Earn Gold & Copper Trends Are Still Higher: Holmes

Earn If you told me yesterday that the largest bank in the U.S. was going to report lackluster earnings results, and Standard & Poor's was going to take its credit rating clever to Europe, but the markets would largely shrug it off - I probably would have politely told said 'you're crazy!' Welcome to reality; it all happened today. And the little market that could clearly thinks it can still test higher levels and isn't going to let some silly headlines derail it. While JP Morgan (JPM), the big banks (^BKX), and the Euro are getting whacked today, it doesn't change the strategy of money managers like Frank Holmes, the CEO & CIO of US Global Investors, who says the crisis du jour has no bearing on the long term opportunities. 'I am a big believer that you buy gold on down days,' this transplanted Torontonian tells us from his new home in Texas. He believes this year could be 'one of those odd years' that the dollar and commodity prices rise together. And much as Holmes likes gold, he loves the gold miners (GDX) even more, largely because they got sold off alongside other stocks last year while the precious metal they produce rose 10%. 'I think the really big opportunity right now is gold stocks,' he says pointing to their relative price compared to spot gold, as well as their historically low price-to-book ratios, and in some cases dividend yields too. Among the names he likes and owns now are Yamana (AUY), RandGold Resources (GOLD), and lesser-known Franco Nevada (FNV) --which Holmes says pays a monthly dividend. As for the metal itself, Holmes is unmoved by the most recent developments and has had no change in his belief that 'anytime you have inflation running at 3% and you're getting 0.1% in a money market fund, it's always better to own gold.' He is similarly undaunted and unchanged in his conviction about copper and belief that China will successfully engineer a soft landing. He's staying long copper because of the country's plans to build 24,000 miles of high speed rail, and he likes the recent uptick in the JP Morgan Global Purchasing Managers Index, which signaled expansion for the first time in almost a year. 'I think copper will go higher,' he states. 'Just like oil can easily have supply restricted, you have seen copper restricted.' Related Quotes: JPM 35.92 -0.93 -2.52% ^BKX 43.44 -0.17 -0.39% XLF 13.81 -0.11 -0.75% EURUSD=X 1.268 -0.0029 -0.23% FXE 126.33 -1.43 -1.12% ^STOXX50E 2,338.01 -7.84 -0.33% FEZ 29.06 -0.57 -1.92% GCF12.CMX 1,632.40 -14.90 (-0.90%) GLD 159.26 -1.12 -0.70% IAU 15.97 -0.11 -0.68% GDX 54.05 -0.67 -1.22% AUY 15.68 -0.12 -0.76% GOLD 108.83 -2.03 -1.83% FNV 39.90 -0.40 -0.99% FXI 36.74 -0.10 -0.27% HGF12.CMX 3.597 -0.05 (-1.29%) COPX 13.91 -0.12 -0.86% CU 31.45 -0.33 -1.04%

Earn BlackRock to Buy ETF firm Claymore

Earn BlackRock to Buy ETF firm Claymore RELATED QUOTES Symbol Price Change FII 17.45 +0.08 BLK 184.09 +0.22 BlackRock Inc. (NYSE:BLK - News) has agreed to buy Claymore Canada from Guggenheim Partners LLC. The announcement came out yesterday and it was said that both parties have entered into a definitive agreement in this context. With this deal, BlackRock would be able to expand its exchange-traded fund (AMEX:ETF - News) business in Canada. Claymore is based in Toronto and acts as an independent Canadian subsidiary of Guggenheim Funds Services Group, a subsidiary of Guggenheim Partners, LLC. BlackRock, the leading asset manager in the world, currently manages $3.3 trillion in assets worldwide. The deal will result in addition of 34 ETFs and two closed-end funds, representing C$7.0 billion in asset under management. As of December 31, 2011, BlackRock offered 48 ETFs in Canada under the iShares brand, representing C$29.0 billion in assets under management. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions, is likely to be accomplished by the end of the first quarter of 2012. The deal, whose terms are still undisclosed, is expected to be neutral-to-modestly accretive to BlackRock's 2012 earnings. We believe that the acquisition of Claymore will provide BlackRock with competitive edge to grab market share in the Canadian ETF market and hence, is a strategic fit for the company. BlackRock currently retains a Zacks #3 Rank, which translates into a short-term 'Hold' rating. Among its peers Federated Investors Inc. (NYSE:FII - News) also shares the same Zacks rank. Zacks Investment Research

Oil Bloomberg exec in talks to run New Corp's Dow Jones

Oil Bloomberg exec in talks to run New Corp's Dow Jones RELATED QUOTES Symbol Price Change NWSA 18.88 +0.06 TRI.TO 27.80 -0.14 APKN.PK 0.012 0.00 TRI 27.82 -0.10 (Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is in 'serious talks' to poach veteran Bloomberg LP executive Lex Fenwick to run its Dow Jones publishing business, which houses the Wall Street Journal, according to two people familiar with the discussions. Fenwick, who founded Bloomberg Ventures in 2008, was previously chief executive of Bloomberg LP, taking over from the company founder Michael Bloomberg in December 2001. Wall Street Journal reported news of the talks earlier on Friday. The top job at Dow Jones has been vacant since last July when then-Publisher and Chief Executive Les Hinton resigned in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal at News Corp's UK newspaper unit, which had previously run. Hinton told a UK parliamentary inquiry in 2009 that any problem with phone hacking at the company's papers was limited to one case. It was later revealed that thousands of ordinary people and celebrities had been the victims of the voice mail hacking. Hinton, who worked with News Corp for 52 years, was perhaps Murdoch's closest associate. Bloomberg and Dow Jones compete with Thomson Reuters. (Reporting By Yinka Adegoke; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

Signals How the Election and Economy Will Impact Your Portfolio

Signals There's plenty of data to help handicap the market during Presidential election years and it happens to be siding on the investor's team when it comes to an incumbent up for re-election. Jeffrey Hirsch, the editor-in-chief of the Stock Trader's Almanac crunched those numbers and says since the beginning of the Dow in 1896, an incumbent president has run for re-election 19 times; 14 of those were up years for the DJIA. 'Just the fact that there's somebody in office running again is a good sign for the year — 9% on average — what happens is early on if it's a real popular president doing well the market stays up,' Hirsch says. 'If you've got someone really unpopular come election time and they get ousted, there's a rally in November/December, sort of a 'ding dong the witch is dead' type of rally.' As for those five times when the trend didn't hold, only two were particularly bad years: 1932 which saw the removal of Herbert Hoover and 1940 when World War II was already raging in Europe. It's not just the election that offers insight into the next eleven and a half months. Hirsch notes that the end of the 'deflation fear period' should be a good sign in the short-term, but further down the road it 'puts a cap on things.' He cites a housing market that picked up and then flat-lined, consumer confidence that has come up (but not enough), and improving unemployment numbers as a sign that the economy is on the mend. He says it is 'good enough to keep us from having a really bad year' but not good enough to see a breakout to new highs. Specifically Hirsch is looking at 5-10% growth year-over-year, with a Dow target somewhere between 13,000 and 13,500. Still, he cautions the economy, the election, Europe and any number of other international factors could lead to amended forecasts in either direction. Then there's the market volatility — the same that plagued investors throughout 2011. Hirsch says it's here to stay again in 2012. 'Come spring you start looking for a technical trigger,' says Hirsch. 'Get a little bit more on the sidelines, take some profits, cover yourself...and then get back in for the year-end rally...Trade the seasons, trade the range and you should do okay.' How are you playing the election year, the economy and the volatility? Tell us on our Facebook page or in the comments below. Related Quotes: ^DJI 12,428.26 -21.19 -0.17% ^IXIC 2,715.99 +5.23 +0.19% ^GSPC 1,291.70 -0.78 -0.06%

Oil Netflix shares rise on investor optimism

Oil NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of Netflix Inc. rose Friday on expectations that its shares will get a boost from the upcoming release of its fourth-quarter results. THE SPARK: Netflix shares have risen more than 40 percent in just the past week, prompting investors to wonder just how high they can go. But B. Riley & Co. backed its 'Buy' rating for Los Gatos, Calif.-based Netflix, saying that investors should hold on to their shares until after the company's fourth-quarter conference call on Jan. 25, when it's expected to update its outlook for the year. THE BIG PICTURE: Netflix shares took a beating and subscribers fled after the company said in July that it would increase U.S. prices by as much as 60 percent. Things only got worse two months later when Netflix said it would spin off its DVD-by-mail rental service into a separate website called Qwikster. It scrapped that idea in October. Since peaking in mid-July, Netflix shares have lost about 70 percent of their value. THE ANALYSIS: Analysts for B. Riley noted that Netflix shares are rapidly approaching the firm's $100 price target and said the company will probably post quarterly losses through at least the first half of the year. But they also said that Netflix's customer base appears to be stabilizing, which should reassure investors that the company is holding its own against the competition. 'We continue to believe that Netflix offers consumers the greatest content variety versus price relationship of the various choices,' the analysts wrote in a note to investors. 'And with the surprisingly positive announcement early last week that Netflix streamed more than 2 billion hours of movie and TV show content in the fourth quarter, we believe this is more likely to be the case than not.' In addition, the company should eventually get a boost from the expansion of its steaming services into new international markets. THE SHARES: Up $2.32, or 2.5 percent, to $94.47 in afternoon trading.

Forex U.S. did not call for strategic oil release: G20 sources

Forex U.S. did not call for strategic oil release: G20 sources U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner (C) and Chairman of Grupo Financiero Banorte Guillermo Ortiz (L) arrive to a meeting of Group of Twenty (G20) leading economies' finance ministers and central bankers in Mexico City February 25, 2012. REUTERS/Tomas Bravo MEXICO CITY, Reuters (Feb 25) - The United States did not openly call for a release of countries' strategic oil reserves during Group of 20 meetings this weekend, Group of 20 sources said on Saturday. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Friday the United States is considering a release from its strategic oil reserves as rising tensions between Iran and the West over its disputed nuclear program fueled a rise in oil prices. At meeting of G20 economies on Saturday, two people familiar with the discussion said finance officials had discussed the risk to the world economy from oil prices, which rose above $125 a barrel on Friday, but the United States did not push for a release of strategic reserves. Countries hold oil reserves as a buffer against sudden drops in supply. A draft communique for the G20 meeting, which is still under discussion, said high oil prices were a risk to the global economy, the sources said, although the outlook was cautiously optimistic. 'The communique says that there are some positive signs in the global economy, coming especially from the U.S. economy, but they are tentative,' one G20 official said. (Reporting by Francesca Landini and Dave Graham; Writing by Krista Hughes)

Signals Exxon to sell part of Tonen stake for about $3.9 billion:sources

Signals Exxon to sell part of Tonen stake for about $3.9 billion:sources RELATED QUOTES Symbol Price Change TRI 27.82 -0.10 XOM 85.83 -0.94 By Taro Fuse and Emi Emoto TOKYO (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM - News) plans to sell a large part of its 50 percent stake in TonenGeneral Sekiyu KK (:5012.T) back to its Japanese refining partner in a deal that could be worth about 300 billion yen ($3.9 billion), and will make an announcement as early as Monday, four sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. Exxon Mobil will retain about a 20 percent stake in TonenGeneral but the deal will mark a de facto retreat from the world's third-largest economy by the U.S. oil giant, which is focusing its resources on emerging markets and development of natural resources. The move could also spark realignment among Japan's oil refiners, which have been cutting capacity to cope with falling demand caused by a weak economy and a shift to more efficient and environmentally friendly forms of energy, analysts have said. Reuters reported earlier this month that Exxon was in talks to sell part of the stake back to TonenGeneral. TonenGeneral, which imports and distributes Exxon oil in Japan, ranks as the country's No. 2 refiner behind JX Holdings (:5020.T). Smaller rivals include Idemitsu Kosan Co (:5019.T), Cosmo Oil (:5007.T) and Showa Shell (:5002.T). Exxon and TonenGeneral aim to complete the deal around summer, the sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity. TonenGeneral will seek funds from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, Sumitomo Trust Banking, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ and Mitsubishi Trust Bank to buy back the stake, the sources said. ($1 = 76.7350 Japanese yen) (Reporting by Taro Fuse and Emoto Emi; Writing by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Chris Gallagher and Ed Lane)

Oil China to reform, grow economy, IMF eyes freer yuan

Oil Chinese Vice-Premier Li Keqiang gestures as he talks to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing February 15, 2012. REUTERS/How Hwee Young/PoolView Photo Chinese Vice-Premier Li Keqiang gestures as he talks to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing February 15, 2012. REUTERS/How Hwee Young/Pool By Kevin Yao and Koh Gui Qing BEIJING (Reuters) - China cannot delay tough economic reforms, Vice Premier Li Keqiang said on Sunday, underscoring the top leadership's push for market-based change after the sacking last week of an ambitious provincial leader who wanted a bigger state role in the economy. Li, widely expected to succeed Wen Jiabao as premier in a leadership transition that begins later this year, promised flexible policies to keep growth brisk and prices stable, with a focus on boosting domestic demand and pursuing structural reforms to make growth more stable and balanced. 'China has reached a crucial period in changing its economic model and (change) cannot be delayed. Reforms have entered a tough stage,' Li said, echoing comments made by Wen last week. 'We will make policies more targeted, flexible and forward-looking to maintain relatively fast economic growth and keep price levels basically stable,' Li said in a speech at an economic policy conference, attended by top Chinese officials, the head of the IMF and dozens of foreign business leaders. He said China would 'deepen reforms on taxes, the financial sector, prices, income distribution and seek breakthroughs in key areas to let market forces play a bigger role in resource allocation'. Li's renewed emphasis on reform-led growth comes after Wen said slower growth and bolder political reform must be embraced to keep the world's second largest economy from faltering and to spread wealth more evenly, promising to use his last year in power to attack discontent that he warned could end in chaos. Wen told a news conference at the end of the National People's Congress (NPC) that growth would be made more resilient to external pressures, domestic property and inflation risks deflated and 10.7 trillion yuan ($1.7 trillion) in debt racked up by local governments dealt with, while also promoting political change. He cut China's official 2012 growth target to 7.5 percent, down from the 8 percent targeted in each of the last eight years, aiming to create leeway to deliver reform of items including subsidies, without igniting inflation. China's annual rate of inflation cooled to 3.2 percent in February, below the government's 4 percent target for the first time in more than a year. But policymakers remain particularly sensitive to elevated commodity prices, given China's huge imports of raw materials. PRO-GROWTH POLICIES CRUCIAL Zhang Ping, head of the country's top planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, told the Sunday conference that economic policies maintaining relatively fast growth were key to the country's future. 'First of all, we need to maintain steady and relatively fast economic growth -- development is the key for resolving all problems in China,' Zhang said. The government would maintain prudent monetary and pro-active fiscal policies, and stand ready to fine-tune settings -- a consistent refrain from China's leaders since the autumn of 2011. The show of unity over pro-market reform took on new significance last week when China's central leadership moved to bolster control over the southwest city-province of Chongqing after ousting its contentious but popular chief, Bo Xilai. The calls for unity with the ruling Communist Party's top leaders were emblazoned on the front pages of Chongqing newspapers on Saturday. They made no mention of Bo, removed from power after a scandal when his Vice Mayor Wang Lijun took refuge in February in a U.S. consulate until he was coaxed out. After arriving in Chongqing in 2007, Bo, 62 and a former commerce minister, turned it into a bastion of Communist revolutionary-inspired 'red' culture and egalitarian growth, winning national attention with a crackdown on organized crime. His self-promotion and revival of Mao Zedong-inspired propaganda irked moderate officials. But his populist ways and crime clean-up were welcomed by many residents and others who hoped Bo could try his policies nationwide. Li said that while the overall trend of China's economy was stable with sound fundamentals, it faced structural obstacles that must be overcome, adding that Beijing would push forward structural reforms while encouraging technological innovations to generate new sources of economic growth. CURRENCY REFORM CARROT International Monetary Fund managing director, Christine Lagarde, dangled an additional reform carrot at the same economic forum on Sunday, saying that the yuan could become a global reserve currency with the right mix of market-oriented structural change. 'What is needed is a roadmap with a stronger and more flexible exchange rate, more effective liquidity and monetary management, with higher quality supervision and regulation, with a more well-developed financial market, with flexible deposit and lending rates, and finally with the opening up of the capital account,' Lagarde said. 'If all that happens, there is no reason why the renminbi (yuan) will not reach the status of a reserve currency occupying a position on par with China's economic status.' China, the world's biggest exporting nation and the second-largest importer, has long wanted to break the dollar's dominance as the principal global unit of cross-border trade, in part to battle internal inflation risks and also to enhance Beijing's influence on the international financial system. China's has a closed capital account system and its currency is tightly controlled. Although Beijing has increased the use of the yuan to settle cross border trade, undertaking a series of reforms in recent years to that end, yuan settlement was only about $300 billion in 2011, which Chinese exports were worth about $1.9 trillion. Li said he expected China's total trade to maintain double-digit growth this year. The government has an official target of 10 percent growth in both imports and exports for 2012. Exports are a key source of demand and jobs for China's vast factory sector and have been a principal driver of wealth creation for much of the last decade in the wake of the country's accession to the World Trade Organization. China's trade balance plunged $31.5 billion into the red in February as imports swamped exports to leave the largest deficit in at least a decade and fuel doubts about the extent to which frail foreign demand drove the drop. Li said that there were some encouraging signs emerging about the pace of global economic recovery, and forecast that China's total trade would top $10 trillion in the five years 2011-2015, but added that the outlook was not certain, with efforts to resolve Europe's debt crisis still evolving. Economists expect China's annual economic growth to slow to close to 8 percent in the first three months of 2012, down from 8.9 percent in the last quarter of 2011. That would be the fifth successive quarter of slower growth and leave China on track to end the year with its weakest expansion in a decade. A raft of economic indicators in the last two weeks have signaled that China's economy is on a gentle glide lower and on course to avoid a so-called hard landing. (Writing by Nick Edwards; Editing by Don Durfee and Jonathan Thatcher)

Earn Is the Euro Decoupling From U.S. Stocks?

Earn Is the Euro Decoupling From U.S. Stocks? Companies: EUR/USD S&P 500 NASDAQ Composite RELATED QUOTES Symbol Price Change EURUSD=X 1.2832 +0.0123 ^GSPC 1,291.87 -0.61 ^IXIC 2,715.73 +4.97 ^DJI 12,432.35 -17.10 FXE 127.78 +1.22 For much of the last 15 years the S&P 500 and euro (the EU currency) have been moving in the same direction. Since its May 4, 2011 high (the euro topped two days after U.S. stocks) the euro has tumbled 15%. Worse yet, the euro has been falling over the past few weeks even though the S&P has remained stable. Will the S&P soon catch up with the euro, or is the euro about to decouple its positive correlation with U.S. equities? Euro Problems Euro problems are the reason for the bad euro season. U.S. stocks got to enjoy the Santa Claus Rally while the euro was stuck with debt concerns that include: - Eurozone governments need to refinance more than $1.3 trillion in debt in 2012. - Yields on Italian bonds crept up about 7% again (above 7% yields send Greece into a tailspin). - Standard & Poor's is expected to strip France of its AAA rating as early as this month. - Spain's banks need to raise an extra $65 billion to cover bad property loans. - In February, Italy needs to sell more debt than could be covered even if investors used all the proceeds of maturing securities to buy the bonds. Euro Hope Things are so bad for the euro (EURUSD=X), they are good. So it seems at least. The chart below shows the euro holdings of the 'smart' and 'dumb' money published by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The first gray graph shows total non-reportable short positions. Non-reportable are small traders considered the dumb money. The second gray graph shows reportable commercial short positions. Commercial traders are the 'pros' that actually provide a commodity or instrument and are considered the smart money. The data shows that non-reportable short positions are pretty high right now (data as of Tuesday) while commercial traders have closed nearly all their short positions. Based on COT sentiment data, the euro should be close to a bottom, at least a temporary one. Cause for U.S. Stock Rally? But wouldn't a rising euro translate into rising U.S. stocks? Under normal circumstances, yes it would. A look at the chart below shows that a rising euro usually correlates with a rising S&P 500. The red boxes highlight periods of falling euro and rising S&P (such as lately). The green box identifies a period of time when a rising euro (NYSEArca: FXE - News) coincided with falling (even rapidly falling) U.S. stock prices. This happened from October 2007 - July 2008. Putting Odds in Your Favor It's no secret that I declared the rally from the October lows to be a counter trend rally. Back on October 2, I stated via the ETF Profit Strategy updated that: 'I don't think October will 'kill' this bear market, but it should spur a powerful counter trend rally. Towards the end of this rally Wall Street may applaud the Fed for launching Operation Twist and QE3 may be considered unnecessary. This kind of positive environment would be fertile soil for the next bear market leg (Q1 or Q2 2012). From a technical point of view this counter trend rally should end somewhere around 1,275 - 1,300.' To identify high-probability trade setups, I like to see technicals, sentiment, and seasonality point in the same direction, such as they did in early October. From a seasonal perspective, October has the reputation of a 'bear market killer.' Sentiment polls showed the most bearish readings in over a year and the VIX (Chicago Options: ^VIX) was close to the 2010 high. At the same time, the S&P had reached rock bottom support. Based on the weight of evidence, the October 2 ETF Profit Strategy update also predicted that: 'The ideal market bottom would see the S&P dip below 1,088 intraday followed by a strong recovery and a close above 1,088.' On October 4, the S&P briefly dipped below 1,088 and closed the day at 1,124. A massive counter trend rally was born that day. The Next Setup? Seasonality is once again turning bearish (or at the very least less bullish). Since 2002, the S&P reached a January top followed by a drop greater than 8% five (out of ten) times. 51.1% of all investment advisors and newsletter-writing colleagues (polled by II) are bullish on stocks (the highest reading since May 3) while only 17% of individual investors (polled by AAII) are bearish, the second lowest reading in six years. From a technical point of view, the S&P (SNP: ^GSPC - News) is about to reach a daunting resistance cluster comprised of Fibonacci levels and various long and short-term trend lines. The Dow (DJI: ^DJI - News) is about to encounter two trend lines that go back nearly five years. The resistance clusters for the Nasdaq (Nasdaq: ^IXIC - News), Russell 2000 (NYSEArca: IJR - News), and financials (NYSEArca: XLF - News) are not as glaring but they're there. The only thing that doesn't quite fit into the equation is the euro's sentiment data illustrated above. Nevertheless, the weight of evidence suggests that a turnaround for stocks, and possibly another significant market top, may be just around the corner. The high probability strategy is to short U.S. stocks as soon as the resistance cluster is reached or support is broken. The ETF Profit Strategy Newsletter identifies the target of this rally along with a short, mid and long-term outlook and the corresponding ETF profit strategies.

Oil Stocks open mixed; jobs report comes in weak

Oil Stocks open mixed; jobs report comes in weak FILE - In this Jan. 10, 2012 photo, a pair of specialists study a screen as they work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Strong bond auctions in Italy and Spain dramatically drove down their borrowing costs and lifted stocks Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012, providing a reprieve from Europe's relentless debt crisis. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File) FILE - In this Jan. 10, 2012 photo, a pair of specialists study a screen as they work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Strong bond auctions in Italy and Spain dramatically drove down their borrowing costs and lifted stocks Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012, providing a reprieve from Europe's relentless debt crisis. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File) NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks are opening mixed after an increase in unemployment claims dampened optimism about strong bond auctions in Italy and Spain. The Dow Jones industrial average is off 13 points at 12,436 in the opening minutes of trading Thursday. The S&P 500 index is down less than a point at 1,292. Nasdaq composite fell a point to 2,709. The Labor Department said applications for weekly unemployment benefits spiked last week, mostly because companies let go of thousands of holiday hires. Retail sales barely rose in December, but the 8 percent gain in 2011 is the largest percentage increase since 1999. Most markets in Europe are higher after strong bond auctions in Italy and Spain.

Signals BlackRock to Buy ETF firm Claymore

Signals BlackRock to Buy ETF firm Claymore RELATED QUOTES Symbol Price Change FII 17.45 +0.08 BLK 184.09 +0.22 BlackRock Inc. (NYSE:BLK - News) has agreed to buy Claymore Canada from Guggenheim Partners LLC. The announcement came out yesterday and it was said that both parties have entered into a definitive agreement in this context. With this deal, BlackRock would be able to expand its exchange-traded fund (AMEX:ETF - News) business in Canada. Claymore is based in Toronto and acts as an independent Canadian subsidiary of Guggenheim Funds Services Group, a subsidiary of Guggenheim Partners, LLC. BlackRock, the leading asset manager in the world, currently manages $3.3 trillion in assets worldwide. The deal will result in addition of 34 ETFs and two closed-end funds, representing C$7.0 billion in asset under management. As of December 31, 2011, BlackRock offered 48 ETFs in Canada under the iShares brand, representing C$29.0 billion in assets under management. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions, is likely to be accomplished by the end of the first quarter of 2012. The deal, whose terms are still undisclosed, is expected to be neutral-to-modestly accretive to BlackRock's 2012 earnings. We believe that the acquisition of Claymore will provide BlackRock with competitive edge to grab market share in the Canadian ETF market and hence, is a strategic fit for the company. BlackRock currently retains a Zacks #3 Rank, which translates into a short-term 'Hold' rating. Among its peers Federated Investors Inc. (NYSE:FII - News) also shares the same Zacks rank. Zacks Investment Research

Oil Netflix shares rise on investor optimism

Oil NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of Netflix Inc. rose Friday on expectations that its shares will get a boost from the upcoming release of its fourth-quarter results. THE SPARK: Netflix shares have risen more than 40 percent in just the past week, prompting investors to wonder just how high they can go. But B. Riley & Co. backed its 'Buy' rating for Los Gatos, Calif.-based Netflix, saying that investors should hold on to their shares until after the company's fourth-quarter conference call on Jan. 25, when it's expected to update its outlook for the year. THE BIG PICTURE: Netflix shares took a beating and subscribers fled after the company said in July that it would increase U.S. prices by as much as 60 percent. Things only got worse two months later when Netflix said it would spin off its DVD-by-mail rental service into a separate website called Qwikster. It scrapped that idea in October. Since peaking in mid-July, Netflix shares have lost about 70 percent of their value. THE ANALYSIS: Analysts for B. Riley noted that Netflix shares are rapidly approaching the firm's $100 price target and said the company will probably post quarterly losses through at least the first half of the year. But they also said that Netflix's customer base appears to be stabilizing, which should reassure investors that the company is holding its own against the competition. 'We continue to believe that Netflix offers consumers the greatest content variety versus price relationship of the various choices,' the analysts wrote in a note to investors. 'And with the surprisingly positive announcement early last week that Netflix streamed more than 2 billion hours of movie and TV show content in the fourth quarter, we believe this is more likely to be the case than not.' In addition, the company should eventually get a boost from the expansion of its steaming services into new international markets. THE SHARES: Up $2.32, or 2.5 percent, to $94.47 in afternoon trading.

Forex Netflix shares rise on investor optimism

Forex NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of Netflix Inc. rose Friday on expectations that its shares will get a boost from the upcoming release of its fourth-quarter results. THE SPARK: Netflix shares have risen more than 40 percent in just the past week, prompting investors to wonder just how high they can go. But B. Riley & Co. backed its 'Buy' rating for Los Gatos, Calif.-based Netflix, saying that investors should hold on to their shares until after the company's fourth-quarter conference call on Jan. 25, when it's expected to update its outlook for the year. THE BIG PICTURE: Netflix shares took a beating and subscribers fled after the company said in July that it would increase U.S. prices by as much as 60 percent. Things only got worse two months later when Netflix said it would spin off its DVD-by-mail rental service into a separate website called Qwikster. It scrapped that idea in October. Since peaking in mid-July, Netflix shares have lost about 70 percent of their value. THE ANALYSIS: Analysts for B. Riley noted that Netflix shares are rapidly approaching the firm's $100 price target and said the company will probably post quarterly losses through at least the first half of the year. But they also said that Netflix's customer base appears to be stabilizing, which should reassure investors that the company is holding its own against the competition. 'We continue to believe that Netflix offers consumers the greatest content variety versus price relationship of the various choices,' the analysts wrote in a note to investors. 'And with the surprisingly positive announcement early last week that Netflix streamed more than 2 billion hours of movie and TV show content in the fourth quarter, we believe this is more likely to be the case than not.' In addition, the company should eventually get a boost from the expansion of its steaming services into new international markets. THE SHARES: Up $2.32, or 2.5 percent, to $94.47 in afternoon trading.