not be allowed to exceed 100% of the value of the ETF. For example, on an ETF leveraged by 200%, the new margin maintenance requirement will be 75% of the value of the ETF. FINRA also is increasing the maintenance margin requirements for listed and over the-counter uncovered options on leveraged ETFs. Currently, the maintenance margin requirement for leveraged long ETFs is 25%, while the maintenance margin requirement

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E*TRADE FINANCIAL Corporation (ETFC) announced earlier today that "special mention" delinquencies (30 to 89 days delinquent) for its home equity portfolio declined by 16% since 2008, which suggests some stabilization.

Specifically, the delinquencies declined by 9% in January from December, and another 8% in February from January.

Shares of the company have surged by more than 20% today on the news.

Meanwhile, home equity “at risk” delinquencies (30 to 179 days delinquent) show a cumulative decline of 1% quarter to date.

ETFC also provided its Monthly Activity Report for February. The company's total retail accounts are now at a record 4.57 million. During the month, it opened 62,361 gross new retail accounts, with net new retail accounts of 10,684. Total Daily Average Revenue Trades (DARTs) declined sequentially by 1.3% to 181,744.

ETFC is currently a Zacks #3 Rank ("hold") company.

"ETFC" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?...

CelLynx Group Inc. announced that John Vecchione has been retained to direct all of their sales and marketing activities.

Vecchione holds an MBA and has more than 20 years of successful experience as a senior sales and marketing executive and consultant in the consumer electronics sector. Vecchione has an impressive track record that includes securing multi-million dollar consumer electronics accounts with K-Mart, Sears, Radio Shack, Best Buy and many others. At CelLynx, Vecchione’s responsibilities will include personally spearheading direct sales to key national retail accounts as well as establishing strategic joint venture agreements with major U.S. national cellular network companies.

While the signing of Vecchione will add even more leadership to an already expanding company, CelLynx has been garnering national attention for their 5BABz product line. The 5BARz™ is the first single piece unit that strengthens weal cellular signals to deliver higher quality signals for voice, video and data reception

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With products selling in over ten thousand natural foods outlets, award-winning Reed’s, Inc. is one of the leading producers of specialty sodas. Financial results for the second quarter/first half of 2008 came Tuesday, and contained some impressive numbers.

Growth of both Reed’s and Virgil’s product lines for the quarter ended June 30th, 2008, boosted net sales more than 31 percent, achieving a figure of $4,570,816 and besting second quarter 2007 results by $1,098,456. This increase was driven by improved sales by existing retailers, as well as the addition of several new mainstream distributors. Coupled with positive strides in sales was a decrease in interest expense, affected by significant payments into the company’s long-term debt.

In reference to his company’s exceptional performance thus far in 2008, founder and CEO Chris Reed stated, “We are pleased with our strong start to the first half of 2008 and we expect our positive momentum to carry

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As the leader in blending fruits and other naturally healthy ingredients, Jamba Juice (NASD: JMBA) has teamed up with Nestle USA (OTC: NSRGY) and has announced the launching of a line of Jamba® ready-to-drink beverages containing real fruit. The drinks are made with extra nutrients to enhance flavor and nutritional value. In morning trading Jamba Juice’s stock rose 13.18%.

“This is the first step in our strong partnership with Nestlé,” stated Paul Coletta, senior Vice President of marketing and brand development at Jamba. “Our teams continue to work together on future product extensions that will build and drive the synergy of Jamba retail and ready-to-drink.”

Both Jamba Smoothies and Jamba Juices can currently be found in major grocery retailers, conveincance stores, and select Jamba Juice locations in eight Western states: California, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Washington, and Colorado. The company has confirmed retail accounts with Target, Safeway, Albertsons, Ralph’s,

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