Edited by John Shipman Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES (call: 201 938 5171; e-mail:
11:06 (Dow Jones) CME reports an average 13.2 million contracts traded eachday in February, up 25% from same time a year ago. In particular, CME says itmade considerable headway in electronic trading, with record 82% or 10.8Mperformed on the screen. Electronic options trading, the slowest of CME productsto shift to the screen, increased 72% to average 448,000 per day. Options onEurodollar futures nearly tripled vs Feb '07, with average 245,000 per day or21% of all Eurodollar options traded last month. CME up a fraction at
11:02 (Dow Jones)
10:59 (Dow Jones) Pali Research downgrades Cablevision (CVC) to sell from buyon belief cable operator has entered new acquisitive era. Firm cites reports CVCplanning to bid for stake in concert-promotion company AEG Live, followingrecent acquisitions of two music venues. "What worries us is that a meaningfulportion of CVC's free cash flow over the next two years appears to be headed forinvestments in the live entertainment business," firm writes. Unclear if CVC CEOJames Dolan is shopping for a gig for his blues band, "JD and the StraightShot." CVC off 5.5% to
10:56 (Dow Jones) Sprint (S) is unwilling to sell its Nextel iDEN assets,saying it wants to better use them. Longer term, that may cause problems forSprint, Fitch says. Once the carrier completes migration of iDEN customers ontothe Sprint network, it will have no subscribers and use an obsolete technology.The challenge ahead is what Sprint does with the network, and if it can sell it.It doesn't make sense to sell iDEN in the near term because of the work goneinto integrating the back-end and support systems for both networks. Sprint down1.1% to
10:49 (Dow Jones) With Ambac (ABK) following
10:39 (Dow Jones) Cisco (CSCO) appears to be slowing its hiring overseas tomatch cautious tone in the US, UBS says. A weak month of bookings in January,global macro concerns and a new senior management structure are likely thereasons for the hiring slowdown, firm says. CEO John Chambers plans to speaktomorrow at a Morgan Stanley conference. He'll likely push the long-termprospects while talking about short-term issues. Firm maintains buy rating andsays CSCO should trade at a premium given its stable business model. Shares down0.6% to
10:33 (Dow Jones) E*Trade's (ETFC) newly-appointed CEO Don Layton is "mystified" by suggestions he has been brought in to orchestrate a sale of thecompany. "At this point in time a sale is a non-event," he tells Dow Jones. "Weare a very unattractive morsel, given the Heloc issue, and the interest level isnot there. At the same time, why would we want to sell at a low price?" ETFC up3.8% at
10:25 (Dow Jones) Citigroup cuts Thornburg (TMA) to sell, citing the company'sproblems meeting margin calls. Firm expects the company will suspend itsdividend until there's better clarity about the status of the margin calls, andsays if company's efforts to sell assets or raise capital fail, it could put itat risk of bankruptcy. "We are hopeful that TMA's quality assets will enable itto meet the margin calls, but the downside risks are simply too high to maintaina hold rating," Citi writes. TMA not immediately available for comment. TMA down57% at
10:22 (Dow Jones) Analysts and observers in the banking industry are talkingup the specter of a rash of small banking failures in 2008. That's notsurprising, since there's so much new fodder to chew: Fed Chairman Bernankewarned Congress last week about prospects of "some bank failures" in 2008,calling more attention to FDIC's growing confidential list of "problem banks."Rebutters note the list of banks at risk of failing is at historic lows, and isoverwhelmingly comprised of very small banks. But FDIC is also ominously beefingup its "receivership" staff -- which it assigns to cases of insolvent banks. (MDE)
10:15 (Dow Jones) It seems as if contraction shown in ISM Feb mfg index cameas no surprise in fed-funds futures, as weakness in
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
