June 5, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Harris Corp. (NYSE: HRS) said it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the air traffic control business unit of SolaCom Technologies, Inc., a privately held Canadian firm.
SolaCom's ATC business has around 50 employees, who provide voice and data communication systems and solutions for air traffic facilities and radio communications between airplanes in flight and air traffic controllers.
Harris said it expects to complete the acquisition of SolaCom's ATC business by the end of June.
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June 5, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Citi's (NYSE: C) private banking unit has appointed Peter Charrington as the chief executive officer of its North American business, responsible for all private banking activities in the United States and Canada.
Charrington is currently the head of the company's private banking businesses in the United Kingdom, Israel and Monaco.
Citi's North American private banking business is the largest regional contributor to the company's global private banking revenues. In the U.S. and Canada, Citi's private banking business has more than 150 bankers across 25 offices, serving about 10,000 clients.
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June 5, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Ion Geophysical Corp. (NYSE: IO) said it has closed on the private placement of 18.5 million shares of its common stock at $2.20 per share.
The company said it will use the roughly $38.0 million in net proceeds from the private placement, along with around $3 million in cash on hand, to repay in full its bridge loan under an a agreement dated December 30, 2008, with Jefferies Finance LLC (NYSE: JEF).
By repaying the bridge loan prior to its maturity, Ion said it will avoid certain duration payments it would have been required to pay in connection with the loan and reduce its future cash interest expenses. After retiring the bridge loan, outside of normal trade payables, Ion will not have any outstanding indebtedness maturing prior to 2013.
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June 5, 2009 (FinancialWire) — PlanGraphics, Inc. (OTCBB: PGRA) said it will be merged into its majority shareholder, privately held Integrated Freight Systems, Inc. of Sarasota, Florida, a transportation holding company.
As a result, Integrated Freight will be the surviving entity, PlanGraphics will cease to exist and Integrated Freight will succeed to PlanGraphics' SEC registration.
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June 5, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Navistar International Corp. (NYSE: NAV) said that an affiliate has completed the purchase of certain assets of the recreational vehicle manufacturing business of Monaco Coach Corp. (OTC: MCOAQ) for around $47 million.
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June 5, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Boston Properties, Inc. (NYSE: BXP) said it has launched a public offering of 10.5 million shares of common stock. The company plans to grant the underwriters an overallotment option to purchase up to 1.575 million additional shares of common stock.
The company plans to use the net proceeds for general business purposes, which may include investment opportunities and debt reduction.
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June 5, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Grainger (NYSE: GWW), a distributor of facilities maintenance products, said it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire full ownership of its joint venture in India, Asia Pacific Brands India Private Ltd., an industrial and electrical wholesale distributor.
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June 5, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Northwest Pipe Co. (NASDAQ: NWPX) said it has received a letter of intent from Slayden Construction Group, Inc. of Stayton, Oregon to supply around $7 million worth of pipe for the Juniper Ridge hydroelectric power project in Central Oregon.
Under the deal, Northwest Pipe will supply around 14,000 feet of 108" steel pipe valued at around $7 million for an engineered and custom fabricated piping system.
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June 5, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Bunge Ltd.'s (NYSE: BG) finance subsidiary has priced a public offering of $600 million of 8.50% senior notes due 2019. The notes will be guaranteed by Bunge.
J.P. Morgan Securities (NYSE: JPM), BNP Paribas Securities, HSBC Securities (NYSE: HBC) and RBS Securities (NYSE: RBS) are serving as joint book-running managers for the offering.
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June 5, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) has closed an "at the market" common equity offering program, selling 157,955,960 shares at an average price of $6.33 per share. The program was increased in size from $750 million to $1 billion.
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June 5, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Dr. Joe Duarte (
FirstAlert[tm] 6/5: Bull Market For S&P 500 SPDRs
In Elliott Wave Theory, a new bull market signal is issued when the stock market surpasses the prior wave 4 high after a 5 wave decline. The entire 2008-2009 bear market constituted a long 5 wave decline.
The wave 4 high occurred on January 5, 2009, at $93.86 and marked the start of the final wave 5 decline ending in March at the bear market bottom.
After a two month rally, the SPDRs reached and tested those prior wave 4 highs in early May but failed to surpass them and reversed lower. A second retest resulted in a breakout on Monday, June 1.
That breakout above the wave 4 highs is an Elliott Wave Bull Market Signal.
If we do move lower, initial strong support should be found around SPX 848, which is the 50-day moving average for this big cap index (for the SPY the 50-day moving is at about $85.00).
(Disclosure: The http://www.fibtimer.com ETF Strategy has a position in the S&P 500 SPDRs.)
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