Thursday, October 12, 2006

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Thursday, October 12, 2006
Presented by Ya-hui Chang
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International Markets

• The dollar was firm, hitting its highest level
  against the Yen this year and a near three-month
  peak against the Euro on the belief that U.S.
  interest rates will remain high for some time yet
  and after North Korea nuclear-test news.
• After North Korea nuclear-test news, Asian shares
  and currencies are relatively weaker than those
  of Europe and the Americas.

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Stock Indices
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Consumer Staples

• Analysts say beer brewer Anheuser-Busch Cos. is
  an unlikely target for a leveraged buyout,
  despite rumors that Eddie Lampert's hedge fund
  ESL Investments is considering a bid for the
  company.
• Bill Clinton and the American Heart Association
  convince snack food industry to only sell
  healthier foods in school vending machines.
• Unilever is voluntarily recalling products that
  may contain undeclared milk.

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Consumer Staples
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Consumer Discretionary

• Harrahs canceled Singapore casino bid, then
  received a buyout bid amounting to more than
  15.5 billion from New York-based Apollo
  Management Group and Texas Pacific Group, based
  in Fort Worth, Texas.

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Consumer Discretionary

• Ford begins offering buyout to all 75,000 hourly
  workers next week.
• Jerome York resigns from General Motors board
  increasing uncertainty over turn-around.

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Industrial - Services

• Among the biggest beneficiaries of oil's decline
  have been transportation stocks, particularly
  Trucking and Railroads.
• Universal Express announces definitive agreement
  to purchase 200,000,000 annual revenue New
  Jersey Oil And Gas Distributor.
• Sotheby's, the world-famous auction firm,
  evacuated its U.S. headquarters in New York after
  an airplane struck a nearby building Wednesday
  afternoon and the firm's auction of contemporary
  art scheduled for 2 p.m. ET was cancelled.

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Industrial - Goods

• Airbus CEO resigns amid corporate structural woes
  and warns of job cuts
• The U.S. Air Force said Monday it is still
  waiting to see how much money it will receive
  from the Justice Department's 615 million
  settlement with Boeing Co. over defense
  contracting scandals.
• Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said it has increased
  ownership of USG Corp. to 19 percent and now owns
  17.07 million shares of the wallboard
  manufacturer.

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Financials

• Following the lead of MasterCard Inc., competitor
  Visa announced that it plans to restructure its
  organization to create a new company and then
  sell shares in an initial public offering.
• Financial services company Bank of America Corp.
  said Wednesday it will offer 30 free online stock
  trades per month to clients with at least 25,000
  in their accounts.
• According to SP analysts, investment banking and
  property-casualty insurance industries are likely
  to perform well in the 4th quarter, while
  traditional banks may struggle

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Utilities

• Utility company American Electric Power Co. Inc.
  raised its long-range forecast for earnings
  growth and cut its planned spending for the next
  two years, sending its shares up 5 percent.
• York Water Co. said Wednesday it filed a
  registration statement with the Securities and
  Exchange Commission in order to sell 600,000
  shares of its common stock.

• Market Cap 1020.9B (944.4B)
• ROE 16.41 (16.22)
• Net Profit Margin 9.22 (8.98)

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Health Care

• Shares of pharmaceutical wholesalers and major
  drugstore chains slumped on Friday after a
  published report said that a legal settlement
  could take more than 4 billion a year out of
  drug costs.

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Health Care

• Several M A developments drive biotech stocks
  higher. Analysts predict continued trend in
  growth for the sector.

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Information Technology

• Internet search leader Google announced its
  all-stock purchase of YouTube for 1.65 billion.
• The chief executives of McAfee Inc. and CNet
  Networks Inc. stepped aside Wednesday to atone
  for stock-option chicanery that occurred on their
  watch.

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Basic Materials

• Alcoa profits almost doubled, but fell below
  forecasts due to lower aluminum prices, higher
  costs, and weakness in automotive and
  home-building sectors.
• Eastman Chemical Co. will sell its polyethylene
  business to Houston-based Westlake Chemical Corp.
  for 255 million in cash.
• Indonesian police on Friday detained 43
  indigenous Papuans for blocking a main road to
  the world's largest gold and copper mine with
  burning tires.

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Basic Materials
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Energy

• Exelon Corp. is currently evaluating 8 sites in
  Texas to possibly construct a new nuclear
  reactor.  As of Oct. 10, there have been 19
  preliminary proposals for new nuclear reactors in
  the U.S. due to environmental concerns about
  fossil fuels and rising costs of natural gas.
• The Energy Dept. expects families using natural
  gas to heat their homes to pay approximately 120
  less this winter than they paid last winter. 
  Those using fuel oil should expect to pay around
  90 more.
• Oil prices have fallen below 59/barrel, the
  lowest they have been in 8 months.

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Energy

• Market Cap 1441.6B (1412.1B)
• ROE 25.71 (28.10)
• Dividend Yield 2.43 (3.08)
• Net Profit Margin 11.70 (10.70)

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Telecommunications Services

• Sprint Nextel Corp. said on Tuesday its executive
  chairman, Tim Donahue, will retire at the end of
  the year, the second high-level official to leave
  the company this year.
• The Justice Department gave its unconditional
  approval to ATT Inc.'s buyout of BellSouth Corp.
  on Wednesday, creating the largest U.S. provider
  of telephone, wireless and broadband Internet
  services.

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Telecommunications Services
Foreign
Domestic