Swiss industrial electrical giant ABB (a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=ABB"ABB/a) is at the heart of the infrastructure discussion right now. They also should be at the heart of discussion of solutions for energy efficiency and sustainability. The combination of the two puts ABB in a great position moving forward.br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"A bit about the company/span:br /br /-span style="font-style: italic;"ABB is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 120,000 people/span.br /br /They operate in five segments: Power products, power systems, automation products, process automation, and robotics. a href="http://www.abb.com/cawp/abbzh252/a92797a76354298bc1256aea00487bdb.aspx"Click here for a description of each/a.br /br /ABB has attracted a lot of attention within the past couple of years because of its global reach, particularly in emerging markets. According to their website, in ...

FTSEurofirst 300 up 1.1 pct on the day, up 13 pct on week… Index lost 7 pct in Nov, ninth month of losses in 2008… Cyclicals hammered; defensive pharmas surge

European stocks ended higher on Friday, as buoyant pharmaceutical shares eclipsed a drop in cyclical mining and industrial sectors hit by renewed economic fears, while energy shares tumbled along with oil.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares closed 1.1 percent higher at 862.07 points.

Although it gained 13 percent during the week, the index dropped 7 percent in November, recording a ninth month of losses in what has been a torrid 2008 for equities worldwide.

Pharma stocks made strong gains on Friday, with GlaxoSmithKline up 5.1 percent and Sanofi-Aventis up 4.5 percent. Novartis , whose CEO said the company could increase its dividend and also resume share buybacks

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ClickSoftware Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CKSW) provides mobile workforce management and service optimization software through improved levels of productivity, customer satisfaction and cost effectiveness. The company today announced it is taking measures to extend its reach into the market through its relationship with Siemens Energy.

Since 2002, ClickSoftware and Siemens have made collaborative efforts to manage planned and unplanned power outages. ClickSoftware today announced that Siemens signed a new contract to introduce ClickSoftware’s ServiceOptimization Suite to more than 4,000 resources.

“Back in 2002, and following an extensive evaluation, we selected the ClickSoftware solution for its user interface, stability, scalability and ability to manage complex projects,” Dan Spoone, business process reengineering manager at Siemens, stated in the press release. “Our scheduling requirements are extremely complex with many thousands of individuals providing services to major power plants around the world. Customers are at the core of what we do and ClickSchedule helps us

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Monday:Economic: NoneEarnings: American International Group (AIG), Carmike Cinemas (CKEC), Cinemark Holdings (CNK), Dish Network (DISH), Fuel Tech Inc (FTEK), Globalstar (GSAT), Nortel Networks (NT), Plug Power (PLUG), Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI), Starbucks (SBUX), Tyson Foods (TSN), Virgin Mobile (VM)Tuesday:Economic: None (Veteran’s Day)Earnings: Brooks Automation (BRKS), Energy Solutions (ES), Fossil (FOSL), Liz Clairborne (LIZ), Microsoft (MSFT), Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR), TJX Companies (TJX), Tyco International (TYC), Vodophone Group (VOD)Wednesday:Economic: MBA Purchase Applications, ICSC-Goldman Store Sales, RedbookEarnings: Applied Materials (AMAT), Charlotte Russe Holding (CHIC), Computer Sciences Corp (CSC), Crocs Inc (CROX), ING Group (ING), JA Solar Holdings (JASO), Macy’s Inc (M), NetApp (NTAP), NetEase.com (NTES), The Progressive Corp (PGR)Thursday:Economic: International Trade ($-57.0B), Jobless Claims (482K), Treasury Budget ($-92.0B)Earnings: Biofuel Energy (BIOF), Clean Energy Fuels Corp (CLNE), Compugen (CGEN), Dr Pepper Snapple Group (DPS), Image Entertainment (DISK), Keynote Systems ...

Siemens Slashes Jobs; Southwest Cozies Up to Canada; VMWare Axes CEO; Office Depot Drops on Dismal Sales; Oil Drops $10 in a Week; Fed’s New Lending Restrictions; Anheuser Busch Sues InBev; ConocoPhilips Strikes Deal with Abu Dhabi Siemens AG (ADR: SI) announced yesterday (Tuesday) that it would eliminate almost 17,000 positions to prepare for a global economic downturn. The Germany-based industrial giant hopes to achieve $1.9 billion (1.2 billion euros) in cost savings by 2010. Chief Executive Peter Loescher said Siemens needed to be faster, more efficient and have a leaner administration if it hoped to compete, Reuters reported. Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) and Canada-based WestJet Airlines Ltd. yesterday (Tuesday) announced a marketing alliance that is planned to go into effect in 2009. “This gives WestJet exactly what they need in terms of growing their trans-border ...