As the cooperative partner of USA Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, Wal-Mart has started to sell World Expo related licensed products in its Nanpu Bridge store in Shanghai. To promote the Shanghai World Expo and to meet consumers' demands for World Expo licensed products, the American retail giant Wal-Mart was formally selected as the [...]

Sales to distributor expected to contribute $7.0 million in sales in 2010

XI’AN, China /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ — SkyPeople Fruit Juice, Inc. (NYSE Amex: SPU) (“SkyPeople” or “the Company”), a processor and manufacturer of concentrated kiwifruit, apple, pear and other fruit juices and fruit products in China, today announced the engagement of a general distributor in Beijing to focus on the sales and marketing of the Company’s Hedetang(R)-branded fruit juice beverages to food and beverage whole-sellers and retailers in the Beijing area.

On , SkyPeople Fruit engaged a well-established beverage distributor to develop sales and brand recognition of the Company’s Hedetang(R)-branded fruit juices in the nation’s capital. Previously, the Company has primarily relied on its own sales force to sell Hedetang(R)-branded fruit juice primarily in the greater Xi’an area. The distributor has been appointed to sell the Company’s Hedetang(R)-branded fruit juices to major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Jiale, Lotus and KA Supermarkets,

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Initial claims for unemployment insurance continued their descent this week, falling by 22,000 to 432,000. This was well below consensus expectations of 460,000 new claims. The 4-week moving average also fell, but not as sharply, down 5,500 to 460,250. Given the inherent week-to-week instability of the series, the 4-week moving average is a better measure to watch, and the history of it is shown in the graph below (from http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/). On the continuing claims front, the news was more mixed. Regular continuing claims, which are paid by the states and which run out after 26 weeks, fell by 57,000 to 4.981 million. However, in November, over 38% of all people who were unemployed had been out of work for more than 26 weeks. Thus the regular continuing claims data give a very incomplete picture, and news reports that only report that are highly misleading. After ...

Lack of confidence in the gold price bull prevails. Almost everyone seems obligated to hedge when predicting price, in spite of having marshaled an array of intimidating and compelling facts and arguments” says Arnold Bock and in his article below he questions why there is so much reluctance.

Bank of America suggests that gold will reach $1,500. Talk about going out on a limb with a high risk prediction!

Why are Precious Metals Analysts and Financial Experts so Cautious?

Why is it that precious metals analysts are frequently so resistant to recognizing or accepting reality? Many technical chartists seem welded to the lines and shapes in front of them. How useful is a gold chart using data which spans a period of less than forty years, the time since President Nixon took the …

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – December 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: Amazon.com (AMZN), Barnes & Noble (BKS), Wal-Mart (WMT), Target (TGT) and Best Buy (BBY).

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 Tuesday’s Analyst Blog:

Online Sales Shine for Retail

As we had seen with the monthly retail sales numbers in the recent past, the retail picture may not be as bad as the dismal labor market would indicate. In a happy development for some if not all retailers, retail sales data released yesterday indicates that

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As we had seen with the monthly retail sales numbers in the recent past, the retail picture may not be as bad as the dismal labor market would indicate. In a happy development for some if not all retailers, retail sales data released this morning indicates that consumers spent 3.6% more on holiday shopping this year between the critical Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve period than they did last year. The retail sales period in question had an extra day this year. And last year’s holiday shopping season was particularly bad, when overall sales dropped 3.4% amid a very uncertain financial backdrop. Despite these caveats, today’s retail sales numbers are positive and welcome. They add to the growing list of favorable newsflow on improving fundamentals of the underlying economy. With the labor market expected to turn the corner in the not-too-distant future, the outlook for the retail sector ...

As we had seen with the monthly retail sales numbers in the recent past, the retail picture may not be as bad as the dismal labor market would indicate. In a happy development for some if not all retailers, retail sales data released this morning indicates that consumers spent 3.6% more on holiday shopping this year between the critical Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve period than they did last year. The retail sales period in question had an extra day this year. And last year’s holiday shopping season was particularly bad, when overall sales dropped 3.4% amid a very uncertain financial backdrop. Despite these caveats, today’s retail sales numbers are positive and welcome. They add to the growing list of favorable newsflow on improving fundamentals of the underlying economy. With the labor market expected to turn the corner in the not-too-distant future, the outlook for the retail sector ...

The international environmental group Greenpeace has released its latest "Supermarket List for China" which shows that foreign-funded supermarkets such as Wal-Mart, Tesco, and Ito-Yokado rank at the bottom of the list in terms of green initiatives. There are a total of 15 supermarkets on the list. Of these, Carrefour, Hyper Market, and Auchan have received more [...]

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – December 18, 2009 – Zacks Equity Research highlights PNC Financial Services (PNC) as the Bull of the Day and Energizer Holdings (ENR) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Wal-Mart (WMT), Owens Corning (OC) and RPM International (RPM).

Full analysis of all these stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=5506

Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:

Bull of the Day:

We are initiating our coverage on the shares of PNC Financial Services (PNC) with an Outperform rating. The company's third-quarter earnings were significantly ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate, benefiting from strong revenue performance, reduced costs and increased clients.

The company continues to strengthen its balance sheet with focus on risk and expense management. Application of these strategies should propel PNC Financial forward. Moreover, benefits from the National City

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – December 18, 2009 – Zacks Equity Research highlights Alvarion Ltd (ALVR) as the Bull of the Day and Energizer Holdings (ENR) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Wal-Mart (WMT), Owens Corning (OC) and RPM International (RPM).

Full analysis of all these stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=5506

Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:

Bull of the Day:

We maintain our rating of Outperform for Alvarion Ltd (ALVR), a pure-play wireless solutions provider. This follows a series of impressive contract awards to deploy several large-scale wireless systems. Alvarion has more than 250 WiMAX deployments in diversified geographic regions.

According to our assessment, higher bandwidth requirements and an increasing percentage of Alvarion's overall business directed to WiMAX offerings are expected to drive revenue higher in future reporting periods. Furthermore,

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