Stock Preacher

Nokia, the world’s largest handset maker yesterday unveiled its first phone running on Linux software with the plan to improve its offerings at the top end of the market. The focus of cell phone business worldwide has shifted to services and software following Apple and Google’s entrances to the market in the last two years.The Finnish firm has been looking for business opportunities from offering services like music downloads or games to cell phone users as the handset market itself is maturing, but to date its offerings have gained limited traction. Read more

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US stocks ended higher Thursday as aircraft maker Boeing Co took off after it said it expects the first flight of its long-delayed 787 Dreamliner by the end of 2009, thus boosting the DJIA, + the financial shares’ put air under broad market. It was the DJIA’s 8th straight gainer day.

The DJIA rose 37.48 pts, or 0.39%, to end the session unofficially at 9,581.00, the S&P 500 gained 2.86 pts, or 0.28%, to finish unofficially at 1,030.98, and the NAS tallied up + 3.30 pts, or 0.16% to close unofficially at 2,027.73.

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General Electric is looking to sell its security business, which makes alarms, surveillance systems and other safety products, and hopes to attract bids in the range of US$2Bfor the unit. The US conglomerate has received preliminary indications of interest from rival manufacturers looking at the unit, and is now working towards securing another round of more definitive bids. The move to sell part or all of GE Security – one of more than a dozen business units at the manufacturing conglomerate – represents a step in GE’s effort to exit lines of business that are not key to its operations. GE Security builds fire, safety and security systems and other products for homes, offices and the government. The selling process is being managed by JPMorgan has drawn interest from GE’s rivals in the security sector such as United Technologies, Tyco and Germany’s Robert Bosch GmBH. Security assets have historically lured private equity buyers, but a combination of the difficult financing environment and an expressed interest by GE in selling the assets to a strategic buyer could hamper any buyout effort. GE, known for making products ranging from light bulbs to washing machines, has particularly suffered lately from its exposure to the financial services industry, but it is not the only manufacturing conglomerate looking to shed non-core assets.

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New home sales in the USA rose last month at the fastest rate since 2005, the US Commerce Department said yesterday in a report, highlighting the case that the hammered US residential real estate market is staging a recovery. Separately, official figures showed that new orders for durable goods tallied up their biggest jump in 2 years in July, as aircraft purchases soared and the US Cash-for-Clunkers program fueled a big rise in demand for automobiles. Sales of new homes jumped by 9.6% to an adjusted annual rate of 433,000 in July. The 4th consecutive monthly rise beat even the most bullish forecasts of Wall Street analysts and exceeded the revised June jump of 9.1%. New home sales are still off by 13.4% compared with the same month a year ago. Buyers are responding to low prices and the popular 1st time home buyer tax credit which has succeeded in luring people back to the market. The median price of a new home slipped a bit to US$210,100 in July and is off by 11.5% year-on-year.

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Vonage Holdings Corp shares surged 35% on Wednesday on growing views that the company would survive despite earlier skepticism over its business model. The stock has now climbed more than 300% in the past week, a rally that has surprised analysts who say the company still faces stiff competition and weak revenue. Last week, the stock was trading at less than 50 cents a share, and yesterday it closed above US$2.00/shr. on news of Google Inc’s new voice application may be renewing interest in VoIP, a technology that Vonage pioneered. Vonage was among the first to offer Internet-based calling services to people looking for cheaper alternatives to regular phone lines. Since its inception, the company has struggled with high costs and competition from traditional phone and cable operators that now offer bundled video, Internet and phone services. It is also challenged by SKYPE, a unit of eBay Inc, and other Internet-based services. While it posted its 1st quarterly net profit earlier this month, a weaker economy resulted in fewer subscribers. Vonage, perhaps, is in the sights of a larger company.

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US President Barack Obama will nominate Ben Bernanke to a 2nd term as Chairman of the US Federal Reserve Tuesday, keeping him on the job of guiding the world’s largest economy out of its deepest downturn since the Great Depression. Bernanke, whose appointment to a new, four-year term as head of the US central bank must be confirmed by the Senate, has flooded crippled financial markets with hundreds of billions of US$s in Fed liquidity and stepped in to attempt rescues of failing financial institutions such as Bear Stearns and AIG. Obama’s Democrats control the Senate, but Bernanke has faced criticism from lawmakers of both parties who say he has gone too far in extending Fed support that will be difficult to unwind, threatening future inflation. Investors have generally given Bernanke high marks on the job and had widely expected him to be kept on by Obama, although the announcement was not expected until later this year.

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