Williams Co.s Inc. (WMB) said on Wednesday that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) permitted it to extend its interstate Transco pipeline by 308.5 thousand dekatherms per day (Mdt/d) that will help the natural gas producer to reach southeastern US markets.

The Transco natural gas pipeline is a 10,500-mile pipeline system that carries natural gas to markets all over the northeastern and southeastern U.S. The current expansion is expected to boost the total system capacity to almost 8.5 billion cubic feet per day.

Known as the 85 North expansion project, the new service would be implemented in two phases. The first phase would increase capacity by 90 Mdt/d by summer 2010, while the second phase would raise capacity by 218.5 Mdt/d by summer 2011. Phase I construction is slated to begin this fall, while work on the second phase is scheduled to get underway next summer.

The project,

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Yesterday, Williams Co.s (WMB) agreed to buy additional natural gas properties in the Piceance Basin of western Colorado from a private company for $258 million. The new acreage is located on the east of Williams’ existing assets in the region. The deal is expected to close towards the end of the third quarter.

The acquisition of 21,800 net acres includes 28 wells currently producing 24 million cubic feet equivalent per day (MMcfe/d), as well as associated natural gas and water gathering facilities. Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Williams already holds about 190,000 acres in the Piceance Basin.

The latest acquisition may contain an estimated 795 billion cubic feet equivalent of net reserves (Bcfe), of which approximately 150 Bcfe are proved reserves. Williams plans to finance the $258 million transaction, along with $15 million in projected 2009 development costs and $50 million of the 2010 development costs, with available cash.

The additional

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Williams Co.s (WMB) reported better-than-expected second-quarter results primarily on higher production volumes and lowering of costs. Earnings per share, excluding mark-to-market adjustments, came in at 20 cents, 4 cents above the Zacks Consensus Estimate.

On a year-over-year basis, Williams’ adjusted earnings per share plunged more than 70% while revenue nosedived 48% to $1.9 billion, hurt by weak performances of the company’s Exploration and Production (E&P) and Midstream businesses on the back of a sharp decline in commodity prices from the year-ago level.

E&P

In the E&P business, total production was up approximately 6% year over year to 1,233 million cubic feet equivalent per day (MMcfe/d). Domestic volumes increased 6% year over year to 1,180 MMcfe/d, driven by strong contribution from the Piceance, Powder River and Fort Worth basins. For the first quarter of 2009, average daily net production from the Piceance basin was up approximately 7% from the

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – July 29, 2009 – Zacks Equity Research highlights NTT DoCoMo (DCM) as the Bull of the Day and Altria Group (MO) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on United Health Care (UNH), Aetna (AET) and Humana (HUM).

Full analysis of all these stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2676

Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:

Bull of the Day:

We maintain our Buy recommendation and the same valuation target for NTT DoCoMo (DCM), the largest mobile service provider in Japan, ahead of first quarter of fiscal 2010 financial results. The company currently maintains a leading 50% share of the Japanese wireless market.

DCM upgraded 98% of its total coverage area with 3G HSDPA technologies and emerging 4G LTE networks are planned for deployment through 2010. DCM's decisions to focus

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Altria Group (MO) is the leading domestic tobacco company, which generates significant cash flow and the stock has a high dividend yield. In an effort to expand into adjacent categories, Altria acquired UST, the world's leading moist smokeless tobacco manufacturer.

However, the company is engaged in numerous tobacco liability suits. Several large punitive damage awards have been upheld, most recently the $79.5 million judgment in the Williams case in 2009.

In addition, the 150+% federal excise tax increase should dramatically reduce cigarette volume. A Sell rating is recommended.Zacks Investment Research

Different concepts of potential GDP

For serious macroeconomists, the magnitude (or existence) of the output gap is a central factor for determining the appropriate policy actions (see for instance Weidner and Williams). In several recent posts, I've discussed the variety of approaches to estimating the output gap [0] [1]. A recent symposium on Projecting Potential Growth published by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis is an excellent resource for anybody who wants to think seriously and carefully about the challenges in estimating this variable. In the lead article entitled "What Do We Know (And Not Know) About Potential Output?", the authors John Fernald and Susanto Basu write:

To keep the discussion manageable, we confine our discussion of potential output to neoclassical growth models with exogenous technical progress in the short and the long run; we also focus exclusively on the United States. We make

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – July 13, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the latest Industry Outlook. Today’s outlook from Zacks Equity Research analyst Steven Ralston discusses the Consumer Staples sector. Highlighted stocks include: Altria (MO) and Reynolds American (RAI).

Here is the latest on the Consumer Staples sector:

Additional regulation of tobacco products by the U.S. Federal Government is now expected. On June 8, 2009, the U.S. Senate again passed legislation, empowering the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate cigarettes and other tobacco products. Over the last several years, the House had not passed a similar bill, but in April, the House finally passed a comparable measure, indicating a more stringent regulatory framework for all domestic tobacco companies in the future.

The tobacco companies are losing product liability law suits. In late March 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal

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The stock market has begun to discount a recovery from the global recession. Prior rallies after major declines of similar magnitude (such as after the recession in the mid-1970Õs and the Great Depression in the 1930Õs) were sharp and unrelenting.

It is expected that stocks in the Consumer Staples sector will underperform as cyclical stocks begin to discount the recovery out of the current global economic recession.

OPPORTUNITIES

Stocks in the Consumer Staples sector have traditionally performed better than the stock market, and especially cyclical companies, during market declines. The fundamental explanation is that food, beverage, household products and cosmetics companies manufacture and market brand name consumable products, most of which are considered essential to daily life, such as food, drink, toothpaste, deodorants, toilet paper, etc.

Since product demand is relatively stable, the companies should report earnings in line with expectations and, hence, the stocks have outperformed. Generally speaking, food companies generate earnings growth

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The stock market has begun to discount a recovery from the global recession. Prior rallies after major declines of similar magnitude (such as after the recession in the mid-1970Õs and the Great Depression in the 1930Õs) were sharp and unrelenting.

It is expected that stocks in the Consumer Staples sector will underperform as cyclical stocks begin to discount the recovery out of the current global economic recession.

OPPORTUNITIES

Stocks in the Consumer Staples sector have traditionally performed better than the stock market, and especially cyclical companies, during market declines. The fundamental explanation is that food, beverage, household products and cosmetics companies manufacture and market brand name consumable products, most of which are considered essential to daily life, such as food, drink, toothpaste, deodorants, toilet paper, etc.

Since product demand is relatively stable, the companies should report earnings in line with expectations and, hence, the stocks have outperformed. Generally speaking, food companies generate earnings growth

...

The stock market has begun to discount a recovery from the global recession. Prior rallies after major declines of similar magnitude (such as after the recession in the mid-1970’s and the Great Depression in the 1930’s) were sharp and unrelenting. It is expected that stocks in the Consumer Staples sector will underperform as cyclical stocks begin to discount the recovery out of the current global economic recession. OPPORTUNITIES Stocks in the Consumer Staples sector have traditionally performed better than the stock market, and especially cyclical companies, during market declines. The fundamental explanation is that food, beverage, household products and cosmetics companies manufacture and market brand name consumable products, most of which are considered essential to daily life, such as food, drink, toothpaste, deodorants, toilet paper, etc. Since product demand is relatively stable, the companies should report earnings in line with expectations and, hence, the stocks ...