Archives for November 2012

November 2012 - Page 20 of 20 - Money Morning - Only the News You Can Profit From

MGM Misses on Sluggish U.S. Biz - Analyst Blog

MGM Resorts International’s (MGM) third quarter 2012 adjusted loss of 23 cents per share deteriorated from the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 16 cents per share. Loss per share was also wider than the prior-year quarter’s loss of 14 cents per share. However, on GAAP basis, MGM Resorts posted net loss of 37 […]

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DTE Energy Co. (DTE) - Bull of the Day

We are upgrading our long-term recommendation on DTE Energy Company (DTE) to Outperform after a resounding bottom-line beat in the third quarter, which fully offset the effects of a lower top-line. The bottom-line was helped by significant demand for electricity due to warmer weather and higher numbers from its storage and transportation business. Our bullish […]

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Why the CIA and Amazon Are All Over This Quantum Computing Upstart

The CIA and the world's biggest Web retailer want to see the world of Big Computing turned upside down.

That's why they joined a $30 million investment round in a small supercomputing startup. The firm is taking a radical new approach to how these processors crunch massive amounts of data.

It's a field that is quickly turning its skeptics into true believers. Then again, cutting-edge tech like quantum computing doesn't come along every day.

No doubt, quantum computing is some pretty complex stuff. So, let me simplify it for you. At its root, quantum computing relies on the high-speed action inside atoms as well as particles of light.

The result is speeds so fast it makes your head spin.

We're talking about computers that could perform some functions millions of times faster than anything that's on the market today.

It's no wonder the nation's top spies and Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos want to get in on the ground floor. Though they didn't say how much each ponied up, both took part in the most recent round of financing for D Wave Systems.

In-Q-Tel, which invests in high tech that supports the CIA, and Bezos Expeditions join a growing list of D Wave investors. Other blue-chip backers include the Business Development Bank of Canada, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS).

D Wave: Quantum Computing's Kingpin

Founded in 1999, D Wave spent its first five years in discovery mode. By that I mean the small firm was focused on coming up with novel ways to make quantum computing work and then get the patents it needed to protect the moat it was building.

That early attention to detail has clearly paid off. Today, D Wave holds 90 U.S. patents and has roughly 100 more pending around the globe.

Here's the thing. D Wave is founding a whole new sector of the computing industry while making sure it maintains a strong first-mover advantage.

After struggling for years, D Wave is now on a roll.

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Why Oil Prices Can't (and Won't) Collapse

The markets opened again yesterday after the tragic storm across the East Coast.

In a world ravaged by storms, geopolitical tensions, rising demand, supply concerns, and increasing costs, it's important to know what's really driving oil prices moving forward.

The most important thing you can know is that increased market volatility is not going away. The challenge, of course, is to harness these volatile forces in order to come out ahead in the future.

That's the subject today. First I need to set the picture of where we are today.

There has been persistent talk from the usual sources that the price of oil will collapse, along with a range of field support and midstream service providers.

There is just one problem with this argument.

It's just not going to happen.

Don't get me wrong. I am not suggesting that the accelerating volatility in oil prices will point only in one direction, or that the trajectory is straight up. This is not going to be the first half of 2008 revisited.

Rather, we will continue to experience intense movements over shorter intervals. This is what statisticians call kurtosis – greater amounts of volatility occurring in shorter cycles.

Despite the overall upward trend demanded by indicators, these more compact movements will occasionally go in either direction.

That means we can experience downward spikes restraining oil prices over shorter durations. Nonetheless, the overall medium-term dynamic continues to move up. This is producing what I call a "ratcheting" effect: The market prices will undergo downward pressures within a basic upward tendency.

So where are oil prices going?

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