Month: August 2014

On Aug 28, shares of The Nasdaq OMX Group, Inc . ( NDAQ ) touched a 52-week high of $43.92 buoyed by the solid second-quarter earnings beat. With about 0.8 million shares exchanging hands in the last trading session, the stock gained 0.2% to close at $43.80. […]

Willis Ireland, a part of Willis Group Holdings plc ( WSH ), acquired a range of Irish pension and financial advisory businesses from IFG Group plc. Acquired businesses include leading pensions consultancy and administration business IFG Pensco Ltd, financial advisory companies Retirement Strategies Ltd and IFG Private Clients Ltd,, professional trustee company Planlife Trustee Services Ltd, and trade credit broker Trade Credit Brokers Ltd. The buyout will solidify Willis Ireland's present pensions business apart from strengthening its operational performance and commitment to improve wealth-planning services. […]

Momenta Pharmaceuticals ( MNTA ) announced that the FDA has accepted partner Sandoz’s, a Novartis ( NVS ) company, abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) for the generic version of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.’s ( TEVA ) three-times-a-week Copaxone (M356; 40 mg/mL) for review. Momenta expects the generic version of Copaxone to be available in the first quarter of 2017. […]

MinuteClinic, the retail healthcare business of CVS Caremark ( CVS ), got a major boost with the company’s recent clinical collaboration with MedStar Health – a prominent health care system that works to provide high-quality, affordable health care services. Per the deal, CVS/pharmacy stores and MinuteClinic will continue to provide clinical support, medication counseling, chronic disease monitoring and wellness programs to MedStar Health patients. Additionally, electronic medical record (EMR) and information systems will be used by CVS Caremark for medication counseling and chronic disease monitoring services offered to the affiliated health care providers. […]

We issued an updated research report on Enbridge Energy Partners L.P. ( EEP ) on Aug 25, 2014. […]

Illinois-based leading drugstore chain Walgreen Co. ( WAG ), in association with the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, recently announced a tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis (Tdap) vaccination voucher program. This vaccination program aims at preventing pertussis (whooping cough), particularly among individuals in close contact with infants, who are the most vulnerable […]

Minnesota-based medical device manufacturer Medtronic, Inc. ( MDT ) recently reported the first implants of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) devices in heart failure patients as part of the AdaptResponse trial. The primary objective of the clinical trial is to draw a comparison between cardiac patients implanted with CRT devices comprising the AdaptiveCRT software and those receiving conventional CRT […]

Chinese telecom companies China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited ( CHU ) and China Telecom Corp. ( CHA ) have won regulatory approval to expand their 4G network trial to 40 cities, up from the previous 16. In Jun 2014, the carrier duo received the green signal from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) to conduct a pilot test on two of the most recognised 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) standards in 16 different cities […]

Continuing is recent acquisition spree, North American design and consulting giant Stantec Inc. ( STN ) signed a letter of intent to acquire Santa Barbara-based Penfield & Smith, a civil engineering and land planning firm. The acquisition will strengthen Stantec’s presence along the Central Coast of California. […]

Apple Inc. ( AAPL ) recently announced that it will host an event on Sep 9, 2014 at the Flint Center for the Performing Arts, near its headquarters in Cupertino. […]

Chipmaker Intel Corporation ( INTC ) has appealed to the European Court of Justice, European Union’s (“EU”) top court, to overturn the $1.44 billion (1.06 euro) antitrust fine, stating that the lower court’s judgment to uphold the decision was unjustified and had legal errors. In June, Intel lost its five year old legal battle wherein it had appealed against the EU’s judgment to levy a record $1.44 billion fine (1.06 euro) on the chipmaker for allegedly using anti-competitive practices against fellow competitor Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD ). […]

Weak fixed income, currencies and commodities (‘FICC’) revenues hit the world’s top 10 investment banking giants with their top line witnessing a 5% decline in the first half of 2014, according to a report released on Wednesday by Coalition, a U.K. analytics firm. Total revenue came in at $82.3 billion compared with $86.8 billion in the year-ago comparable period. […]

BioWare, a studio of video games developer and publisher Electronic Arts ( EA ) , recently announced a co-operative multiplayer for its upcoming Dragon Age: Inquisition game . The multiplayer mode will allow four gamers to team up and play any of the 12 characters across the three Inquisition classes of Warrior, Rogue and Mage. Dragon Age has been one of the most popular franchises of EA […]

Soda giants– The Coca-Cola Company ( KO ), PepsiCo, Inc. ( PEP ) and Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. ( DPS ) — outperformed expectations in the first half of this year […]