There's a very interesting article on euobserver.com about Russia's attempts to re-brand itself as a benign global power in the eyes of Brussels.  The piece reports that news agency Ria-Novosti has apparently engaged the services of low-profile PR consultancy RJI Companies to assist it in softening Russia's image in Europe, in order to justify it having a large say in global affairs.  Apparently a sub-section of this campaign revolves around Stalin rehabilitation and a Soviet makeover:Russian news agency Ria Novosti is rolling out a new public relations campaign in the political capital of the European Union which, according to sources in the PR industry, aims to justify Russia's great power ambitions and improve the image of Joseph Stalin....

Today, Beacon Enterprise Solutions Group, Inc., an emerging global leader of high performance Information Transport Systems (“ITS”) infrastructure solutions, announced that it has expanded its relationship with an existing Fortune 100 pharmaceutical client to provide ITS infrastructure documentation, design, installation and ongoing management services. Valued at approximately $27 million, the engagement will initially focus on Switzerland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium and the United Kingdom. Later it will expand to include 31 additional European, Middle Eastern, and African nations. The engagement follows other pre-existing projects that Beacon currently manages for this client.

Beacon will conduct ITS infrastructure assessments and prepare complete documentation of all of the pharmaceutical company’s foreign facilities, encompassing more than 450 buildings. Additionally, the company will provide ongoing managed ITS infrastructure services using Beacon’s I(3)MAC infrastructure management platform.

The company has commenced the initial phase of the engagement. It involves site visits, assessments and documentation of each of

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 19, 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: Cognizant (CTSH), UBS AG (UBS), Infosys Technologies Ltd (INFY), Repsol YPF S.A. (REP) and Eni S.p.A. (E).

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 Friday’s AnalystBlog:

Cognizant Buys UBS ISC

Cognizant (CTSH) recently announced a definitive agreement to acquire UBS India Service Centre Private Limited for about $75 million. Based in India, UBS ISC is a captive service provider to UBS AG (UBS) and currently employs 2,000 associates.

Headquartered in Zurich

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Cognizant (CTSH) recently announced a definitive agreement to acquire UBS India Service Centre Private Limited for about $75 million. Based in India, UBS ISC is a captive service provider to UBS AG (UBS) and currently employs 2,000 associates. Headquartered in Zurich and Basel, Switzerland, UBS AG is a global firm providing services to private, corporate and institutional clients. New Jersey-based Cognizant is a leading provider of consulting, technology and business process outsourcing (BPO) services. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2009. As part of the transaction, UBS and Cognizant have entered into a multi-year service agreement under which Cognizant will provide a range of business process outsourcing (BPO), knowledge process outsourcing (KPO), IT, and remote infrastructure management services to UBS divisions around the globe. Cognizant aims to help these divisions to reduce time-to-market, expand service delivery, and improve productivity, operational efficiency ...

By Cees Bruggemans, Chief Economist FNB

The forces arraigned against the Rand are rather formidable and no collapsed corporate deals seem to matter too much. The Rand is rising and will rise.

Pushing the Rand higher are the major central banks at the global centre (New York, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Zurich, London), keeping interest rates near zero and encouraging outward liquidity leakage towards faster growing and still outperforming yield destinations in the global periphery.

Pulling the Rand higher are a smattering of central banks located in the global periphery as they start increasing their rates, led by the Bank of Israel two weeks ago, but last week followed by the Reserve Bank of Australia, with others expected to follow serially in coming months.

With their growth reviving, small output gaps, house prices and employment rising and industrial activity recovering, these central banks are uncomfortable with their too low interest rates imposed during

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In an attempt to takeover the European junk bonds after the financial crisis, Nycomed, one of the private equity-owned Swiss drugmaker has made a 4.5 billion Euros bid to purchase Solvay SA’s drug operations. The Zurich based company said that it this bid and takeover is finalized it will help them to reach their annual sales figures of $6 million which is why they have gone ahead and made such a high bid to buy Solvay’s pharmaceutical unit and operations. However, the Belgian conglomerate Solvay SA’s has not yet responded to the bid and has informed that they might take a little time to think about it and would not rush through the deal....

DrStockPick.com Stock Report!

Thursday September 10, 2009

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SigmaTron International, Inc. (Nasdaq:SGMA), an electronic manufacturing services company, today reported revenues and earnings for the fiscal quarter ended July 31, 2009. Revenues decreased to $26.3 million in first quarter of fiscal 2010 from $38.5 million for the same quarter in the prior year. Net income decreased to a loss of ($402,475) for the period ended July 31, 2009 compared to a profit of $579,324 for the same period in the prior year. Basic earnings (loss) per share and diluted earnings (loss) per share from operations for the quarter ended July 31, 2009, were both ($0.11), compared

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Inflation-Proof Savings Account Could Pay 100% “Interest” this Year Euro Pacific Capital President Peter G. Schiff has identified a savings account that could yield 100% interest between now and the end of the year. It’s much safer than a regular account, and fully insured by Lloyd’s of London. Since every dollar of your savings is fully backed by gold bullion held in specialized vaults outside of Zurich, you could easily double your money as gold prices rise. And that means it’s a great way to protect your money from inflation, a falling dollar, geopolitical instability and even government stupidity! Go here for Schiff’s complete report.

By Bob Blandeburgo

Associate Editor

Money Morning

Prices for single-family and condominium homes in the second quarter fell by a record 15.6% and 19.8% year-over-year in the United States, mainly due to foreclosures.

While the data taken on a national average may be disheartening, the …

Precious Metals

Gold jumped up about midway through trading in the Far East and continued its rise through London and the Comex open to an intraday high just north of $955. But at around 10 a.m. in New York the yellow metal got knocked down below $950 where it stayed through the Globex close, finishing at $949.10/oz., up $11.40. Overnight, gold is little changed.

Platinum experienced a sharp sell-off late in Hong Kong, but clawed its way back to post a decent gain for the day, closing at $1181/oz., up $9. Overnight, platinum is slightly higher.

Silver made big gains through Hong Kong and early London trading that were far too substantial to get wiped out by the 10 a.m. sell-off in New York, after which it remained range-bound between $13.60 and $13.65 and closed near the middle at $13.63/oz., up 22 cents. Overnight, silver is trending lower. (Click here for

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Gold started the summer doldrums looking strong and has retreated since, but what are its prospects for the rest of the year and beyond? That will largely be determined by the interplay between supply and demand; let’s take a look at the supply side.

Reports of dwindling supply are accurate in some areas; however, the story is not that simple. Unlike most metals that are consumed in industrial use, most of the gold ever mined is still around. Gold is forever. Thus newly mined, refined, and fabricated gold is not all that’s entering the marketplace; there are multiple ways of meeting demand. Here’s a look at each.

Breaking Rocks

Imagine that you could turn back the calendar to late 1848, as word was beginning to spread about the gold discovery at John Sutter’s sawmill on the South Fork of the American River in Coloma, California. Would you have loved gold enough to be

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