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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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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Leading unlimited wireless carrier MetroPCS Communications (PCS) reported better-than-expected third-quarter 2009 results with earnings per share (EPS) of 21 cents outpacing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 9 cents, as well as the prior-year quarter EPS of 13 cents. Net income increased 64% year over year to $73.6 million, driven by healthy revenue growth across all segments. Revenue & EBITDA Consolidated revenues of $895.6 million reflect 30.4% year-over-year increase, fuelled by 33% annualized growth in service revenue that reached $812.3 million (91% of total sales). Equipment revenue was $83.3 million, up 9.5% year over year. Revenues at the Core Markets segment increased 18.6% year over year to $809 million. Northeast Markets revenues grew to $87 million from $5 million reported a year-ago. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA increased 35% year over year to $272 million. ARPU & Churn Reported ARPU (average revenue per user) of $41.08 ...

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: Sprint Nextel (S), Virgin Mobile USA (VM), iPCS Inc (IPCS), Verizon (VZ) and AT&T (T).

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:

Sprint Posts Bigger Loss

Sprint Nextel (S) reported third-quarter 2009 results with net loss per share of 17 cents, exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 15 cents and the year-ago loss per share of 11 cents.

The third-largest US wireless carrier posted a net loss of $478 million, 47%

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 29, 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: Qwest Communications (Q), Alcatel-Lucent (ALU), AT&T (T), Verizon (VZ) and Sprint Nextel (S).

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 Wednesday’s AnalystBlog:

Qwest Meets, Boosts Outlook

Qwest Communications (Q) continues to invest in building necessary infrastructure to boost network capacity and availability. The company is devoting a major portion of the overall CapEx in expanding its fiber-to-the-node (FTTN) network capacity to increase broadband network performance. FTTN deployments reached over 3 million homes with

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Qwest Communications (Q) has announced third-quarter 2009 earnings with reported earnings per share (EPS) of 8 cents matching both the Zacks Consensus Estimate and the year-ago quarter EPS. Net income declined 6.2% year over year to $136 million on lower revenues as erosion in legacy landline business continues. Operating revenue declined 9.6% from the prior-year quarter to $3.05 billion, primarily due to lower voice service revenue as consumers continue to disconnect their landline services. Qwest reported healthy growth in Internet revenue in the quarter, driven by respectable broadband customer growth. However, voice service revenue declined due to access line erosion. Results by Segment Business Markets Revenue from the business market segment declined 1% year over year to $1 billion due to declines across legacy voice and data businesses. The segment contributed 33.8% of the group revenue for the quarter. Driven by growth in ...

Time Warner Cable Inc (TWC) will launch the 4G WiMAX mobile broadband services in three North Carolina markets from Dec 1. The WiMAX connection will offer wireless data transmission at speeds five times faster than the 3G connections currently provided by the company. Under the brand name of “Road Runner Mobile", this super-fast mobile broadband network will support Internet speed of 6 Mbps with a monthly between $40 and $80 for customers with at least one other Time Warner Cable service.  The “Road Runner Mobile" service will provide its subscribers the convenience of mobility so that the customers can enjoy the WiMAX services on their devices anywhere they go within their service circle. The company also said that it plans to add new mobile services in the future, such as the ability to program a DVR from a mobile device and for customers to take their video ...

US Cellular (USM), the wireless subsidiary of Telephone and Data Systems (TDS), is poised to market Research In Motion's (RIMM) latest CDMA smartphone BlackBerry Tour 9630. The company has already revealed detailed specification of the device on its product page and has also released the new operating system verision (BlackBerry Tour 9630 OS 4.7.1.57) on its website.  Although an official confirmation is yet to come from US Cellular, a potential launch of BlackBerry Tour will enable it to join the league of Tier-1 US carriers in offering top-notch smartphones. BlackBerry Tour is currently available in the US on Verizon (VZ) and Sprint Nextel’s (S) networks. Leading US carriers are currently selling high-end smartphones through long-term distribution arrangements with manufacturers, which has boosted wireless subscriber growth and revenue per user.  However, smaller regional operators (such as US Cellular) lags behind their superior counterparts ...

AT&T Inc. (T), the second largest US wireless carrier, announced the availability of netbooks and laptops from Dell Inc. (DELL) for small businesses.

Customers from small businesses across the US now have access to these premium devices that exclusively use AT&T's 3G wireless technology. The devices include Dell Inspiron Mini 10 netbook and Dell Vostro 1520 laptop.

AT&T is increasingly focusing on extending its 3G wireless capabilities from smartphones to a wide range of emerging devices in order to expand the market penetration of its 3G data services. In July 2009, the company launched several embedded netbooks and laptops from industry-leading manufacturers, such as Hewlett Packard (HPQ), Acer and Panasonic, targeted exclusively to increase connectivity for small businesses.

Carriers across the globe are aggressively selling netbooks and associated data plans in order to boost data usage and revenue. Industry estimates reveal that worldwide shipment of netbooks reached 11.6 million

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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) ...