Movers & Shakers

SLIDESHOW: Five Things Every Prop Trader Must Know

Louis Bedigian — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:50:52 +0000

Big banks may be running from it as they attempt to streamline their operations, but there is still a lot of money to be made in proprietary trading. Rob Friesen, President and COO of Bright Trading, LLC, recently sat down with Benzinga to discuss how one of his company's members overcame a bad break and made a million dollars.

"We had a doctor that took a long time to learn the business," said Friesen. "As a merger trader, he worked hard, built his account up, but didn't take any money out. He was stuck in a merger -- remember the Dow (NYSE: DOW) ...

Ken Langone Goes Over the U.S. Education System's Reflection in the Employee Pool

Jason Cunningham — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 15:32:12 +0000

Ken Langone, Geeknet (NASDAQ: GKNT) chairman and CEO, the venture capitalist behind the Home Depot (NYSE: HD) and Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM), was on CNBC's Squawk Box as a guest-host for the majority of Wednesday morning.

Langone started off with a nearly poetic list that displayed a fruitful year in investments for the billionaire.

"Public markets are good. Investment opportunities in private sector are good. Cost of money is cheap, which makes the deals that much more attractive. I think there's no reason for rates to go up. So, no matter what the Fed does, banks are having trouble making loans. Companies are spitting cash out like crazy, little ones, big ones…Look, the tragedy of all this, is this year is turning out, so far, knock wood, to be one of the best years I've had in investments," said Langone.

Langone said that for the companies he keeps track of, all of them are doing well, and mostly creating ...

Stocks Hitting 52-Week Highs

Lisa Levin — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:24:27 +0000

Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN) shares gained 0.43% to touch a new 52-week high of $25.99. Tyson's PEG ratio is 1.75.

Humana (NYSE: HUM) shares surged 0.84% to reach a new 52-week ...

Stocks Hitting 52-Week Lows

Lisa Levin — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:17:49 +0000

Tetra Tech (NASDAQ: TTEK) shares tumbled 14.37% to touch a new 52-week low of $22.89 after the company projected to post a loss in the third quarter.

Trunkbow International Holdings (NASDAQ: TBOW) shares fell 8.70% ...

Morning Market Losers

Lisa Levin — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:10:07 +0000

Orchard Supply Hardware Stores (NASDAQ: OSH) dropped 53.41% to $0.81 after the company reported that its equity holders will most likely be wiped out in bankruptcy ...

Benzinga's Top Pre-Market Losers

Lisa Levin — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:18:51 +0000

Vanda Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VNDA) dipped 12.73% to $9.53 in the pre-market session. Vanda's PEG ratio is -0.83.

Tetra Tech (NASDAQ: TTEK) shares fell 10.21% to $24 in the pre-market ...

Market Wrap for Tuesday, June 18: Stocks Rally Ahead of Fed Statement

Scott Rubin — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 20:22:20 +0000

Risk appetite was brisk on Wall Street on Tuesday as investors purchased stocks ahead of Wednesday's FOMC statement. The Fed is expected to provide clarity on when it may begin tapering its current $85 billion per month bond buying program.

Although there is uncertainty, the market seems to be pricing in the likelihood that the Fed will continue its dovish monetary policy for the foreseeable future in order to keep interest rates down and stimulate the economy.

Ahead of Wednesday's Fed commentary, the Dow rose triple digits for the second day in a row and both the S&P and Nasdaq also posted strong gains.

Major Averages

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 138 points, or 0.91 percent, to 15,318.

The S&P 500 climbed 13 points, or 0.78 percent, to 1,652.

The Nasdaq rose 30 points, or 0.87 percent, to 3,482.

CPI

Consumer prices rose 0.1 percent for the month of May. This was the first increase in CPI since February and compares to a decline of 0.4 percent in April. The consensus expected CPI to rise 0.2 percent in May.

Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, rose 0.2 percent in May versus a gain of 0.1 percent in both March and April. This compares to consensus estimates calling for an increase of 0.1 percent.

Housing Starts

New home starts rose 6.8 percent in May to 914,000. This compares to 856,000 new starts in April and consensus expectations calling for housing starts of 950,000 last month.

Commodities

Crude oil rose along with the stock market on Tuesday. Late in the day, NYMEX crude futures were up 0.70 percent to $98.45. Brent contracts had climbed 0.51 percent to $106.01. Natural gas added 1 percent on the session and was last trading at $3.91.

Precious metals fell on ...

HotelTonight's CEO Sam Shank And Last-Minute Booking

Jason Cunningham — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:05:14 +0000

You're on the go. It's last-minute. You're traveling somewhere and you need a hotel fast. Enter HotelTonight. Their CEO and co-founder Sam Shank appeared on CNBC Squawk Box on Tuesday morning to talk about the company's innovation on finding a hotel.

HotelTonight is an app that offers cheap, quality hotel rooms at the last minute in 12 countries and over a 100 destinations. Shank said that they were built from the ground up on mobile devices, with their sole focus on on-demand hotels.

But now...

"What we really focus on is inspiring people to be more spontaneous and to create more primary demand for the industry and for hotels," said Shank.

Shank said that they're ...

Stocks Hitting 52-Week Lows

Lisa Levin — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:13:22 +0000

American Superconductor (NASDAQ: AMSC) shares touched a new 52-week low of $2.175. American Superconductor's PEG ratio is -0.09.

National Security Group (NASDAQ: NSEC) shares fell 0.66% to ...

Morning Market Losers

Lisa Levin — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:06:50 +0000

Mediabistro (NASDAQ: MBIS) dropped 33.88% to $0.86. Mediabistro's 52-week trading range is $0.80-$5.25.

Orchard Supply Hardware Stores (NYSE: OSH) dropped 15.59% to $1.78. Lowe's (NYSE:

Benzinga's Top Pre-Market Losers

Lisa Levin — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:25:11 +0000

GenMark Diagnostics (NASDAQ: GNMK) dipped 6.93% to $10.21 in the pre-market session after the company lowered its annual revenue forecast.

Randgold Resources (NASDAQ: GOLD) shares fell 2.23% to $73.12 ...

From The Paris Air Show: United Technologies CEO Louis Chênevert

Jason Cunningham — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:47:44 +0000

CEO of United Technologies (NYSE: UTX) Louis Chênevert appeared on CNBC's Squawk Box from the Paris Air Show where he talked about their Goodrich acquisition, Embraer (NYSE: ERJ) securing an order for 300 new regional jets that feature subsidiary Pratt & Whitney's geared turbofan engines, and their components on other various airplane models.

"Our Goodrich acquisition has been fantastic. We've announced integration a year ago. It's going to already be a year of integration. The people all mesh well together. The savings for the costumer are coming through. It's been a transformational acquisition for United Technology,"

According to him, "there's necessity for more consolidation in the industry."

He said that you need to have scale to properly ...

Stocks Hitting 52-Week Lows

Lisa Levin — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:53:56 +0000

Marketo (NASDAQ: MKTO) shares dropped 0.63% to touch a new 52-week low of $17.92. Marketo's trailing-twelve-month profit margin is -56.50%.

Arch Coal (NYSE: ACI) shares fell 3.03% to reach a new ...

Morning Market Losers

Lisa Levin — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:17:42 +0000

Integrated Electrical Services (NASDAQ: IESC) dropped 34.11% to $3.38. Integrated Electrical Services' trailing-twelve-month ROE is -3.56%.

Kingtone Wirelessinfo Solution Holding (NASDAQ: KONE) plummeted 26.38% to $1.73. ...

Benzinga's Top Pre-Market Losers

Lisa Levin — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:20:02 +0000

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE: NVO) shares fell 2.44% to $163.48 in the pre-market trading after Bank of America downgraded the stock from “buy” to “neutral.”

Goodyear Tire & Rubber ...