December 4, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAZZ) has appointed Kathryn E. Falberg senior vice president and chief financial officer. joins Jazz Pharmaceuticals from Arca Biopharma, where she served as CFO and chief operating officer.
From 2001 until joining Arca in 2009, Falberg worked as an active investor and consultant to small companies and served as a corporate director/audit committee chair for several companies.
As Jazz Pharmaceutical's CFO, Falberg will be responsible for the company's accounting, corporate finance, financial planning, investor relations, and treasury functions.
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December 4, 2009 (FinancialWire) — PG&E Corp.’s (NYSE: PCG) Pacific Gas and Electric Co. unit said that it has contracted with Iberdrola Renewables, Inc., the U.S. arm of the world's largest provider of wind power, to purchase and operate a major wind generating plant to be built in Southern California to serve the utility's electric customers.
The proposed Manzana Wind Project, with a power capacity of up to 246 megawatts, would be the first wind project owned by PG&E. It follows a proposal by the utility in February, 2009 to develop and own 250 megawatt of solar photovoltaic power.
The Manzana project would be located on about 7,000 acres in the Tehachapi region of Eastern Kern County, a site with favorable wind resources. If approved by the California Public Utilities Commission, the project could begin producing power by December 2011.
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December 4, 2009 (FinancialWire) — OGE Energy Corp.’s (NYSE: OGE) board has approved an increase in the company's annual dividend to $1.45 per share from $1.42 per share.
The increase is effective with its first-quarter 2010 dividend of $0.3625 per common share of stock, to be paid Jan. 29, 2010, to shareowners of record January 8, 2010. This continues an uninterrupted string of quarterly dividends dating back to 1947.
Oklahoma City-based OGE Energy is the parent company of OG&E, a regulated electric utility, and of Enogex LLC, a midstream natural gas pipeline business.
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December 4, 2009 (FinancialWire) — BIO-key International, Inc. (OTCBB: BKYI) said that a majority of its shareholders at a Special Shareholder Meeting held on December 3 approved the sale of the company's Law Enforcement Division to Interact911 Mobile Systems Inc. Of the shares voted, 98.6% were cast in favor and 1.2% were opposed.
The company said it expects to close the sale transaction with Interact911 Mobile Systems Inc. by the end of December.
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December 4, 2009 (FinancialWire) — General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) said its General Dynamics C4 Systems unit will produce 24 additional Combat Operations Centers for the U.S. Marine Corps under a new $54 million contract modification.
The COCs will enable command and control operations for Marines deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq, from division or air-wing headquarters to the regimental level. The COCs also support pre-deployment training at locations in the United States.
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December 4, 2009 (FinancialWire) — EastGroup Properties’ (NYSE: EGP) board has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $.52 per share payable on December 31, 2009 to shareholders of record of common stock on December 18, 2009.
This dividend is the 120th consecutive quarterly distribution to EastGroup's shareholders and represents an annualized dividend rate of $2.08 per share.
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December 4, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Verizon Communications Inc.’s (NYSE: VZ) board has declared a quarterly dividend of 47.5 cents per outstanding share, unchanged from the previous quarter.
The dividend is payable on Feb. 1, 2010, to Verizon Communications shareowners of record at the close of business on Jan. 8, 2010.
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December 4, 2009 (FinancialWire) — AK Steel (NYSE: AKS) said it has advised its customers that a $155 per ton surcharge will be added to invoices for electrical steel products shipped in January 2010.
The company said its surcharges are based on reported prices for raw materials and energy used to manufacture the products, with the November 2009 purchase cost used to determine the January 2010 surcharges.
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December 4, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Hyperdynamics Corp. (AMEX: HDY) said it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell 7,222,223 shares of its common stock at a price per share of $0.90 pursuant to a registered direct offering to institutional investors, resulting in gross proceeds of around $6.5 million.
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December 4, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPTR) said that Robert L. Zerbe, M.D., has joined the company's board and will be an active member of the company's compensation committee.
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December 4, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Dr. Joe Duarte (
FirstAlert(tm) Daily 12/4: Can S&P 500 Get Past 1100?
December 4, 2009 (FinancialWire) (By Frank Kollar) — Both the S&P 500 Index (SPX), and its tracking ETF the S&P Deposit Receipts (NYSE: SPY), appear to have hit a seemingly unsurpassable wall in their quest for new 2009 highs. For the SPX it is 1100 and for the SPY it is 111.00.
The wall was hit over two weeks ago, on November 16, and since that date both the SPX and SPY have attempted to scale it some nine times. So far, neither has made a decisive close above.
This is a very critical level; the 50% retracement of the entire 2008-2009 bear market decline. A decisive close above and the bulls would likely push prices considerably higher. A failure here and we could be in for weeks of corrective declines.
The period from Thanksgiving in November until New Years Day on January 1st is typically bullish for the stock market. It is now or never. If the SPX and SPY cannot surpass these important levels by year end, we would expect to see sellers take the markets down early next year.
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