InvestMacro FX

In trading on Thursday, apparel stores shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 1.4%. Leading the group were shares of Talbots (TLB), up about 92.2% and shares of Stage Stores (SSI) up about 3.8% on the day.

Computer-maker Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) giving Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) a run for its money. The company released a new all-in-one desktop called the XPS One that rival’s Apple’s iMac. The XPS One is the first 27-inch PC on the market to achieve the Apple 27-inch iMac’s display resolution of 2560 by 1440. The new computer also beats Apple in terms of processing power and price. The XPS One starts at $1,399, a good $300 less than an iMac. It also has the latest in processing power, Intel’s Ivy Bridge technology. It is also rumored that the XPS will have touch capabilities in the future, to work with Microsoft’s (NYSE:MSFT) new Windows 8 operating system. Dell shares are climbing on this news. Currently the company is up over 1% to $12.64 in early trading.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) might be testing out a new product, but not here in the U.S. The internet retailer will be begin offering prepaid internet access for smartphones and tablet computers in Japan.The company plans to sell SIM cards for $25 USD that offer as much as 500 MB of data usage. This offering in Japan means these prepaid SIM cards could appear in the U.S. market very soon. The new product is quite different from the many wireless companies that offer internet access in conjunction with calling contracts.Amazon is relatively flat, up just over a tenth of a percent to $213.35 in early trading.

Jack in the Box (JACK) was upgraded today by Oppenheimer (OPY) from perform to buy with a price target of $32, as there are indication that individual stores are doing better. Shares are higher by nearly 1.8 percent.

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.

Euro fell under 1.25, marking its weakest day since June 2010. The currency got a boost earlier in the day after polls in Greece showed that there are more voters supporting politicians who back the nation’s bailout ahead of the June 17 general election. The boost, however, was short lived. Spanish banks came back to the worry zone. The borrowing costs in Spain soared and the question is how would the government find additional money to bail out its troubled banks. Banks in Spain have about $1.25 trillion in deposits, and that’s an amount Europe cannot afford, so the fear is banking industry might collapse. We will keep following this, so keep it right here at the Financial News Network. I’m Julia Sun and we’ll be right back.

In trading on Wednesday, gas utilities shares were relative leaders, down on the day by about 0.2%. Leading the group were shares of Star Gas Partners L P (SGU), up about 1% and shares of Agl Resources (GAS) up about 0.6% on the day.

JoS. A.

Follow up on the campaign corruption trial of John Edwards, the jury is in its 7th day of deliberation and there is still no verdict. I’m going to ask the question on everybody’s mind: what is taking so long? Edwards is charged with six felony counts relating to illegal campaign contributions. The jury went through dozens of exhibits and most of them were financial records. Edwards stands accused of using nearly $1 million in secret donations to keep his pregnant mistress out of sight during his presidential bid in 2008. The defense attorney said these money were gifts and the intention was to keep the relationship from Edwards’ wife, Elizabeth, who was diagnosed with cancer and passed away in 2010. I’m not a trial attorney like Edwards, but I’m guessing if there is a hung jury, the chance of this case being re-tried would be low. My colleague legal correspondent Mari Fagel will have more on this later. Meanwhile, share your comments about this case with us, you can send them in to our channel or find me on twitter @juliasun_onair. I’m Julia Sun for the Financial News Network. I’ll be right back.

May 29th here we come. Facebook options begin trading today and as we predicted 11 days ago, it does give the stock some weight. Shares fell below the $30 mark for the first time, rounding out the day at $28.84. At-the-money June call and put options both have volatility in the high 60’s, which is not higher than most of its comparables. From a trading perspective, I cannot help to notice these options are so cheap. Again take June expiry put options for example, at-the-money is only $1.65 and the stock moves about $2 per day, so take a look at that quote. On the cheerful side, Mark is on honeymoon in Rome right now and camera caught him eating McDonald’s takeout with his bride. Hey, whatever makes you happy. It doesn’t matter how much money you have, sometimes it’s about what you feel like doing. Keep it right here for more news and updates. I’m Julia Sun. I’m not in Rome right now, but one day I’ll be there. We’ll be back shortly.