Month: October 2012

GOP vice-presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan campaigned in Iowa Tuesday. Responding to a question about Americans who pay no federal income taxes, Ryan said he and Mitt Romney want a working culture, not a dependency culture.

A hopeful sign for the manufacturing sector gave the markets a boost this morning, as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke defended QE3 and pledged to keep rates low. The Institute for Supply Management is reporting growth in the manufacturing sector for the first time in three months, as the index rose to 51.5 in September.

General Cable (BGC) had its number increased by Keybanc (KEY), as the purchase of Alcan should add to the bottom line. A $37 price target was set with a buy rating.

Bargain hunters are wise to pay careful attention to insider buying, because although there are many various reasons for an insider to sell a stock, presumably the only reason they would use their hard-earned cash to make a purchase, is that they expect to make money. Today we look at two noteworthy recent insider buys.

American Financial Group (AFG) announced its quarterly dividend of 19.5 cents per share, an increase of about 11% over its prior dividend in July of 17.5 cents. The dividend is payable on October 25, 2012 to holders of record on October 15, 2012.

In trading on Monday, trucking shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.9%. Helping drag down the group were shares of Marten Transport Limited (MRTN), off about 2.6% and shares of Celadon Group (CGI) down about 2.4% on the day.

The first trading day of the trading week opens with news that manufacturing in the Euro zone was the lowest in the three months ending on September 30 since the Great Recession, as factories were hit by falling demand despite lower prices, suggesting another recession may be on the way. Good morning, this is Sayoko Murase with the Week Ahead Market Report for October 1, 2012.