>>> US Gapping down

Gapping down
In reaction to disappointing earnings/guidance: SOFO -3.2%, NUS -2.9%, SHW -1.8%, UTX -1.5%, ZQK -1.4%, NDSN -0.6%

Select Chinese related stocks trading lower: JMEI -2.9%, JD -1.2%, ZNH -1.2%, YUM -1.2%.

Select oil/gas related names showing early weakness: LINE -4.4%, PVA -3.7%, MRO -2.6%, RDS.A -1.2%, SLB -0.9%, SDRL -0.8%, OAS -0.8%

Other news: EOX -10.2% (announced appointment of Mike Dickinson to the position of COO; reduced Q4 average production guidance to 3,300 BOEPD; lowered FY15 production and CapEx guidance), SNTA -4.6% (announces preliminary results from an investigator-sponsored phase 1 trial; plans to further evaluate ganetespib in combination with trastuzumab and pertuzumab for HER2+ MBC), VOD -2% (still checking), WIN -1.9% (announced that Bob Gunderman has been named chief financial officer for the company, effective immediately; also unfavorable commentary on Thursday's Mad Money), AKR -1.8% (announces sale of 3.4 million common shares), PVG -1.8% (announced a non-brokered private placement of ~12.8 mln shares), CPLP -1.7% (announed that it has secured time charter employment for the M/T 'Aias' and M/T 'Arionas'), ALU -1.7% (still checking), SKYW -1.3% (reported combined November 2014 traffic For SkyWest Airlines and ExpressJet Airlines; 3.7% decrease in revenue passenger miles, available seat miles decreased 4.0%), ARMK -1.3% (prices 30 mln shares of common stock sold by certain stockholders at $28.00 per share), ACT -1.2% (confirms District Court ruling to require continued distribution of NAMENDA IR), TSLA -0.9% (China exec may leave the company, according to reports)

Analyst comments: GDP -7.7% (downgraded to Underweight from Overweight at JP Morgan), BBEP -3.1% (downgraded to Hold from Buy at Wunderlich), VMW -2.1% (resumed with a Underweight from Overweight at Piper Jaffray; tgt lowered to $69 from $111), ZAYO -1.9% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BTIG Research), HOV -1.9% (downgraded to at ), MR -1.7% (downgraded to Underweight from Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley), MS -1.1% (also announced a restructuring program across its entire 11-park enterprise), COST -1.1% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Janney)

>>> US Gapping up

Gapping up
In reaction to strong earnings/guidance: ADBE +5.9%, EMKR +5.7%, ( names Jeffrey Rittichier CEO), HGSH +1.3%

M&A news: TLM +10.6% (attributed to reports suggesting Repsol (REPYY) bid )

Select airline names showing strength: UAL +1.6%, AAL +1.2%, GOL +0.9%, LUV +0.8%

Other news: CCXI +115.1% (announced positive top-line 52-week data from its Phase II clinical trial in diabetic nephropathy with CCX140), WTSL +80.1% (still checking; light volume), FRO +30.7% (cont strength), ONTY +14% (positive ONT-380 Data; Phase 1 data demonstrate preliminary clinical activity; also announced that Array BioPharma (ARRY) has granted Oncothyreon an exclusive license to develop, manufacture and commercialize ONT-380), TLM +10.6% (attributed to reports suggesting Repsol (REPYY) bid ), NBG +5.6% (modest rebound following weakness this week), AHC +4.9% (announced special cash dividend of $2.25 per share), DENN +3.8% (favorable commentary on Thursday's Mad Money), FCEL +3.1% (announces final acceptance of largest fuel cell power plant made and operating in Germany), SSRI +2% (expands mineral resources at marigold with higher gold grade mineralization), NCLH +1.8% (following late move lower on cruiseship fire news), SEAS +1.3% (announced that David D'Allesandro was named interim CEO; also announced a restructuring program across its entire 11-park enterprise), PPHM +1.3% (announces preclinical data from recently conducted single agent studies; statistically significant tumor growth suppression with single agent Bavituximab equivalent), FTR +1.2% (co's Board approved a 5% increase in the quarterly dividend to $0.105 from $0.10 per share), FCE.A +1.1% (Signature Global Asset Management discloses 5.16% passive stake in 13G filing)

Analyst comments: GPRO +4.3% (upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan), DAL +1.4% (target raised to $60 from $48, maintain Buy at Deutsche Bank
)

>>> US Early premarket gappers

Early premarket gappers
Gapping up: CCXI +63.9%, FRO +21.5%, TLM +11.7%, NBG +8.3%, ADBE +7.5%, EMKR +5.7%, EOX +5.5%, GPRO +3.2%, AHC +2.5%, FCEL +2.5%, CLF +2.3%, NCLH +1.8%, PLUG +1.6%, SEAS +1.3%, HGSH +1.3%, FTR +1.2%, FCE.A +1.1%, X +1.1%

Gapping down: RSH -22.5%, SOFO -3.2%, GDP -3.1%, JMEI -2.9%, SHW -2.8%, AU -2.1%, VOD -1.9%, PVG -1.8%, OAS -1.8%, CPLP -1.7%, ARMK -1.7%, MS -1.5%, UTX -1.5%, AKR -1.4%, JD -1.4%, ZQK -1.4%, SKYW -1.3%, RCL -1.3%, SPLS -1.2%, ALU -1.2%, SLB -1.2%, ZNH -1.2%, TWTR -1.1%, C -1.1%, RDS.A -1%, TSLA -0.9%

>>> BBRY - Oppenheimer maintains Perform rating citing belief FY16 will be anoth

Oppenheimer maintains Perform rating citing belief FY16 will be another transition year 
- Firm believes BBRY has put in place the best strategy to return the company to growth, and several recent initiatives/partnerships will contribute to this. However, they see it taking time and ultimately believe FY16 (ending Feb. '16) will be another transition year primarily due to weak hardware device sales.
- Firm lowers their FY15 and FY16 revenues/EPS from 4.26B/-$0.09 and $5.20B/$0.42 to $3.61B/-$0.22 and $3.16B/-$0.49 respectively, based on lower device sale assumptions and service revenues contribution.

(Citi) 2015 Strategy

CEEMEA Road Ahead 2015
Volatility to Continue But Flat Returns as a Region
* Macro — The region is likely to experience another year of sub-trend growth in
2015, with weak commodity prices & current account deficits featuring as common
challenges. Sanctions & uncertainty have prompted us to forecast a 1% contraction
in Russia, marking the sixth year of worsening GDP. In contrast, Poland’s growth of
+3.5% in 2015 is driven by robust domestic demand and a healthy labour market.
* Earnings — Consensus expects earnings growth of 10% in 2015, slightly weaker
than Latam and EM Asia, but still above DMs. At +15%, EPS growth in Turkey is
amongst the strongest, thanks to lower oil prices and moderating inflation. We
expect earnings downgrades in South Africa and Russia.
* Valuation & Market Target — Premium valuations in South Africa and Poland
contrast against the extreme discount of Russia. We see the best returns over the
next year coming from Turkey, our year-end target implies 15% upside. South Africa
sits as our key underweight, where we expect the local index to fall by 5%. As a
region, our CEEMEA year-end target implies flat prices, with this dropping to -5%
once we account for the US$ recovery that our economists forecast.
* Themes — The first US rate hike, combined with a US$ recovery, can be expected
to put pressure on South African and Turkish assets. South Africa also sits in a
vulnerable position given the slide in commodity prices (similarly with oil in Russia).
Given these challenges, we expect investors to maintain a preference for strong
yield & capital return stories. We also expect ‘quality’ to keep outperforming.

NYT : Some Accused of Insider Trading May Rethink Their Guilty Pleas

A ruling that tossed out the insider trading convictions of two hedge fund managers may have opened the door for others charged with wrongful trading to get their cases or pleas dismissed.

A federal judge in Manhattan, Andrew L. Carter Jr., on Thursday ordered the lawyers for the defendants in an unrelated insider trading case to come to court on Dec. 18 to discuss the implications of the ruling. The day before, a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overturned the convictions of the hedge fund managers Anthony Chiasson and Todd Newman.

Judge Carter said in his brief order that he wanted to discuss whether the appellate ruling affects a guilty plea by at least one of five defendants. In the case he is overseeing, five friends have been accused of receiving a secondhand tip about IBM’s plans to acquire SPSS for $1.2 billion in October 2009.

The move by the judge is a sign that the impact of the appellate court’s decision may have ramifications well beyond Mr. Chiasson and Mr. Newman. The ruling was notable because the appellate court significantly reined in prosecutors when pursuing cases of insider trading, especially against individuals who are far removed from the original source of an illegal stock tip.

Under the appeals court ruling, the government must also show more than just friendship between people sharing in inside information in order to establish a benefit — one of the elements of proving insider trading. The court said the person passing on a tip must receive something “of some consequence.”

In legal circles it is seen as likely that the ruling will mean that Michael Steinberg, a former portfolio manager at SAC Capital Advisors, will have his conviction overturned because he traded on the same information that did not constitute an illegal tip for Mr. Chiasson and Mr. Newman. Several others who pleaded guilty and testified as cooperating witnesses in the trials of Mr. Chiasson, Mr. Newman and Mr. Steinberg may also seek to withdraw their pleas, since they implicitly pleaded guilty to something that was not a crime, according to the appellate court ruling. (Mr. Steinberg remains free pending an appeal.)

Roland Riopelle, the lawyer for Danny Kuo, a former analyst who pleaded guilty to insider trading and cooperated with the government in its investigation of Mr. Chiasson and Mr. Newman, said he has contacted prosecutors in the wake of the appellate ruling.

Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for Manhattan, has said his office is considering appealing the appellate court’s decision. But at the same time, Mr. Bharara, in a statement issued after the decision, said he did not expect many convictions to be affected by the appellate ruling.

Still, the hearing ordered by Judge Carter may be only the first of a number of attempts by people charged with insider trading to raise new challenges to those charges or pleas they have entered.

Michael Kimelman, a former lawyer and trader convicted of insider trading and who served 21 months in a federal prison, said he was discussing with several lawyers whether to file a motion to seek to reopen his conviction. Mr. Kimelman said that like Mr. Chiasson and Mr. Newman he was not aware that he was trading on inside information when he bought shares of 3Com in September 2007.

Mr. Kimelman says he believes the jury in his trial was improperly instructed on the law. He noted that the judge in his case — Richard J. Sullivan of the Federal District Court in Manhattan — was the same judge who presided over the trials of Mr. Chiasson, Mr. Newman and Mr. Steinberg. That said, Mr. Kimelman, 43, acknowledged that it would be difficult to reopen his conviction three years later.

The appeals court ruling may also provide a path for defense lawyers to challenge, or even unwind, regulatory cases. Indeed, some lawyers have approached the Securities and Exchange Commission on the possibility of reopening closed and settled insider trading cases.

A lawyer for Filip Szymik, who recently settled accusations that he tipped a friend about a hedge fund’s secret plan to attack Herbalife, said he contacted the S.E.C. this week to raise the prospect of revisiting the settlement. The lawyer, Paul Ryan, declined to comment further.

The S.E.C. argued that in leaking the information Mr. Szymik “received a personal benefit by gifting confidential information to his friend.”

TechCrunch : The da Vinci 1.0 AiO Is The Future Of All-In-One 3D Printers

{http://tcrn.ch/1wioF43} have a look to the slide show, not very impressive...still far from a mass market product

As we enter the second half of this, the Decade of 3D Printing, we are coming to a crossroads. On one hand the Rebel open source RepRap crowd are clamoring to keep 3D printing free, man, while the Imperial forces of 3D Systems and Stratasys – along with countless imitators all attempting to commercialize 3D printing and create the first popular home printer – are locked in a race to the bottom in order to gain market share and users. The resulting dichotomy pits amazingly advanced DIY printers that sometimes explode into a gush of melted plastic and sadness with amazingly advanced proprietary printers that also sometimes explode into a gush of melted plastic and sadness. The XYZPrinting da Vinci 1.0 AiO is firmly on the latter side.

The AiO is a closed box that contains a full ABS 3D printing system as well as a laser 3D scanner. A turntable under the built platform spins objects slowly as a laser takes in their contours and the resulting objects can be printed directly from the scanning software. It is literally a 3D copier with true object-in/object-out systems. In short, it is a Star Trekian replicator – within reason.

First, lets’ take a moment to marvel at what this thing truly is. You can place an object into it and make a 3D copy of that object. If you really think about what that means you realize that we have moved from the age of bits into the age of atoms. While the AiO might not be the best 3D printer in the world it does bring 3D copying into your home or office. Let that sink in. A few years ago that was deemed impossible, the realm of science fiction. But no longer. But that’s not the most amazing thing. The most amazing thing about this printer is its $799 price tag. That’s right: $799 gets you a 7.8×7.8 x7.5 inch build envelope in ABS as well as a 3D scanner. A good color laser printer cost that much in 2013.

But how does it work? Everything about the AiO is adequate. The prints are surprisingly smooth and detailed. A 3D print test I ran (below) passed with flying colors and a Mario star tree topper I printed looked like it could come out of the Nintendo Store. There was no clean-up – the printer prints onto a heated glass surface that is pre-calibrated to ensure excellent prints – and the machine is nearly silent except for the muffled motion of the motor and a small fan. I had no complaints regarding the printing process either although the software was a bit buggy on the Mac.

The scanner was good but required planning. Scanning shiny objects is not recommended and even some detail is lost on matte objects. I scanned a few objects using the machine including a matte plaster gargoyle and a porcelain elephant. You can check the gargoyle out here but the elephant didn’t make the cut. A little lion statue, however, looked great except for some missing pixels around the head. The results, while not perfect, were just fine for printing. Like the photocopiers of old, the quality of the 3D copies that come out of this machine is lacking. I can only imagine what would happen if I printed a copy of a copy of a copy. Perhaps I’d create the first 3D zine?

Put these two amazing features together and you get something truly special. Be forewarned, however: the AiO is actually huge, probably twice as big as a Makerbot and a little bigger than a home laser printer. It’s also limited in a few important ways.

Screen Shot 2014-12-10 at 10.07.39 AM
When the AiO worked well it was miraculous. Objects printed onto the glass substrate without sticking and came up like magic. If you’re familiar with 3D printing, trying to dig a plastic part off of a stubborn plate is disturbing at worst and impossible at best. These objects seemed to just slide off like cookies off of a Teflon cookie sheet. When trying to print the gargoyle, for example, the failed spectacularly. Filament balled up into a smoky lump and started to stink. The plastic melted all over nozzle and the resulting clog required a lot of digging with small tweezers to clear. Because the entire machine is inside a closed box access to the print head is limited. This was a testament to the direction 3D printing is heading – all-in-one ease with proprietary consumables – as well as many of the pitfalls. Most hobbyists will bristle at having to deal with a hermetically sealed case and filament cartridge but, as HP and other printer makers well know, the money isn’t in the printer, it’s in the ink.

Therein lies the rub. The AiO uses a 1.75mm ABS filament but requires a special cartridge. This isn’t any ordinary box, however. Inside is a tiny EEPROM that tells the printer how much filament is left in the cartridge and, most important, prevents you from refilling the cartridge on your own. You can hack the cartridge to read “full” again. While the 600g cartridge costs a mere $30, it would still be nice to use your own filament if you have it. This requirement is the first inkling that we are entering an odd new world of DRM-protected 3D printing.

However, if you can accept the proprietary filament and/or are ready to refill the filament cartridges when (and let’s face it, this will probably happen) XYZPrinting stops making these cartridges or goes out of business, you might be in luck. You could also just wait for a more open 3D printer model that uses standard filament and offers slightly better scan quality, but for $799 you might be waiting for a while. In short the AiO is a fascinating, inexpensive, and impressive piece of technology that is well worth looking at if you’re into 3D printing and want to give it a try.